Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca has explained the rationale behind his decision to substitute misfiring Senegalese striker Nicolas Jackson in Saturday’s one-all draw with Crystal Palace.
Maresca told Chelsea website he benched Jackson for Marc Gulu during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park for tactical reasons and not due to disappointment with the African players’ poor finishing.
“The reason that we changed Nico was because he was pressing and he was getting a bit tired with 10 or 15 minutes to go, and Marc was fresh with new energy,” Maresca said.
The former Leicester City manager added that it was unfair to judge the Senegal international just based on the number of goals he scores but also his all-round play in the penalty box.
“First for a striker, sometimes all the chances they have, they score. Sometimes they have chances and they do not score. The important thing is that Nico had two or three clear chances yesterday, so that means he is there, he is ready. Hopefully next time he can be a bit more lucky, but overall I think Nico had a good game yesterday,” the former Manchester City assistant manager added.
The striker remains Chelsea’s main scorer and need him to be at his clinical best again to arrest a slight decline in form that has seen the Blues going four games winless of two draws and two losses to remain fourth in the standings, nine points off the pace with runaway leaders Liverpool.
The Senegalese striker endured a tough start to life at Stamford Bridge with the team’s legends, including Nigerian Mikel Obi, openly saying the team needed a better striker capable of scoring regularly.
Jackson has nine league goals, eight behind leading scorer Egyptian Mohamed Salah of Liverpool this season.
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