Do Chelsea Already Have An Elite Striker? |

Welcome to The Athletic FC's KZbin channel, where best-in-class journalism meets video.
Do Chelsea really need to go into the market for a number 9 when they have Nicolas Jackson?
JJ Bull takes a look 🧠
#chelseafc #soccer #footballshorts
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Additional footage sourced from AP Newsroom

[@JackCaine1723]

Jackson should’ve had 25+ goals this season but fluffed so many chances. His hold up play is underrated though.

[@anjolatope-babalola2338]

His xg was 18 not 25

[@destroyer7745]

​. XG he missed

[@DuncanDis0rderly]

Literally the video says 18 xG man!!

[@christopherztooi]

KZbin commenters not realising every tap in or 1 on 1 is less than 1 xg, he probably had around 25-27 ‘clear cut chances’ that he should have put away but the xg ended up being 18

[@ArdensGember]

​@@christopherztooithe xG also includes the really low percentage chances that players do actually score from as well, which balances out the tap ins not being =1 xG. And also the fact that all players will miss tap ins at some point. In reality, only the top players like Haaland, Son, Salah etc consistently outscore their season xG stats by more than 2 or 3. It's kind of the whole point or xG to tell you how many a player should have scored, so saying Jackson should've have 7-8 more goals that his xG is just ignoring the logic of the xG stat.

[@BocchitheRock132]

Jackson is slowly growing. Don't forget he has only played as a atriker for 2 years max. His link up play is elite too

[@bdpat100]

@diegozarate5930 The great thing is that the decision making, and finishing can be coached, and also improves with experience. The attributes he has right now are already very good, and I really don't think we should give up on him after 1 season. As fans we have to be able to understand that a 23 yr old players probably will be better at 25, with 2 yrs of coaching and experience.

[@t.a5975]

​@diegozarate5930his decision is generally good but still need refining the last 20%

[@izuchukwuanumba4356]

Elite? Thats too much. Its noticeable though

[@theweekndxo7438]

@@izuchukwuanumba4356it’s elite lmao. Why can’t mfs just rate Chelsea players ever. Always gotta downplay

[@hanzosiku]

Elite? 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@clydejohngeorge4535]

Jackson has shown real time improvement. Stopped constantly being offside. Stopped getting silly yellow cards. His howlers have also dwindled in the last quarter of the season. Idk if he'll be a superstar but he's definitely got it in him to keep getting better & seems to have the right mentality for improvement so there's every reason for Chelsea fans to have hope for it

[@elijahknox4421]

You obviously didn't watch the fa cup semi final

[@clydejohngeorge4535]

@@elijahknox4421 yeah let's use a single match as the complete reference point for what I've clearly described as a general trend. That definitely makes sense you are so smart 😃

[@b4nterontilt245]

@@elijahknox4421 1 game

[@RedSlice2]

@@clydejohngeorge4535bro cooked him💀

[@Chelsea_fccccccccccccccc]

@@clydejohngeorge4535 who let eli cook lol

[@user-xw3vi4nk2y]

Jackson is a brilliant player off the ball as well. His shooting will improve over time but the all round quality he has is just natural.

[@teodortg1268]

And this is why it's important to actually watch the game with your own eyes instead of just looking at stats

[@gunjankumar7210]

Stats are important to understand where the gaps are and what needs to be fixed. If you are only in for visual treats, you are looking at the wrong channel because this is all about analytics.

[@joepiekl]

Yep, I'm still waiting for the same predictions to come true about Darwin Nunez. Everyone keeps saying 'if he keeps getting into the positions, he'll eventually score loads' but it hasn't happened.

[@silviod4nte]

Jackson passes the eye test

[@clydejohngeorge4535]

​@@silviod4nteTo be fair he didn't in the first half of the season. But it looks like he's been working hard to iron out the kinks in his game. I remember laughing at how he lived offside and he basically completely stopped doing that

[@anjolatope-babalola2338]

I would argue that he has the potential He has 14 goals, in his first season, more than a lot of strikers (he has scored more goals in a single season than kai his havertz in his whole career) What I see is a striker who has impeccable movement and knows how to get into great positions (which is one of two needed traits to be a striker), the other being finishing He needs to work on his composure and finishing, that may be easier said than done

[@ghostblood8272]

United fan here I've always approved of Jackson tbh I can't say I've seen him as much as Chelsea fans have but whenever I've watched him, he struck me as a very decent player especially with his movement which was always excellent

[@elijahknox4421]

Doesn't matter if he can't finish

[@fandimm180]

United? Last season he's def better than hojlund 😂.. I think jackson would do better in a better team like man u.. and yes, for me chelsea last year were a bad team

[@ghostblood8272]

@@fandimm180 Different types of strikers but Jackson only scored 1 more than The Hoj last season despite similar appearances Both will be much better in the upcoming season

[@diegoclark7697]

One thing I'll give him is, on the ball, he's so good. He's fast and strong. Blud can be surrounded by multiple defenders and will still be fine. He reminds me of Benzema in his early days at madrid when he didn't finish his chances. If he improves like Benzema did, who knows what kinda player we might have.

[@alexrochlitz7402]

Its amazing how much patience has been lost from the game. First season in the prem with 14 goals does not make him a flop. That's actually pretty solid. The guys still young. He'll come good. But nobody seems to see that since everyone needs instant amazing performance from day one. Modric was once voted worst signing of the season in LaLiga when he joined Real. Countless LaLiga, CL, Copa del Rey titles and a Ballon d'Or later, we need to be more patient with players and managers. It feels like one of football's biggest epidemics...

[@mightygamerlord]

Totally true, 14 goals in your first premier league is really good

[@bzilla-d4i]

14 goals in any league in your 1st season is good. It's the fans that have become fickle and a bunch of angry haters, hell Drogba won the golden boot with 18 goals at one point.

[@fandimm180]

14 epl goals for a horribly madeup team, is a crazy good number. And he is still 22/23 right? Big potential there

[@TheOneandOnlyMe3]

It's the fact that he should have scored over 20 if he could do the thing strikers should be doing which is finish

[@bzilla-d4i]

@@TheOneandOnlyMe3 in the chaos which is Chelsea it will always take a striker longer to settle doesn't matter who it is

[@phemstros]

He is so young and it is his first season in the prem under insane pressure. Oh! He just said the thing about Drogba, I was just about to say the same thing

[@giansideros]

If your XG is higher than your actual goals scored, it means you're not meeting your expected goal tally ie underperforming.

[@800iq2]

One of the best things I did for my training is to practice finishing in different areas repeatedly daily week in and week out. Jackson has the potential to reach Kane numbers

[@mikeywallis4085]

As a Chelsea fan I'm not really expecting us to score more goals this coming season. Maresca will be more conservative than Poch so we'll likely score and concede less.

[@4k144gaming]

We actually scored a lot of goals last season

[@alex0O0O]

​@@4k144gamingwe could've scored more if the owners bought someone like Gyokeres or Osimhen Jackson can't even create spaces

[@mikeywallis4085]

@@4k144gaming We scored a lot but conceded a shitload

[@successanyanwu5609]

@@alex0O0Onah you clearly didn’t watch Chelsea much, Jackson is fantastic on the ball and at link up, the finishing will come and then he’s easily bagging 25+

[@alex0O0O]

@@successanyanwu5609 well, we still need a proper striker man What if Jackson gets injured I'm okay with him being our second choice striker But as Pep is leaving next season We have to give Arsenal a competition

[@LordSeth-hf8ew]

Not necessarily clinical but he does impact the game enough too see the real potential

[@gabrielgoes0]

His decision making really bothers me, not only for scoring but also for assisting. That said, I think yes, he can improve a lot and become, if not a great world class striker, at least a regular fixture in Chelsea's expectantly better attack this season and maybe seasons to come

[@duckway4733]

The thing that makes want to give Jackson time is that he really does do his best to improve. Throughout the season we slowly saw improvement with his finishing. By the end of the season he wasn't missing nearly as many sitters and was actually putting away a respectable amount of chances. Give him another season and he will prove the haters wrong.

[@radical6905]

Part of it too was missing very important chances, Drogs wasnt always putting up high goal tallies season in season out for us but he was scoring when it mattered for trophies. I do like Nico though overall, think he may be a better support striker though than main man up top

[@b4nterontilt245]

Well if you analyse closely, in first half of the szn he massively underperformed xG but in second half... He was over it! He improves

[@official_andrewsamuel]

3 goals against 9 man Spurs btw..

[@fortis17]

Goals are goals bruv. Not his fault Spurs didn’t discipline themselves to maintain numerical balance.

[@official_andrewsamuel]

@@fortis17 point is With the amount of chances he wasted in that game when there was numerical balance How sure are we he scores those 3 identical tap ins if the numerical balance was maintained ..

[@sdm_za]

First season in England, second season in his professional career. And if you actually watch Chelsea you would know he offers WAY more than just goals.

[@Shadowespeon17]

Oh yeah Spurs were two-men down because a Chelsea fan shot them both clearly 🙄 Spurs being down to 9 men was their own fault.

[@official_andrewsamuel]

@@Shadowespeon17 doesn't change the fact he missed many clear chances when it was 11-11 And only scored 3 identical tap ins when it was 11-9 Rest ...

[@yung_daggerbruh2749]

The glaze is insane

[@supreethm92]

He’s an excellent player and was crucial to what we did last season. Yes, he can be frustrating but I’d rather see how he develops and benefit from his growth than give up now. He was brought in for a good fee and we would be crazy to let him go right now especially considering there’s not some world class striker who would replace him right now

[@official_andrewsamuel]

That doesn't sound right does it 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Randomaccount9470]

Stats are dumb, according to them weghorst is better than kane Even as a United fan that's just dumb

[@bingus1017]

​@ashtonndlovu9470 except no one mentioned weghorst or kane and he didn't say jackson was better than anyone

[@sk2790]

xg reflects how well a player gets into scoring position but also more importantly how well the surrounding players create the chances for them. xg missed, big chances missed, and conversion rate are better stats to refer to when judging a "goal scoring striker" (since other striker roles may not reflect their job properly ex: false 9)

[@maxwellkamlongera5158]

Jackson wasn't great last season with all the scuffed chances, BUT there are more positives than negatives. His potential to grow is there and given Chelsea's woeful history with strikers, he's doing far better than a lot of players in that position before him.

[@aghamom]

Exactly why I’m zen, we got this blues 💙

[@sonotready7103]

this just shows how elite lewandowski is, having the top three spots and the sixth is crazy

[@jackoberto01]

I'd rather have a striker that's actually consistent in scoring their chances. Especially in important games and cups where every chance matter.

[@soubelmo641]

Has potential to be a complete striker, like Suarez or Benzema. Elite dribbling, passing, link-up for a 6’2 Striker already. Dribbled passed Saliba and missed a chance last season. Had Gabriel turning around on the ground too but also missed that chance. Benzema used to also miss lots of chances before he won his Ballon D’or.

[@Blood_Video_company]

Here’s the thing Jackson is super young his finishing will improve , like he’s already great at getting chances so he will get better

[@mannychuks8016]

Timo Werner also had an XG of 18.3 at Chelsea. What's your point?

[@b4nterontilt245]

no he didn't

[@theBIGgee]

The improved a lot during the last 3 months of last season

[@osamudiameh_sama]

Jackson has more to his game than scoring goals,holdup play is really great. If you watch the game rather than stats,you would see that and he just needs to improve his finishing and heading ability.

[@alexandruromica7810]

he would've had more Xg if he tried shooting from all the great positions he was in , but he didn't most of the time. He's not bad , just not a pure striker

[@Kanens-bs5xp]

There's a reason that you can't just watch stats. Nicolas Jackson is that reason.

[@SkullSnax]

A striker getting a high xG shows that the system around them is good at creating chances for them. Some of it is their movement, or their reading of the game, but you get no shots at all if the system doesn’t pass you the ball. The sign of a good forward is not high xG, it’s outperforming xG. Because that shows the striker is statistically better than average at scoring chances. Nico Jackson, high xG, massively underperformed it, good system, bad player. Rasmus Hojlund, low xG, beat his xG, doesn’t get shots because of a bad system, but a good player.

[@mebormarbz9283]

He will come good this season!!!!

[@adlynadhif]

its normal for new player to miss alot of chance in his first season. and the problem is happen for the whole squad, so ithink the training is also in question.

[@oochaychukwu]

this is no surprise, Jackson's dribble, hold up play & movement off the ball is sublime. bro just needs to improve his finishing & accuracy

[@nickkwisdom3163]

LET HIM COOK 🔥🔥🔥

[@exo-cs457agent_G1]

His passing is elite

[@menanadam]

Now tell that to Boehly 😂😂😂😂

[@mightymoses18]

I thought that Chelsea created a good number of chances last season and only got better at finishing in the last third of it. Poch was a little unjustly booted, but Jackson will get better.

[@bear_eater254]

Another season with Poch Jackson would have completely transformed now i doubt he'll even start.

[@SahlaHDP]

I already said it before, we don’t need another Striker and the club seems to know what they’re doing. Jackson will play as Striker & Nkunku as False 9. With the right team cohesion, Chelsea will have success this season.

[@Ben3901K]

when jackson shaved he played magnificent football, I still feel he's going to improve

[@aaronensz415]

Still missed that I missed the game where levy scored that overhead kick in Kyiv

[@sylvesterbanini4164]

I’m not surprised at all, I’m a Chelsea fan I’ve been telling the rest of the fanbase this.

[@meilyn22]

He might miss goals, but his work rate is incredible.

[@muhamadirfanramadhani9844]

If chelsea doesnt have bad finisher history this info will make me happy 😢

[@akaibs]

He has potential. He just needs to be more clinical in front of goal.

[@BillyLemons]

Football isn’t just stats and Nicolas Jackson proves it

[@alexcranmer8317]

Jackson has had a decent first PL season but they always miss out the minutes per goal when comparing to Drogba. Not always a starter in his first 2 PL seasons.

[@Cold_Logic]

Same could be said of Darwin Noodles

[@justinarruda5865]

The Jackson hate is wild. It was his first season in the best league in the world. Hes only going to get better. His link up play with Palmer was unbelievable. Best 1st season of any Chelsea striker since Costa.

[@enderofruina2973]

He did statpad v 9man Tottenham playing a high line

[@wesdryden2086]

Chelsea just need a world class striker and they are back in the fight.

[@aleabosto6471]

His performance when he scored that hatrick against spurs is the worst i have seen from a forward who actually scored three goals in a game!!

[@TheOneandOnlyMe3]

Look Jackson has good link up and hold up the former potentially world class but his finishing is statistically and visually awful in the prem alone he underperformed by over 7 goals meaning just an average finisher is scoring 20 goals if given every shot Jackson had, and he miased even more outside of the league, he has his benefits but his flaws are too strong but Chelsea fans use the Drogba thing as if Drogba ever got 20 goal chances and wasn't playing against way better defenders he can do the extra things but the most important thing is alsi his biggest flaw

[@Abeahdieheoidjdhksowwjjw]

he’s underrated if u ask me, 14 goals for ur first season in an awful club is not terrible

[@NoOne-ks8tu]

Statpadder

[@bungaIowbill]

What are the best examples of strikers who, early in their career, created a lot of xG but had poor finishing, but later started banging in the goals? It feels like poor finishing is just an intrinsic trait that never goes away, but surely there must be counter-examples

[@t.a5975]

Benzema

[@jackstains]

Yeah waiting for Jackson and Nunez to convert their chances 😂

[@MackieBricks]

Your top league scorers table is missing Bowen btw who scored 16 non pen goals. Just thought I’d let you know 👍

[@apollo-9725]

Chelsea always have the potential , one season you would see them win the UCL out of nowhere

[@George-bi8sj]

If he didn't have pace, he'd be a League 2 player. Bambi on ice!

[@mrartdeco]

Jackson PR team just splurged on the marketing cost, didn’t they?

[@RL-]

The "more goals than Drogba in his first season" point is so misleading I'm surprised it's still parroted. Drogba had 15 goals and assists in 1600 minutes, with barely half as many starts as Guðjohnsen. That's 0.83ga/90 in the Prem or 0.81ga/90 in all comps. Next season he was *averaging better than 1.0ga/90* even though he played a fraction more than Crespo. Jackson is the main forward, with far more apps, starts and minutes, and averages 0.61ga/90 (0.59ga/90 in all comps). Drogba took shots from everywhere and from free kicks, while Jackson's average shot distance is 12yds. On top of that, Jackson is in the top 10 amongst strikers in Europe for chance quality provided for him, and he's in the bottom 10 for underperformance. Every player above him has either played far less than him, is a defender taking on headers like Hummels, or has performed better than him. Everyone above him in the bottom 10 has a far harder chance quality on average aside from Brennan Johnson. In the Prem he's top three and bottom four respectively. In that top three Chris Wood has overperformed and Datro Fofana has barely played (still underperforming less than Jackson, converting more than 20% of shots from farther out), whereas in the bottom four everyone above him (Calvert-Lewin, Núñez and Johnson) have more difficult chances. For much of the season Jackson was actually top and bottom respectively. It doesn't really get much worse than that. High xG at Chelsea means play keepball and camp around the opponent's box before shooting. He's a poacher and doesn't convert so he's the polar opposite of world class. He was one of the top converting forwards in Europe at Villarreal, so it's an annoying swing because his average chance quality there was about 20% tougher.

[@dennisjulius_021]

Imagine if Hojlund got his chances

[@milktea2422]

If only Nunez could finish his chances. Oh well, maybe he’ll grow into it? Wait a minute.

[@nehcninakred]

I thought JJ was gonna say Lukaku lol

[@liamlezama-johnson6639]

What Savage Dan said on filthy

[@BlackChrishi]

Actually sounds right.

[@uncreative5766]

Todd Boehly will be happy to see Jackson in that All-star Game. /s

[@ludo_]

If he converted those easy chances Chelsea would have been in the UCL this season.

[@Felix4409]

Good that you mentioned statistics. Reason we should judge by watching games

[@idikiogbanga3530]

This would do his morale a whole world of good, that's assuming he sees this video 😅

[@amitschulze-sandhu6230]

You forgot Jarrod Bowen on that list, who’s tied with Isak at 16 non penalty goals.

[@jamesleiper6399]

Chelsea be like, i sure hope this player is good in several years because he isn't now and we still have to play him

[@christianenglish7467]

Chelsea have a long history with high expectancy, low deliverance strikers

[@BeetsPerSecond]

If my grandma had wheels she would have been a bicycle

[@VARMOT123]

Timestamps of the county cricket is wrong

[@christianbarrow2568]

Lewandowski doesn’t consistently score above xG tho.

[@alx6614]

Nunez has 30 Goal Contributions, wonder what that says?

[@void1964]

Waiting for the nunez video

[@michaelandlucifer]

The Missed Guy

[@msdm83]

14 ain't bad. In a unprefirming chelsea

[@siddhcmehta9]

Bro for the first time Ronaldo is not there in goal scoring chart😂😂

[@darrell5403]

He’s under his xg making him statistically poor

[@concernedcitizens4110]

Chelsea as an organization is more of a clown car rather than a serious winning team. They fired Poch for god knows why and know they’re having another season with a bloated squad.

[@CaraVerde]

Should've... would've... could've 🥱

[@axdambient]

If he was an elite striker he woulda hit Astrid Wett 🤷🏽

[@JPzizou]

He's better at lw sometimes

[@Randomaccount9470]

Stats are dumb anyway nobody that ever played the game in real life as a teen or otherwise knows that

[@xzl2284]

Lukaka blueprint

[@jonaschinweke5612]

Same thing I've always said

[@user-zc2sz1os3j]

If we're talking overall play, the guy's elite; but he just can't finish.

[@jessepinkmen8365]

Ye and statically me and ronaldo have the same amount of bundesliga goals so

[@Bghjssjald233]

Wait so this video isn't about the Albanian King Armando Broja?

[@mattheendpod2659]

Imagine going for a pint with your dad and trying to explain why players that miss loads of chances are the best players. Get over xg! Emperor’s. New. Clothes.

[@hhantel]

How many of the goals he did score were against 9 and 10 men? He's fine. Reasonable at linkup play. Not an elite striker though.

[@t.a5975]

Brother its like his 2 season playing mens football not been elite is Norma

[@EliBrigante]

Remember when football was judged by our eyes and not graphs? Good times

[@Snagavitch]

Jackson wasn’t passing the eye test very well mate

[@EliBrigante]

@@Snagavitch that is my point mate

[@silviod4nte]

@@EliBrigante Except he does. Despite his finishing, he's a more enjoyable player to watch than the likes of Haaland and Osimhen and the other "world class" strikers that statpad goals with minimal footballing ability

[@Jotgut]

@@silviod4nte You're watching a video about Jackson literally "statpading with minimal footballing ability", lmao. What a horrible take

[@silviod4nte]

@@Jotgut If you think Jackson has no footballing ability, then I'm afraid you don't know what is footballing ability😂