Chelsea and misfiring strikers – it’s a match made in heaven and a story as previous as time.
The nice forwards we’ve had over time – Didier Drogba, Diego Costa, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink – have all been the exception fairly than the rule. In between them there’s been numerous dross.
Simply have a look at our post-Costa efforts. Most of them shone brightly for a quick spell, however none have been ever capable of 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 and not using a true successor up entrance, however boy would it not be helpful to have one. One of many frequent threads from all the previous few years is the shortage of a constant goalscorer up prime. That’s hardly distinctive to us – most groups within the league are all the time attempting to find an everyday scorer. However given the billions we’ve spent, the return has been remarkably poor.
Simply a few months in the past, most of us have been satisfied we had lastly cracked it. Nicolas Jackson began the season sturdy, constructing on final yr’s enhancements, and we actually thought that he had reached a brand new degree.
By late November, the briefs from the membership have 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 heading in the right direction for a 21 aim season, with out penalties. That’s respectable.
Let’s not neglect, Drogba was by no means tremendous prolific, however his different qualities greater than made up for it.
However since that recreation he’s scored 0 in 5 begins. His confidence appears gone and his dangerous ending method 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 put up in opposition to Bournemouth on Tuesday. It was not a simple one, however a lethal finisher makes certain that’s no less than on track.
That miss price us 2 factors, in all chance. Take a look at the opposite 4 video games on this run and also you’ll see lots extra factors slipping from the striker’s toe.
He’s nonetheless acquired an enormous quantity to supply, however and not using a dramatic enchancment in his ending, he’s by no means going to hitch the quick record of elite strikers within the Chelsea historical past books.
