‘I like him a lot’: Michael Owen praises the £30m Chelsea star who ‘pushed away’ the Liverpool player
Michael Owen praised Nicolas Jackson and his battle with Ibrahima Konate in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The former Liverpool striker added: “I like him a lot” while praising Chelsea’s summer signing for the way he dealt with Ibrahima Konate, including the way he once “pushed him off”, he said Premier League Productions (13.08.23 at 18:50).
Nicolas Jackson didn’t make the top scorer list, but he did well against two of Liverpool’s top centre-backs – Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
The 22-year-old had his moments and wasn’t shy about playing in Liverpool’s back line during an energetic and fairly even Premier League opener between the two.
It could be argued that Mauricio Pochettino’s side were the better team in the second half, as Mohamed Salah was disallowed for offside in the first period and also hit the crossbar – Owen was stunned by his assist in the first half’s scoring .
Nonetheless for Jackson, following his £30m transfer to Chelsea (Sky Sports)his first Premier League test was a big one and Owen liked what he saw.
“I think he’ll easily get into double figures if he plays regularly,” Owen said.
“There’s a lot I like about him. He looked very, very smart in America. His conclusion was very precise.
“The way he moves between players is still impressive today. We saw him late when he faced Konate. You think Konate doesn’t have the ball, he’s running in a straight line and has crossed it, knocking it off in the process. I was like ‘wooo’.”
Jackson passes his first test
In terms of performance, Jackson provided a number of eye-catching moments and instilled in his new fans that he could score double figures in the Premier League this season.
While Liverpool have struggled defensively over the past 12 months, Konate and van Dijk are their best pair of centre-backs.
There’s not much to take away from yesterday’s game as nothing really stands out except that they put a point on the board and still need to delve into the transfer market to improve areas of their squad.
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