Chelsea’s attacking players did not cover themselves in glory yesterday.
Mauricio Pochettino‘s men lost 1-0 against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals, but it was a match that they could so easily have won.
Chelsea wasted a lot of opportunities on the day, with Nicolas Jackson being the main culprit, while Mykhailo Mudryk came on late in the second half and had a real moment to forget just before the end of the game.
The winger won a free-kick in stoppage time and decided to take it himself, but he ended up putting the ball straight out of play, much to the disappointment of Chelsea supporters.
Mudryk is one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history but is yet to live up to his huge price tag.
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Tony Cascarino fears Chelsea players will start losing faith in teammate
In Mudryk’s defence, he did not have too much time to make an impact yesterday.
However, one player who did and had great opportunities was Jackson. But the centre-forward fluffed his lines and former Chelsea player Tony Cascarino thinks his teammates will begin to lose confidence in him if he does not improve his finishing.
Discussing Jackson on talkSPORT (21/04/02024 at 07:58), Cascarino said: “Yeah, you have got to stay with him, you have got to give him a chance. What I would say, [Darwin] Nunez has got a similar problem, although his numbers are better. Timo Werner had that problem when he came over to Chelsea from Germany. He couldn’t buy a goal and he missed a lot of chances.
“He is, what, still 22, 23 now, Nicolas Jackson, he is still a very young man. He has got good qualities in his game, and that is stretching teams, pace, and getting chances. It’s a skill getting chances. He is going to have to be clinical because no manager or even his teammates will feel confident about him getting goals if you miss more than you are scoring. That is just fact.”
Chelsea players may have no choice but to put their trust in somebody else next season
At this rate, it would be a surprise if Jackson remains Chelsea’s first-choice striker next term.
The Blues keep on getting linked with other centre-forwards, namely Napoli’s Victor Osimhen.
It was recently claimed that Chelsea are already in talks with Napoli to sign the Nigerian.
Ultimately, Osimhen or another No.9 of his level is probably going to be the striker who Chelsea players look to next season, not Jackson.
