2 G/A in one game: “Smart, sharp” £40m Brighton striker is just what Chelsea needed | OneFootball

Liam Twomey’s piece about Chelsea’s sorry defeat to Brighton at the weekend was focused on our striker struggles – with Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu out injured, Christopher Nkunku proved once again that he’s just not a suitable backup for two players who play the same position in a totally different way.

In fact, the best Jackson replacement was playing for the other team. With Danny Welbeck out, the Seagulls adapted and their summer signing Georginio Rutter put in a shift up front, getting a goal and an assist and looking dangerous as well as providing the energy that Jackson does.

“On this occasion, [Brighton] did not need him [Welbeck], thanks to the tireless Georginio Rutter providing exactly the type of smart, sharp presence at the tip of the spear that Maresca’s team were painfully lacking.”

Twomey is not necessarily saying Chelsea should have bought Rutter, but he is pointing out the obvious, which is that if you want to play with a Jackson-type striker, your backup should be in a similar mould. Nkunku couldn’t be more different, so trying to replace one with the other was never going to work.

Brighton embarrass Chelsea on two fronts, again

Carlos Baleba and Georginio Rutter celebrate for Brighton in their win against Man Utd (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Brighton paid £40m for him – that’s less than we paid for Axel Disasi or Joao Felix. We know who would rather have spent the money on.

For all his industry, there are doubts that Guiu will be the long term answer either. For a team with years of struggling to find the net, it seems madness that the last two summers have seen just the very raw Jackson and Guiu arrive up front, while vast sums have been lavished in other areas of the team.

How much would Brighton want for him now? We dread to think. But once again we’ve been embarrassed off the pitch as well as on it by Tony Bloom’s outfit.