Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino lashes back at Alan Shearer’s criticism regarding struggling new signing Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson has been struggling to showcase his real form in front of goal in this campaign. Chelsea bought him from Spanish outfit Villarreal over the summer for a free around £32 million.
However, since joining his new club, Jackson has only twice found the back of the net so far this season. His performance lately has been harshly criticised by the supporters, but Pochettino has intervened and backed his player.
Jackson is playing in place of injured Christopher Nkunku, who is sidelined due to serious knee injury. But the 22-year-old is not performing upto his reputation.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Shearer criticised Jackson’s movement on the pitch and his vulnerability in front of goal. He said :-
“To be more prolific you have to get yourself into scoring positions. There was a complete lack of movement from him today. Sometimes you have to make the run for the defender and for yourself.
“He looks very raw and at times unsure what to do. He’s just waiting for something to happen, you have to do it yourself sometimes. You’ve got to work, you’ve got to make defenders work, you’ve got to try to pull them around.
“Goalscorers don’t hang around at the edge of the box like he does. He’s got to accept that the ball comes in, it’s his job to get on the end of it. They were never, ever going to score today with that. It looks as if he needs a lot of help in that position.”
Pochettino backed Jackson and termed Shearer’s criticism “dangerous”
Mauricio Pochettino backed Nicolas Jackson and termed Alan Shearer’s criticism “dangerous” as the Senegalese international arrived at Stanford Bridge under “harsh” circumstances.
Speaking on the matter, the Argentine said :-
“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.
“For different circumstances, but we need to recover the player that was. But 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. Brentford game was another player. I agree with the analysis, but it’s not fair to say he is not this or you know.
“I agree with analysis, but not to say he is not capable to do what we expect of him and I believe in him. The only problem is time. I don’t want to give examples, but he arrived at Chelsea in a situation is not easy for him.
“But the club believes it is possible to perform. That is why we cannot be unfair in the analysis because he was frustrated from the beginning for different circumstances. But we need to give time, for sure he has the conditions. He showed that the conditions he has it’s only give time to him.”
For more sports updates, follow us on Twitter.
