Craig Burley has claimed that he has never seen any player look as frightened as one Chelsea star seems to, following the Blues’ defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night.
It proved to be a completely miserable trip to the Emirates for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, with Arsenal running out 5-0 winners to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Of course, the scoreline was emphatic. But it seemed to be all to play for at half-time with Arsenal leading 1-0, and Chelsea actually causing a few problems for Mikel Arteta’s men.
The Blues grew into the game after Leandro Trossard had given Arsenal a fourth-minute lead. But whenever they got the chance to test David Raya, Chelsea often fluffed their lines.
And the key moment came when Nicolas Jackson looked set to have a header on the edge of the six-yard box.
Raya was ultimately able to make a simple save. And it turned out that Jackson had used his hand, rather than his head, to send the ball towards the goal.
Nicolas Jackson criticised after Chelsea lose at Arsenal
It did appear that the £30 million man was concerned about being caught by Gabriel Magalhaes, with the Arsenal defender looking to hook the ball away.
Jackson was also extremely fortunate to avoid a red card for an early challenge on Takehiro Tomiyasu. And speaking on ESPN after giving the forward a 1/10 rating, Craig Burley suggested that he is baffled by his game.
“Should have been a red card, didn’t even get a yellow. Topped Tomiyasu, straight over the ball, got away with that. He was at Wembley at the weekend, he wouldn’t have been able to find where the goal was if the pyrotechnics were going up behind it. Then he goes to Arsenal, he gets one of the best balls of the season played into him and he puts his hand up instead of heading it in. This guy, Nico Jackson, I’ve never known a player who is almost frightened when he gets in front of goal,” he said.
“How’s that not a red? This guy makes Kai Havertz look prolific. He’s had an absolute beast at the weekend. Well, he’s had a beast most of the season.
“Yes, he’ll run the channels. He got one for having the ability to run around and put a little bit of effort in. Oh my god. I’m sorry. This is not a one-off. This is the whole period generally.
“Like I said, he’s making Kai Havertz look like an out and out goalscorer. That’s how bad he is.”
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It would be asking for trouble if Chelsea did not make changes up front before next season. Jackson definitely does not appear to be the forward who is going to fire the Blues back into the Premier League title picture.
He has still scored 10 times in the league. However, only Dominic Calvert-Lewin is performing worse against his non-penalty expected goals tally this season, according to FBRef.
And it was alarming that he did seemingly duck out of properly challenging for that header last night.
Most world-class strikers would probably not think twice about the threat of getting clattered and hurt. Instead, their instinct would be to do all they could to find the back of the net.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, Jackson is looking less and less like the ruthless goalscorer they desperately need.
The post 'That's how bad he is': Pundit says he's never seen any player look as 'frightened' as £30m Chelsea star appeared first on TBR Football.