Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has delivered his verdict on the club’s season and praised his descendant as number nine Salomon Rondon.
Rafael Benitez has once again guided his Magpies side to comfortable Premier League safety, with the burly Venezuelan frontman playing a big part in that.
Shearer has had his say: “He’s having a very good season as well, is Rondon,” he told Coral, as per The Chronicle’s news and transfer centre [03/05; after 09:16].
“In the circumstances, decent,” Shearer said when asked to sum up Newcastle’s season. “It’s almost identical to what happened last season – incredible really. With everything that has gone on; with what Rafa has been saying; with what he wanted, didn’t get, got; then their objective before the season was to stay in the Premier League and they’ve done that.
“We’d like to think and dream of bigger and better things, but that’s what Newcastle is at this moment in time and that’s what we have to accept. All in all, it’s been decent.”
OPINION
Shearer is pretty spot on in what he’s saying, here. Firstly, Rondon has enjoyed a very good season for Newcastle. His numbers won’t stand out from a statistical standpoint. He hasn’t scored 25 goals and blown everyone away, but he’s been extremely solid and is the perfect number nine for the style of football Benitez is playing at the moment. Obviously it would be great if he was back in black and white next season but that seems to be a bit up in the air currently. As for the team’s season as a whole, it has been, as Shearer says, merely decent. You couldn’t say it’s been anything more than that, really. They exited both cups without really making an impression, while in the Premier League they have done well but they certainly haven’t kicked on from where they were a year ago. As Shearer says, they’ve had an almost identical season to the one they enjoyed last campaign. So you can’t really say that they’re moving forward, merely treading water, which under the circumstances is no mean feat.
