Mauricio Pochettino has told Nicolas Jackson to avoid looking at social media after the striker missed some golden opportunities in the FA Cup semi final.
Jackson was subject to various forms of abuse following the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at Wembley, including racism.
The 22-year-old missed two one on ones and a close range header, but despite this he was still a threat and played well.
Pochettino was quizzed about the abuse the Senegal international had suffered since Saturday, and in quotes picked up by The Standard said:
“I think we all suffer as public people and more in football because people hide behind social media.
“It is not a reference; we have talked about it before, it is not a reference. Of course, we need to be there on social media because it is a good way to communicate with our good fans who want to know about us.
“But after people is hiding behind social media to create [abuse]. But it is important to know that it cannot be a reference to what people actually think of you or things in life”
The Argentine spoke of the difficulties players can have in a first season, particularly as a striker.
“The first season is difficult for all the players. Even more in the position of striker when you need to perform and to score goals”, the 52-year-old added.
“Everyone expects that with every single touch, they score a goal. He is our main or only striker we have fit because Nkunku didn’t play for nearly the whole season, Broja also was out and then moved to Fulham to play more.”
Jackson is still Chelsea’s second top scorer this season with 13 goals in all competitions, with ten coming in the Premier League.
The forward will most likely lead the line again for the Blues on Tuesday night against Arsenal, where he must avoid being booked in order to avoid a two match ban.
Nice (objective) reporting, Charlie. It’s always refreshing to get “news” that isn’t filtered through the thoroughly negative SuperFrank lens.
I get where supporters are frustrated with Jackson, but it’s no justification for abuse. He’s got such a great understanding of how to get the ball into dangerous areas that it’s lunacy to write him off just because he’s struggling to finish some of his opportunities. Instead of piling on the abuse, this is a time for “supporters” to SUPPORT the player (just as Poch is doing) and urge him on to improve his game.