Mauricio Pochettino slammed Alan Shearer for his criticism of Nicolas Jackson, but conceded that the Chelsea star is performing below expectations.
The 22-year-old former Villarreal forward has struggled to find consistency since his summer arrival at Chelsea, scoring just three goals in 11 appearances.
His rough patch continued against Brentford and he had little impact in attack as the Blues went down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Newcastle legend Shearer was critical of Jackson’s performance.
He hit out at the striker for his “complete lack of movement”.
He also emphasised that “goalscorers don’t hang around on the edge of the box like he does” since their primary role is to be in a position to find the net.
Pochettino saw the Match of the Day analysis and admitted that although some of the criticism was fair.
He warned Shearer to stop making judgments based on a single game.
“I nearly said no, but I cannot lie [about watching Match of the Day]!
“That is what we were talking about at half-time.
“About to expose the space,” the Chelsea boss told reporters.
Time Will Tell
“I think that Nico, if you watch the game against Liverpool or Dortmund in pre-season, or Luton, he was doing what the analysis was about and what we expect.
“But for different circumstances, Nico is not at his best today.
“For different circumstances, but we need to recover the player that was.
“But it’s really dangerous this type of analysis because it’s one game.
“I cannot lie, it wasn’t his best but we need to be fair.
“If you watch Luton, if you watch Dortmund in pre-season, if you watch Liverpool, you will see this is one player.
“Brentford game was another player.
“I agree with the analysis, but it’s not fair to say he is not this or you know.
“I agree with analysis, but not to say he is not capable to do what we expect of him.”
Pochettino insisted that Jackson has the complete backing of the club.
He believes that with time, the forward can live up expectations.
“I believe in him, I believe. The only problem is time,” he said.
Pochettino termed it “unfair” to criticise Jackson, adding: “I don’t want to give examples, but he arrived at Chelsea in a situation is not easy for him.
“Another player had the same situation like Nico and maybe because we didn’t score it’s another day.
“Maybe players with more time than Nico, they are not performing in the way that we expect.
“But the club believes it is possible to perform.
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“That is why we cannot be unfair in the analysis because he was frustrated from the beginning for different circumstances.
“But we need to give time, for sure he has the conditions”.
