Pochettino defends Jackson as Chelsea fan confronts striker

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was forced to intervene after striker Nicolas Jackson had a confrontation with an angry fan at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The Blues lost 2-0 to Brentford thanks to goals from Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo, leaving the side with just one home win in the Premier League this season.

Jackson, who has found the net just twice in the league since his £30m transfer from Villarreal in the summer, failed to hit the target with any of his three shots against the Bees.

One supporter took his frustration out on the Senegal international, reportedly asking him “why don’t you score a goal?” Jackson is said to have responded by putting his finger to his lips, before Pochettino shouted at the fan to “support the team”.

A fan just had a go at Jackson: Why don't you score a goal and the striker responded with a finger on the lip as if to say keep quiet. Pochettino jumped to the defence of his player.

— Rahman osman (@iamrahmanosman) October 28, 2023

“It was a moment we all felt frustrated, this moment was a little bit down the energy of the situation,” Pochettino said in his post-match press conference, via Football.London.

“He arrived to me and we talked about the position on the pitch and we gave direction, one fan said ‘oh wake up’ and started to abuse a little bit. For Nico, he lost a little bit of focus, I said ‘come on, focus here’.

“I then said stop ‘talking this way, we need support, stay behind the team’, very respectful, and the fan was respectful, he said ‘wake up’ and the player took it in a bad way. Nothing more.”

Pochettino admitted that there are not enough goals in the side and blamed the defeat on Chelsea‘s lack of a clinical edge.

“The defeat is clear in the analysis,” he said. “After the first half, we should score. We created chances. The opponent didn’t cross the half-way line. We blame ourselves. We weren’t nasty or clinical. For sure, the game changed in the second half. We conceded from a mistake and this shouldn’t happen.”

Read – Brentford hero ‘buzzing’ as gameplan stifles blunt Chelsea