Chelsea’s biggest issue they have at the club right now is not Mauricio Pochettino or any other individual, it is an issue that has been here since 2017 and two ownerships have failed to address it, so far.
I’m sure you all know the exact issue I am talking about, and that is Chelsea not having a complete goalscoring number 9 who can do it all.
Nicolas Jackson is copping stick this season and I think some of the criticisms, whilst being justified at times, have also been harsh. It isn’t Jackson’s fault the club have still failed to sign a true number 9 and have left the burden entirely on the shoulders of a young player who only had one season in senior football before he arrived here.
It’s not Jackson’s fault that he is seen as a pure 9 and being played there when the reality is he is best out wide or as a second striker. Jackson, like many of our players, arrived here raw, so there was always going to be mistakes and plenty more developing to do. Jackson’s developing is in front of goal with his finishing, which needs to improve vastly, and fast.
You can see the pressure he is carrying as the only ‘9’ here at the club right now, and that is what has been affecting him in front of goal, his desperation to do well here and to step up as the main guy.
Chelsea should have signed a new striker in one of the last three windows, but they didn’t. I understand about a lack of opportunities etc, but you mean to tell me that you’ve spent almost £1bn on signing new players yet you still haven’t found and bought in a complete striker to lead the line? That’s been our new owners biggest mistake so far.
We’ve heard various things like we are still hearing, such as they have been relying on players to step up, relying on Christopher Nkunku to share the burden, and other such nonsense, and this needs to stop. Nkunku is NOT a 9.
Christopher Nkunku
We do not have a pure 9 at the club right now, with Jackson being the closest to it. Armando Broja is a 9, but he’s obviously being sold this summer and we also failed to replace him in January, leaving Jackson to play every single game, which is another big mistake regardless of what you think about Broja’s ability.
But it’s not just the current owners who have failed to address this problem. We haven’t had a complete striker since Diego Costa left in 2017.
Tammy Abraham deserves a shoutout for what he did under Frank Lampard when we were transfer banned. He was decent, but his levels soon dropped off and he didn’t step up enough and was sold. He wasn’t the guy to lead the line.
We then signed Romelu Lukaku who could have been the answer but we forgot about his ego and how self-obsessed he is. Thomas Tuchel also got it completely confused and saw him as a ‘back-to-goal’ striker, which of course Lukaku said he wasn’t. So although the intentions were there with this signing, it also proved to be a big expensive mistake.
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Tuchel was then the man behind bringing in Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, which unfortunately also proved to be a mistake. I could actually see the thinking behind this one though, but again, it was just unfortunate.
But whether fortune comes into it or not, we have still failed to sign a suitable striker of the right profile, more of a trinational striker who is proven, is a goalscorer, can do it all, is a physical presence, and has some leadership skills and a strong mentality to be able to lead the line for Chelsea.
Again, I’m not here to find names, that isn’t my job. Some people at this club spend an entire 40-hour working week looking for players, and you mean to tell me they couldn’t find a suitable striker? Please. Give me that job, and I guarantee I’ll find you a suitable option, not even joking.
But not having a proven goalscorer up top for Chelsea this season has proven to be a costly mistake, and a catastrophic difference. I truly believe that if we had an elite striker this season then we would be challenging for a Champions League finish this at a push. I genuinely believe that.
Mauricio Pochettino and the club keep pointing towards the data and the xG, and that shows we should be higher up the league if we took more chances. And I agree, and if we had not made this huge mistake, we wouldn’t even be talking about where we could be and where the data says we should be, because we would actually be there! Tired of hearing about what ifs, when we should actually be in the place they keep saying we could or should be in.
Same goes for having a couple more proven players in this squad, I truly believe if we had signed a few more of these profiles, we would be much nearer the top again. And all of this would be irrelevant of injuries too.
“The signing of another No.9 was perhaps even expected to follow Nicolas Jackson to Chelsea, which in addition to a fit Christopher Nkunku may have lifted a heavy burden that was placed upon him,” wrote Scott Trotter of The Daily Mail this week.
“Following Saturday’s defeat, conversations around whether an elite striker must be signed returned. It is understood the club planned to sign a forward in the summer unless a current player was able to establish they could carry the burden, or a collection of players could contribute to an elite level. That question would appear to remain unanswered even with Palmer’s sparkling form.”
Just deep that statement and take in just how stupid that thinking is, honestly.
We could still get Europa League this season, but reflecting on the fact we are now going another season without winning a trophy, makes me so frustrated with the mistakes we have made in recruitment for this season, because it could have all be so different. I genuinely believe this.