Chelsea and misfiring strikers – it’s a match made in heaven and a story as previous as time.
The good forwards we’ve had through the years – Didier Drogba, Diego Costa, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink – have all been the exception moderately than the rule. In between them there’s been quite a lot of dross.
Simply have a look at our post-Costa efforts. Most of them shone brightly for a quick spell, however none had been ever in a position to fill his boots correctly. We’ve tried and failed so many occasions, and that quantity 9 shirts’ curse nonetheless appears to hold heavy.
We’ve managed nice success even with out a true successor up entrance, however boy would it not be helpful to have one. One of many frequent threads from the entire previous couple of years is the dearth of a constant goalscorer up prime. That’s hardly distinctive to us – most groups within the league are all the time looking for a daily scorer. However given the billions we’ve spent, the return has been remarkably poor.
Simply a few months in the past, most of us had been satisfied we had lastly cracked it. Nicolas Jackson began the season sturdy, constructing on final 12 months’s enhancements, and we actually thought that he had reached a brand new degree.
By late November, the briefs from the membership had been that they thought of him among the many 3 finest strikers within the Premier League.
He isn’t a pure finisher, however his hyperlink up play and energy off the ball appeared to compensate. And he was nonetheless scoring repeatedly – after we beat Brentford in mid-December he had scored 9 in 16 Premier League begins. That had him on target for a 21 aim season, with out penalties. That’s first rate.
Let’s not overlook, Drogba was by no means tremendous prolific, however his different qualities greater than made up for it.
However since that sport he’s scored 0 in 5 begins. His confidence appears gone and his unhealthy ending approach has come to the fore: even an AI picture generator would battle to determine how he contorted his physique form and missed that likelihood on the close to publish in opposition to Bournemouth on Tuesday. It was not a simple one, however a lethal finisher makes certain that’s at the very least on course.
That miss price us 2 factors, in all probability. Have a look at the opposite 4 video games on this run and also you’ll see loads extra factors slipping from the striker’s toe.
He’s nonetheless bought an enormous quantity to supply, however with out a dramatic enchancment in his ending, he’s by no means going to hitch the quick checklist of elite strikers within the Chelsea historical past books.
