15. Nicolas Jackson

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

His goal this season have been vital opening  ones and the two vs West ham where the exact kind of clinical one on one finishes he seemed incapable of last season. Clear progress there 

[NikkiCFC 8,039]

4 hours ago, King Kante said:

I don't get people who don't rate Nico. 

He looked so exciting player in first pre season. During the first season his finishing let us down many, many times and people were upset. Now this season he is doing much better and I don't see any criticism. 

[King Kante 1,500]

10 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

He looked so exciting player in first pre season. During the first season his finishing let us down many, many times and people were upset. Now this season he is doing much better and I don't see any criticism. 

I understand the frustration he can cause. However, with such a young CF people need to also take into context the development they show. I have said it elsewhere but his development in the past calender year has been impressive and is perhaps the most improved player in Europe during that time period. 

People need to get over looking and stats, memes and gifs to judge a player. Equally, pre-season performances also need to be taken into context in that they're essentially training sessions. 

For me, Nico is still not the finished article, but he definitely looks headed in the right direction. Let's hope he keeps it up. 

[Fulham Broadway 16,914]

Retrospective ban most likely incoming after giving Morato a slap

[Vesper 28,987]

16 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Retrospective ban most likely incoming after giving Morato a slap

I was going to post on that earler but got busy with my work

he probably gets a 3 to 5 games ban

which super fucks us

[Fulham Broadway 16,914]

45 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I was going to post on that earler but got busy with my work

he probably gets a 3 to 5 games ban

which super fucks us

You can take the boy out of Senegal but not the Senegal out of the boy...anyway glad he did. proper Chels  .we were singing the old Chelsea agro song😁

[Blue Armour 4,300]

Football London claiming that this was reviewed by VAR and it was deemed not violent enough to constitute a red card.

Hope that's that.

Edited October 7 by Blue Armour

[Fulham Broadway 16,914]

59 minutes ago, Blue Armour said:

Football London claiming that this was reviewed by VAR and it was deemed not violent enough to constitute a red card.

Hope that's that.

Think youre right. Theyve given us a collective 50k fine

[ZAPHOD2319 4,514]

FA confirms no punishment for the slap.

 

[King Kante 1,500]

Yet another opening goal. Starting to use his power and strength to bully players, while his technique is still improving. Starting to become indispensable. Hope that the club don't decide to start playing Championship Manager and buy another CF (especially VO of all people) to block his progression. Nkunku can currently cover for him in a pinch. 

[Magic Lamps 11,668]

That opener was again a new kind of goal he did not have in his locker previously. Finally his tenacity and workrate, which he always had, directly resulted in an emphatic finish. Granted, faes is a liability of a defender (massive downgrade from Fofana which is saying something) who will often give you these openings whenever he is not busy scoring owngoals, but Nic was sharp enough to exploit it. Neat finish on top of this. When you look at Drogbas first two seasons in PL there were quite a few bizarre misses but also so many situations where his mere presence, technique and physicality created chaos in the opposition defence. Previously, I saw more of kalou in Jackson with his lanky awkwardness but the type of goals he has scored this season mark a clear upward trajectory into the lead-the-line CF role. 
Sure, Nkunku is the better finisher and technician but unless he becomes the juggernaut of his peak Leipzig season again, I don’t see him replacing Jackson as cornerstone of our offensive play. 

[robsblubot 3,528]

That little lob over the leg of the defender just before that sweet finish was 🤩

[Special Juan 27,439]

12 hours ago, robsblubot said:

That little lob over the leg of the defender just before that sweet finish was 🤩

Yeah that made the goal for him that and the finish was outstanding.

[Vesper 28,987]

Nicolas Jackson is Chelsea’s presser-in-chief – he has been crucial to their fine start

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5971510/2024/12/06/nicolas-jackson-Chelsea-pressing-analysis/

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca laid the groundwork to rest Nicolas Jackson in the Premier League for the first time this season with his comments after last weekend’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

“Nicolas Jackson scored a goal but he did a fantastic job, he was pressing the ‘keeper and the right central defender,” Maresca said in his post-match press conference at Stamford Bridge. “He was running for two players, and this is what we need.”

Jackson scored Chelsea’s opening goal against Villa but the most memorable moment of his afternoon came in the 30th minute, when visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez passed the ball straight to him and had to scramble to avoid conceding the most comical goal of the Premier League season.

At first glance, it simply looks like a horrendous unforced error from Martinez, but look again and you can see how Jackson succeeds in getting into the head of a goalkeeper who prides himself on rattling opponents. First, the Chelsea striker jumps to his left to deter a pass towards Ezri Konsa. Then he jumps to his right to cover a pass to Boubacar Kamara just outside the Villa box — all while continuing to close the distance to the ball.

Forced to repeatedly reposition the ball and change his mind, Martinez eventually scuffs an attempted quick pass towards Konsa straight to Jackson. Only a heavy touch from the Chelsea striker and a lightning-quick reaction from the Villa goalkeeper prevents a goal.

This sequence illustrates the brilliant job Jackson did leading Chelsea’s high press for all of his 71 minutes on the pitch. Here he is in first-half stoppage time, marking Konsa as Villa right-back Matty Cash is driven back in possession. Once the ball goes back to Martinez, he runs hard but also smartly, arcing his path to block a potential return pass to Konsa or Cash.

In the end, the only option a hurried Martinez has is a pass left to Pau Torres, who is immediately under pressure from Pedro Neto.

This is how effective pressing works at the top level of modern football. It is a collective effort but the striker is often the first defender, tasked with taking away the preferred build-up passes of opposing teams and harrying them into bad decisions or rushed passes that those behind him can exploit. It requires consistency of effort and total commitment, and Jackson is excellent at it.

Here is an example from Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Leicester City. Here, as against Villa, Jackson was instructed to press the opponent’s right centre-back (in this case Wout Faes) and goalkeeper. Caleb Okoli’s sideways pass to the Belgian is his trigger to spring into action, and his hard run prompts Faes to play it back first-time to Mads Hermansen.

Jackson again arcs his run, preventing a return pass to Faes while also forcing Hermansen to kick the ball long with his weaker left foot. Chelsea win the header and regain possession.

Chelsea rank eighth in the Premier League for passes per defensive action (PPDA) — essentially, the number of passes the opposing team is allowed to complete before a tackle or interception is made — with 11.5, according to Opta.

Jackson is a big part of that. He ranks sixth among Premier League forwards for pressures attempted per 90 minutes this season…

… and fifth for pressures attempted in the final third per 90 minutes:

The ability of Jackson to lead an aggressive Chelsea press brings to mind Thomas Tuchel’s public justification for deploying Kai Havertz as a striker in March 2022.

“What he gives us is huge volume,” Tuchel said of Havertz in a press conference. “He covers a lot of metres at high intensity, so he finds the intensity no matter what the system the opponent defends against us. This is what makes him, and he uses his body more and more.”

Jackson’s contribution to this Chelsea team has a lot of similarities, with one key difference: Havertz’s best Premier League goal return in his three seasons at Stamford Bridge was eight, a tally that Jackson comfortably surpassed in 2023-24 and has matched in his first 13 appearances of 2024-25.

His other key off-ball responsibility comes when Chelsea are in possession. He is the team’s space creator-in-chief, relentlessly stretching opposing defences to provide an outlet for his team-mates as well as generating room between the lines for Cole Palmer and other creative players to receive the ball and make an impact.

The graphic below illustrates that a combined 60 per cent of Jackson’s off-ball runs when Chelsea are in possession are either ahead of the ball or in behind the opposing defence:

Jackson is so smart and fast that he does not even need to be on the shoulder of the last defender to cause problems with his runs.

He scored an excellent goal in Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield in October, but this sequence is arguably even more impressive.

Giving Virgil van Dijk and the very quick Ibrahima Konate a considerable head start, he still manages to connect with Moises Caicedo’s through ball in the penalty area and unleashes a fierce shot that clips the outside of the post:

More than a quarter of Jackson’s off-ball runs when Chelsea are in possession are to receive crosses. His heading ability has improved dramatically since arriving at Stamford Bridge as a recently converted winger from Villarreal in the summer of 2023. Even more important are the refinements he has made to his movements in the penalty area to arrive in the right place at the right time to connect with balls into the opposing box.

Chelsea’s opening goal against Villa is a great example of this. The target of an in-swinging Neto cross that is headed clear, Jackson repositions himself as Marc Cucurella wins the ball back from Jaden Philogene and moves towards the penalty spot as Jadon Sancho passes the ball back to him on the overlap.

Then, as Cucurella prepares to deliver his low cross, Jackson darts towards the near post, positioning himself perfectly to hit a first-time shot that squeezes past Martinez:

It is classic striker play: one movement to occupy the defender, another movement to score. There is no grand secret that explains why Jackson is scoring more this season. Sharper movements in the final third are yielding better opportunities and he is doing a better job of converting them than last season, when he scored 14 goals from chances with an expected goals (xG) value of 18.7.

If he continues that while maintaining this level of application leading the press, Jackson could be the complete No 9 that Chelsea have spent so much time and money seeking.