Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola has challenged Nicolas Jackson to work harder at improving certain aspects of his game.
The Senegal international made his return to action in Thursday’s 1-0 win over Tottenham after missing the Blues’ last eight games with a hamstring injury.
Jackson has divided opinion since his arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2023 having been tasked with the primary goalscoring responsibilities.
The Senegalese international completed just eight passes during his 82-minute display against Spurs while failing to complete any of his three dribbles.
Despite plenty of work and endeavour, Jackson has struggled to find the net on a consistent basis, drawing criticism from sections of the club’s support.
The striker has netted 26 times in 69 games overall for Enzo Maresca‘s side with just nine goals to his name this season.
While former Blues star Zola appreciates other facets of Jackson’s game, the Italian says the 23-year-old must work harder to improve his play against compact defences.
“The only way to improve things is to work hard on your game and I’m sure he’s already doing it,” Zola told talkSPORT.
“He’s a player that is very good in attacking space and countering but a team like Chelsea plays a lot against opposition that sits deep and in those situations you have to improve and get better in small spaces. You need to get better in the link play.
“I’m sure Maresca and the player knows this and I’m sure they are already doing something about this.
“If he has the ambition to be a better player he has to work on it,” he added.
“Jackson has the ability but he needs to add some more to his game.”
Zola, who spent seven years at Stamford Bridge, knows all about delivering success to the west London club.
The forward helped fire the Blues to two FA Cup successes alongside European success in the Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup in the late 1990s.
The Italian understands that while Chelsea’s current crop of youngsters still require a level of know-how, success in this season’s UEFA Conference League could be the catalyst to bigger and better things in the coming years.
“If they can win something it would be massive because it will increase their confidence and positivity,” the 58-year-old said.
“Hopefully they will keep improving, I believe they have a very good manager and he’s helping them a lot.
“They have a very good structure in place and there are obviously some setbacks every now and then but so far things are going in the right direction.
Asked about Chelsea’s hopes of a return to the Champions League next season after climbing back into fourth place after Thursday night’s victory, Zola urged his former side to not let their foot off the gas in the final eight games of the season.
“They have to keep going because this year it seems more difficult (top four),” he continued.
“You have two teams that are not doing great like Manchester United and Tottenham but Nottingham Forest are doing well and Aston Villa are pushing hard.
“It’s a tough league. You can’t afford to drop [off] too much. If you can do that you will be competitive.”
