NICOLAS Jackson says the only opinion he really cares about is Mauricio Pochettino’s after taking a swipe at Chelsea’s critics.
The Senegalese striker joined the Blues for £32million from Villareal in the summer and has already bagged seven goals in 16 appearances for Pochettino’s side.
His latest came in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United, tapping home Chelsea’s second shortly after Cole Palmer had put the hosts ahead for a welcome Stamford Bridge win.
But some of the online flak which has come Chelsea’s way this season clearly hasn’t gone down well in the dressing room, with Jackson happy to address the issue head on when asked about his own impressive personal scoring record of almost one goal in two games.
He said: “It’s ok. It’s not what I was going for, but it is my first season so I’m happy.
“Although everybody is talking s**t, I’m very happy. I don’t care.
“It is just people who don’t know football who talk s**t, so I don’t care about what people say.
“I will just continue and try to play more games and score more goals for the team.”
Jackson added: “I should have scored more because I missed a lot of chances, but the Premier League is different from La Liga where I’ve come from, so I’m trying to adapt myself.
“It’s not an excuse, I’m just trying to continue working harder and listen to people – not listening to people who don’t know football, listening to the coach that knows more (about) football, and the people who know football, and trying to improve myself.”
Jackson was also keen to highlight examples of previous young players who have been on the books at Stamford Bridge but not necessarily made an instant impact at the club, something Pochettino was also eager to point out to him.
“Because he knows football,” explained Jackson.
“He has been with a lot of young players, so he motivates me every day and tells me to go. He has seen people worse than me and they are now big players.
“I mean, (Kevin) De Bruyne was here, (Mo) Salah was here, so now they are big players.
“It is the same. They have struggled here, but they didn’t listen to anybody and people who don’t know football, and now they are big.
“He obviously told me that. He knows football. He just told me not to listen to people that don’t know football.
“And for me, all the people that just talk s**t, they don’t know football, so I don’t listen to them.”
Jackson was then asked to identity exactly who he feels Chelsea’s main critics are.
“I don’t know, anybody who is talking bad about the players – they don’t know football because we try to give our best on the pitch every weekend but results are not coming,” he replied.
“Every team goes through this because we are all new players, we have a new coach, we are trying to improve ourselves and trying to improve every day.
“If you know football, you don’t criticise any players suffering on the pitch and trying to do their best on the pitch.
“We don’t come here for holidays, we don’t come here for nothing. We try to win every game, to make the coach win.
“He is helping us a lot and giving us motivation every day, every game, because he has passed through this situation.
“We are very happy that he is doing that and helping the young players. We are all new, we are going through it and we are going to win games.”
The critics will inevitably say Jackson is being overly sensitive and scrutiny is part of parcel of playing for such a high-profile club who are always in the media spotlight.
Questioned on whether he was stung by the negative feedback which comes Chelsea’s way, Jackson replied: “It is fine. Like I say, they don’t know football.
“We talk about it every time in the dressing room – people that don’t know about football talk s**t about players on the pitch.
“But people who don’t know football don’t talk about things that they know.
“You never hear big players, or big names, or someone who knows about football, talking s**t to any player.
“So we just work and forget about those people and try to work for ourselves and make everything better.”
And Jackson is convinced the only opinion that matters is that of Poch and his fellow Chelsea squad members.
He added: “For me, all the players here, everybody has talent and they can be there if they are good mentally and not listening to people that don’t know football and just try to listen to the coach and the coach that is going to help us.
“With that, we can reach anywhere.
“You just have to forget about social media and don’t listen to people who talk about what they don’t know.
“So just focus on ourselves and try to win games for the team, for Chelsea, not for the people (critics).”
And there you have it – a high-profile Premier League footballer who actually speaks his mind and says what he really thinks.
Let’s hope his stay in England is a long one.
