It’s the 15th day in May – time to check out how our number 15 is getting on this month.
It’s appropriate timing too – Nicolas Jackson has been in the headlines throughout his time at Chelsea, but perhaps never as much as he has in the last 7 days. A red card against Newcastle on Sunday not only killed our chances of coming back in that game, but also gave him a suspension which means his season (at least in the league) is over.
Jackson’s disappointing season in review
So how was it? He made 30 appearances, plus two off the bench. In those appearances, he scored 10 goals. That’s a step down from last season, where he scored 14 in the league.
There’s no denying it’s disappointing to see him take a step back, especially as everything lined up so nicely for him to take a step forward. When you sign a rough diamond rather than a finished product, the one thing you’re expecting is major improvements year on year, not this.
What makes it even worse is how good he looked in the early part of the season, where he seemed to have added a more clinical edge to his exceptional quality in pressing and linking up. Instead, like most of our attack, he seized up around Christmas, got an injury, and hasn’t really found his feet since.
Jackson could be displaced as number one after disappointing season
For all his flaws, there’s still a real player in there, and we expect him to continue to be an important figure. But there’s no ignoring the fact that the club will only be intensifying their search for a number 9 to compete with (or replace) Jackson.
The Club World Cup and Conference League final offer a chance for redemption for him. But what are the chances he is still our definite first choice striker come August?
So, it’s pretty interesting how readily SuperFrank takes to this “Nicolas Jackson is a disappointment” narrative, but hasn’t yet penned the “what the he’ll happened to Cole Palmer” article?
We see this time and time again at Chelsea News (SuperFrank being a prime offender) where a narrative develops within the fanbase and suddenly the writers are cherry picking evidence to support that narrative—despite their usually being a truckload of evidence to the contrary! Just look at the data on Nicolas Jackson at FBref and you’ll see exactly what m talking about. Yes, the player has room for improvement, but if you take only a moment to factor in his injury, the dip the entire squad took following the holidays (most conspicuously Cole Palmer) and you contain your wrath very his RC for even a moment, then you’ll see a player who has actually performed pretty well considering his age and the age/inexperience of the squad around him.
But those sorts of inconvenient truths fall by the wayside once SuperFrank latches onto a narrative that he thinks will play well with the hyper-critical fanbase. We’ve seen it in the past with players
Ike Christian Pulisic (who has done nothing but light it up for AC Milan since he was jeered out of Stamford Bridge by the likes of SuperFrank), and now we see a similar drumbeat developing around Jackson. What a pity.