Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has defended striker Nicolas Jackson months after Tottenham Hotspur missed out on signing him.
Nicolas Jackson isn’t in his best form right now but he deserves time and patience at Chelsea.
That is the view of Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino, who has offered some frank comments about Jackson’s form.
Chelsea lost 2-0 at home to Brentford on Saturday afternoon, continuing to struggle for any kind of consistency in the Premier League.
Chelsea have scored just 13 Premier League goals this season and that lack of killer instinct keeps coming up as a real problem.
Mauricio Pochettino defends Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson
The man leading the line against Brentford was Nicolas Jackson, but he had another tough day in front of goal.
Chelsea pounced to sign Jackson in a £32million move from Villarreal this past summer.
The Senegal international scored 12 La Liga goals last season and saw a January move to Bournemouth break down.
Come the summer, Chelsea signed Jackson as their new striking solution – and it may have been a step too far for him.
Jackson has scored just two Premier League goals this season and he looks to be losing confidence.
Premier League legend Alan Shearer slammed Jackson after the defeat to Brentford, suggesting on Match of the Day that his movement just isn’t good enough.
Pochettino has now told The Telegraph that, whilst he agrees with the analysis, he believes making judgements on one game is ‘really dangerous’.
Pochettino highlighted that Jackson has shown ideal movement in other games but his performance against Brentford just ‘wasn’t his best’.
The Argentinian is pleading for patience with Jackson, believing Chelsea need to get confidence back into him.
“I think that Nico, if you watch the game against Liverpool or Dortmund in pre-season, or Luton, he was doing what the analysis was about and what we expect. But for different circumstances, Nico is not at his best today. For different circumstances, but we need to recover the player that was,” said Pochettino.
“It’s really dangerous, this type of analysis, because it’s one game. I cannot lie, it wasn’t his best, but we need to be fair. If you watch Luton, if you watch Dortmund in pre-season, if you watch Liverpool, you will see this is one player. The Brentford game was another player. I agree with the analysis, but it’s not fair to say he is not capable of doing what we expect of him.”
“I believe in him. The only problem is time. I don’t want to give examples, but he arrived at Chelsea in a situation that is not easy for him. Maybe players with more time than Nico, they are not performing in the way that we expect. We need to give time, for sure he has the conditions. Nico is young, he arrived this season, circumstances didn’t help him perform at his best. What can we do? Throw him in the bin and say he is useless? Come on, we need to give him confidence,” he added.
Would Jackson have been better off at Tottenham?
Chelsea weren’t the only club interested in Jackson over the summer.
The Sun on Sunday (18/06, page 62) reported that Tottenham were looking to launch a bid for Jackson.
Chelsea won the race but maybe a move to Spurs would have been better for him at this stage in his development.
Jackson would have been able to take a less-prominent role, offering competition for Son Heung-min in the Tottenham attack.
That would have been ideal for Jackson, who has real talent but is very raw and needs to refine his game.
Jackson could have progressed gradually and learned from a proven Premier League striker in Son.
Instead, Jackson has been thrown in as Chelsea’s main striker, putting the pressure on a young, inexperienced player.
There isn’t even an experienced Premier League striker at Chelsea to pass on some tips to Jackson, so it’s a difficult situation for him.
Raheem Sterling could help, but leading the line on your own is a difficult task – as Jackson is finding.
We are still backing Jackson to become a big success at Chelsea down the line, but the Spurs situation and environment may have been a little better for him.
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