Stuart Pearce has been in and around the game for a long time, but he saw something new in Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup over the weekend.
City were able to knock out Chelsea at the semi-final stage, thanks to a Bernardo Silva goal, but Mauricio Pochettino‘s side had the better opportunities on the day.
Most of them fell to Nicolas Jackson, but the 22-year-old did not have his shooting boots on.
His performance was described by Alan Shearer as a “poor day at the office”.
He has scored 13 goals in 37 appearances for Chelsea this season.
Nicolas Jackson leaves Stuart Pearce almost speechless
Jackson’s finishing certainly was not what it needed to be.
However, his all-round centre-forward play was pretty good as he held up the ball and dribbled past City defenders.
It left Pearce feeling that Jackson was the best and worst player on the pitch at the same time, something the former West Ham United coach says he has never seen before.
Speaking on talkSPORT (22/04/2024 at 09:12) alongside Rangers legend Ally McCoist, he said: “Jackson was arguably the best player on the pitch and the worst player on the pitch all in the same game, which I have not seen before. If he could finish they would have won comfortably.”
McCoist then went on to add: “It’s amazing watching him because he’s one of these centre forwards, you know you get centre forwards who go through and you fancy them to score, you look at Jackson and you can’t question his work rate or his effort but the level or quality in his finishing at this moment in time isn’t quite there.”
READ MORE: Who is Nicolas Jackson? Profile, Transfer, Wage, Family and More
Nicolas Jackson can make amends tomorrow
With Jackson being the only natural centre-forward in Pochettino’s squad, you would expect him to start against Arsenal when Chelsea travel to the Emirates.
A goal there, and some Chelsea supporters will be quick to forgive the Senegal international if the team go on to win the game.
Another blank, though, and you suspect some will be asking the club to make someone like Napoli’s Victor Osimhen one of Chelsea’s most expensive signings of all time in the summer.