Chelsea: The two moments at Man City that showed Blues are short in a key area | OneFootball

Defeat at the Etihad raised fresh doubts as to whether Chelsea become a force again without a big new signing

Four minutes into a rather nightmarish Manchester City debut, the camera honed in on Abdukodir Khusanov and caught a lost, vacant stare.

Cole Palmer lay at the centre-back’s feet having just been poleaxed. A referee’s yellow card flashed across his face in a blur. Beyond it, the Etihad Stadium scoreboard bore the evidence of Chelsea’s opening goal, gifted by a double-whammy of errors from the 20-year-old novice.

Jackson had a difficult evening as Chelsea lost 2-1 to Manchester City on Saturday

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It was a nice moment, one that set the classy-*hand-clap-emoji* mob wild. It was recognition from one professional to another that this game, at this level, can be brutally cruel, but soon moves on. It was also almost impossible to imagine Erling Haaland doing the same thing.

That is not to criticise Jackson’s humanity, nor to pretend smiling assassins cannot succeed. But Haaland is a killer, showcased in inspiring City’s 3-1 comeback victory on afternoon when Jackson confirmed again that, for all his merits and improvements, he is not.

The game’s crucial moment, as identified afterwards by Enzo Maresca, came only a few minutes after Jackson had punished Khusanov’s error to lay on Noni Madueke’s opening goal.

With City in disarray, Chelsea broke through again, this time with Cole Palmer bearing down on goal. Rather than shoot, the playmaker squared for Jackson.

The pass was heavy, forcing the striker wide, but still with an empty net to aim at if willing to take the finish on first-time, and on his weaker left-foot.

He wasn’t and didn’t, instead dallying with two extra touches before laying back to Jadon Sancho, by which point City had bodies back to block.

“I’m completely sure if we scored the second one, the game completely changes,” Maresca said.

Jackson has now gone seven Premier League games without scoring, his longest drought since signing for the club, which feels significant given his struggle for consistency last term.

He remains on course to break last season’s league tally of 14 goals, but nowhere near as convincingly now that nine in 15 games has become nine in 22.

The eye-test tells you that the Senegalese has kicked on as an all-round forward, and has still delivered two assists in his last three games, but what appeared a newly-honed ruthless streak in the first-half of this season is now beginning to look more like a purple patch. It has faded fast.

As a collective, Chelsea are not blameless. With Khusanov frazzled, the visitors ought to have been driving balls in behind for Jackson at every chance, but several clever runs off the back of the defender were ignored, perhaps amid Maresca’s constant and visible demands for control.

Compare that to City’s transformation after half-time, when Haaland’s bullying power was exploited with a refreshingly direct approach. The Norwegian made one and scored the other of City’s second-half goals, pinching Levi Colwill’s dinner money and making a fool of Robert Sanchez along the way.

In an interview this month, former Chelsea forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang suggested his old club still lack a similar style of “big striker” in the Didier Drogba mould, admitting that he, like many others, had failed to fit the brief.

On this kind of form, Haaland remains a one-of-a-kind, but there are new and old doubts as to whether Jackson really can reach the level Chelsea need.