Everton Fan Mailbag: How does Rondon play over Lewis Dobbin and Ellis Simms?
Every week we’ll be asking Everton fans on our Twitter account for questions that will be answered by Goodison News correspondent Jack Cunningham. You can join in by following the Goodison News Twitter account and watching out for weekly mailbag posts.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is currently injured for Everton, and he hasn’t played for the Toffees since the third game of the season.
This has handed Salomon Rondon a perhaps unexpected chance as the Toffees’ main striker, and he hasn’t done too well.
Rafael Benitez has Lewis Dobbin and Ellis Simms in his squad, and they are ready to play instead, but as of yet, he hasn’t started either of them in the league this season.
With that in mind, we asked for your burning questions about all things Everton-related for Goodison News correspondent Jack Cunningham to answer, and one Toffees fan wanted to know why Rondon is playing ahead of Dobbin and Simms.
This is a great question, Joseph, and we can imagine that many Toffees fans want to know the same thing.
Rondon has made five appearances for the Toffees in which he has failed to score and is only averaging 1.4 shots per game, which isn’t that many for a striker [WhoScored].
Now, when Benitez and Rondon were at Newcastle United, the 32-year-old became the Toon’s best player and won their Player of the Season award in the 2018/19 season [Newcastle United].
He scored 11 goals and provided seven assists in the league, so he has proven in the past that he can perform under Benitez.
However, he did have a slow start on Tyneside due to a lack of match fitness; in fact, he didn’t score in his first six league games for the Toon, and Benitez publicly criticised him [Mirror].
Now, this seems like a similar situation to what is happening at Goodison Park right now, as Rondon didn’t have a pre-season and is using these league games to build up his match fitness, which is why, in my opinion, he has been so poor.
Once he gets that match fitness back, I believe that we will see a lot more from Rondon.
However, in the meantime, you could argue that Dobbin or Simms deserve a shot, but the truth is, they lack experience in the Premier League, and I can’t see them starting anytime soon.
Instead, Toffees fans will just have to hope that Rondon finds his match sharpness soon.
In other Everton news, Fabrizio Romano provides update on Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Be sure to follow Goodison News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on Everton and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Campbell.