BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club is in full swing right now, with some interesting discussion about Chelsea and their recent resurgence top of the agenda.
After 3 wins in a row, Mauricio Pochettino’s team are getting a lot of praise. That goes for striker Nicolas Jackson too, who is impressing at the moment. But one person who isn’t convinced by the Senegal striker is former England winger Chris Waddle. Despite a lot of encouraging signs, Waddle doesn’t believe that Jackson has the ability for the very top level:
“I think in possession they are a very good side. They have some talented footballers – we know that,” the pundit explained.
“They are desperate for a centre-forward, I’ve got to say. I know [Nicolas] Jackson scored but he’s not the answer if Chelsea want to be a top-four team.”
A debate set to continue all summer
It’s an interesting take, and one that slightly goes against the tide of opinion among Chelsea fans.
After serious doubts early on, most fans are pretty happy with Jackson and what he’s done in his first season at Chelsea. There’s a lot of hope about how he can do next year, hopefully in a more functional team and with more work done on his finishing.
However we can also see the point of view of those like Waddle, who think that Jackson is simply never going to have the razor sharp nose for goal and finishing skill required to really be a top level centre forward in a team pushing for the title.
Clearly his ever increasing numbers haven’t convinced everyone. It will be interesting to see whether two easy looking games coming up this week can be used to change anyone else’s mind before a summer where Chelsea will have to make some big decisions about their squad.
With all due respect to Waddle, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As with so many pundits, he’s over-focused on Jackson’s high-profile misses and completely fails to see the bigger picture which is that Jackson’s in elite company as a creator of chances. He’s averaging 0.75 xG+xA. There are only a couple of guys in the league (with names like Salah!) who can boast better. And looking at non-PK xG, only Erling Haaland is better in the league this year! So, yes, Jackson only sits 8th in non-penalty goals with 14, but he’s also only just turned 23 and is already keeping company with the league’s best.
No need for a striker Jackson is good and is good to improve the more most top scorers play penalty simple