Rondon relief as refs opt not to take action
SALOMON Rondon will face no further action following his clash with Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo at the weekend.
A panel of former elite-level referees were not unanimous on whether the Baggies forward deserved further punishment.
It means the Venezuelan frontman will be available for Albion’s Boxing Day fixture against Arsenal at The Emirates.
The verdict will come as a boost to West Brom as their seven-goal top scorer has been in impressive form.
Neither Albion boss Tony Pulis nor his United counterpart Jose Mourinho felt the incident warranted a red card with the managers agreeing with referee Anthony Taylor’s decision to issue a yellow.
It was Rondon’s first booking of the season.
Pulis did not appear too worried about any retrospective action in his post-match interview.
He said: “Are you just going to mention ours? What about Zlatan’s challenge (on Craig Dawson)? That’s a worse one than the other one.”
United won the Premier League encounter at The Hawthorns 2-0 thanks to a brace from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Discussing the Rondon incident, Mourinho said: “Why a red card for Rondon? I agree with a yellow card.
“Yellow card and go again. Sometimes I think it’s better for the referee to keep control of the game. The game is 11 versus 11. I’m happy with the decision.”
Former referee Dermot Gallagher, who now works as a pundit, felt Rondon was lucky to avoid a sending-off, claiming it wasn’t “the wisest thing to do”.
He said: “I think Rondon there isn’t too clever when he raises his hand.
“I think if the referee sees that it could be a red. The referee doesn’t see it because Rondon’s body covers it.
“It’s not the wisest thing to do. He was a very, very lucky boy to stay on the field.”
Meanwhile, Ben Foster is convinced Albion will use their eight-day break between matches to recharge ahead of their trip to north London. Albion have faced Chelsea, Swansea City and Manchester City in the space of six days.
“It’s nice to have a little bit of a break,” he said. “The next game is Boxing Day now, it’s been a busy last week with three games in six days.
“It’s a good chance to rest the legs for a few days. Manchester United’s early goal took the wind out of our sails. We started well.
“It was a good goal, to be fair, one of those where you hold your hands up to goals like that.
“But I thought they did well, controlled the game from there on. We gave it a go but just couldn’t find the breakthrough.”