Christopher Nkunku already being used as a striker through necessity – Pochettino doesn’t sound happy | OneFootball

Mauricio Pochettino’s priority last night was seeing all his players, and making sure that as many of them as possible got some minutes in their legs.

But he also had other objectives – including trying out some of his more versatile players in different positions. The best example of this was up top, where Nicolas Jackson really impressed in the first half and was then replaced by Christopher Nkunku in the second period.

Nkunku is expected to play behind the striker in general, but this was a great chance for Pochettino to try the alternative of having the France star play as a sort of false 9.

His comments on the subject make it clear that he feels like he’s a little short of a striker in the squad, and this move was more a necessity than something he wants to repeat:

“I think for the possibility today and the different players we have available and I think it’s a position we decide today… we only have Jackson and [Nkunku] with the possibility to play as a striker,” Pochettino said in quotes picked up by the Evening Standard.

Given Jackson and Nkunku both did well, we’re looking forward to seeing them both play together in our next fixture.