Rafa Benitez questions Everton fans after boos vs Brighton
Rafa Benitez has questioned Everton fans’ reaction after they booed his decision to bring on Salomon Rondon during the 3-2 defeat to Brighton.
Everton turned in a poor performance against the Seagulls, falling 2-0 and 3-1 behind at different stages of the game and a brace from youngster Anthony Gordon couldn’t rescue the Toffees.
But there was a moment in the second half in particular that raised the eyebrows of manager Rafa Benitez and it didn’t come from on the pitch.
As the boss sent Rondon to warm up, the Venezuelan striker was greeted with jeers before full-on boos filled Goodison Park as he replaced defender Jonjoe Kenny.
Benitez was speaking after the game [Liverpool Echo] and revealed that he didn’t understand the reaction of the fans to him trying to turn the game in a positive fashion.
“It is difficult to understand,” he said.
“You take off a defender and put on a striker when you are losing, normally people are happy with that and, hopefully, can understand that we are trying to do the best for the team.”
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Everton fans won’t have been booing the decision to bring a striker on for a defender, but the likelihood is that it’s more the fact about who the striker was and who was making the decision.
Fans are sick of Benitez already with just one win in 12 Premier League games and Rondon is essentially a symbol of this era that they hate.
Rondon is entirely a Benitez signing and player and has completely flopped so far, scoring just once in all competitions so far.
Benitez needs to start getting results in order to get fans on his side if he is to have any chance of turning their season around.
But more than that he needs to start trying to play to the fans too. Use academy players if you can, sign players that excite the crowd and play in a way that is more likely to see you score goals than try not to concede them.
There are big problems at Goodison Park right now, but none bigger than the relationship between Everton fans and Benitez.
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