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Four minutes after the start of a rather nightmarish start to Manchester City, the camera focused on Abdukodir Khusanov and captured a lost and empty look.
Cole Palmer lied at the feet of the central defender after being struck. The yellow card of a referee appeared on his face in a blurred way. Beyond that, the Etihad Stadium display board brought proof of the first goal of Chelsea, offered by a double error of the 20-year novice.
Khusanov looked naturally and completely stunned, as if he were the without distrust of a television game by Michael McIntyre, as if he had lent the gateway to a Wagamama and suddenly fell in a match of Premier League.
But from an improbable source has come to a comfortable hand, Nicolas Jackson de Chelsea offering a sympathetic tape on the belly who said: “Do not worry my son, we all went by there”. For several days of many missed opportunities, Jackson certainly did it.
It was a pleasant moment, which made the elegant crowd wild-*Clap-Emoji*. It was a recognition from one professional to the other than this game, at this level, can be brutally cruel, but that he quickly moves on to something else. It was almost impossible to imagine Erling Haaland to do the same thing.
It is not a question of criticizing the humanity of Jackson, nor of claiming that smiling murderers cannot succeed. But Haaland is a killer, as evidenced by City’s 3-1 victory this afternoon, when Jackson confirmed again that, despite all his merits and improvements, he was not.
The crucial moment of the match, then identified by Enzo Maresca, only occurred a few minutes after Jackson punished Khusanov’s error based on the first goal of Noni Madueke.
While City was in disarray, Chelsea again pierced, this time with Cole Palmer heading towards the goal. Rather than shooting, the playmaker defended Jackson.
The pass was heavy, forcing the attacker to miss it, but still with an empty net to aim if he was ready to score at the first blow and on his weakest left foot.
He was not and did not do so, instead, he procrastinated with two additional keys before resting on Jadon Sancho, in which case City had bodies to block.
“I am absolutely sure that if we are marking the second, the game will change completely,” said Maresca.
Jackson has now played seven Premier League matches without scoring, his longest scar since his signature for the club, which seems important given his fight for consistency last season.
He remains on the right track to beat the total of 14 goals last season in the league, but he is far from being as convincing now that nine out of 15 games have become nine out of 22.
Examination of the sight tells you that the Senegalese began as a versatile striker and still delivered two assists in his last three games, but which seemed to be a new ruthless sequence during the first half of this season is now starting to look more like a purple spot. It quickly faded.
As a collective, Chelsea is not flawless. With exhausted Khusanov, visitors should have sent balloons behind Jackson on each occasion, but several smart races behind the defender’s back were ignored, perhaps in the middle of the constant and visible control of Maresca.
Compare this to the transformation of City after half-time, when Haaland’s intimidation power was exploited with a direct and refreshing approach. The Norwegian scored one and the other of City’s goals in the second half, pinching the money from the Levi Colwill dinner and ridicules Robert Sanchez along the way.
In an interview this month, the former Chelsea striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, suggested that his former club always lacked a similar style of “great striker” in the mold of Didier Drogba, admitting that he, like him, Many others had failed to meet expectations.
On this type of form, Haaland remains unique of a kind, but there are new and old doubts as to whether Jackson can really reach the level that Chelsea needs.
