I want to begin this one by saying that I am not writing Nicolas Jackson off, far from it. I do have my doubts about him, but I can also acknowledge that he is still young and has chances to develop as time goes by. But my concerns were there, and yes, they are still there after he scored a hat trick last night.
I am BUZZING for Jackson to get his goals last night. He seems like a great person and a really good character to have around. Shushing the Spurs fans when Cole Palmer scored his penalty, and then having the audacity to do the ‘Ronaldo Siuuuu’ celebration when he scored was just hilarious. He was on a wind up and I love that about him. His character seems great.
It’s his ability that concerns me a bit. I think he did show a few nice touches last night and he was sometimes a little more involved than he has been recently. But he still missed BIG chances, and if Spurs didn’t go down to 9 men then I think we would all be having the same conversation this morning regarding concerns about Jackson. The header he missed from point blank range is just inexcusable.
He had the fourth least amount of touches (26) only ahead of subs Malo Gusto, Mykhailo Mudryk, and Lesley Ugouchukwu, in our whole team. And before his goals he missed two big chances.
I still see him struggling to get too involved in games and ghosting at times. Ironically I think he best bits of football were played on the left hand side when he drifted wide, and I still think wide striker is his best position.
I see him playing with another striker, one who is more central, one who is a more traditional style striker.
Chelsea absolutely MUST go and sign a new striker in January if we are to have a chance of reaching Champions League football, I had no doubts about that before last night, and I have no doubts about that after last night. We need the focal point in attack, a player who can hold the ball and link other players in. And a player who knows how to score all types of goals and is confident in front of the net.
For me, that man HAS to be Ivan Toney, and no I don’t care about his age. Would anyone have said no to 30-year-old Harry Kane in the summer? No, me neither.
This squad NEEDS more proven and experienced players for the here and now; I’ve been saying that since the summer. We need difference makers and more maturity, so that in games like that last night those types of players stand up to be counted and influence those around them.
Toney is proven, Toney is experienced, and Toney is a quality striker. I don’t think for one minute that Chelsea will be put off by his age, and nor should they be. We can’t ONLY sign young players and I believe the board are seeing that.
Bringing in a 28-year-old experienced player to lead our attack would be the wisest thing we do this January.
Whilst I don’t think he’s worth £100m, nor do I think he will end up going for that price, I do think he is worth a decent amount of bag to solve the biggest problem that we still have going forward.
I love Victor Osimhen and I actually do think if we signed him he would come in and prove his worth right away. However, there is still the element of risk of coming from a different country in to a new league.
Don’t get me wrong though, I’d back signing Osimhen, absolutely. But I just think Toney is the better fit for what we need right now.
What is most important is that we sign a true all round number 9 and use them as the focal point that we need and lack. I’ve never been more sure of anything in recent times.
Again, I’ll end this on a positive. I am BUZZING for Jackson getting his goals last night and I loved seeing him soak up every minute of it. I still think he has a lot to offer and room to develop some more. Hopefully he now kicks on and bags more goals and silences my own doubts that I have with him, I’d LOVE it for him to do that. I’m fully willing him to.