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Mauricio Pochettino has urged the media and Chelsea fans to be more patient with Nicolas Jackson amid concerns the Senegal international may not be the man to solve the Blues’ striking problems.

Jackson joined Chelsea from Villarreal over the summer, and has scored just two Premier League goals in nine outings for Pochettino’s side.

The 21-year-old cut a frustrated figure on Saturday when Chelsea slumped to a surprise 2-0 loss against Brentford, as he struggled to find spaces in between the Bees’ compact back line.

After the game, some fans and Premier League legend, Alan Shearer slammed Jackson for his poor movement in the game, but Poch has now come out to defend the forward, despite admitting he agreed with Shearer’s analysis.

“I think that Nico, if you watch the game against Liverpool or Dortmund in pre-season, or Luton, he was doing what the analysis was about and what we expect. But for different circumstances, Nico is not at his best today. For different circumstances, but we need to recover the player that was,” Pochettino said.

“It’s really dangerous, this type of analysis, because it’s one game. I cannot lie, it wasn’t his best, but we need to be fair. If you watch Luton, if you watch Dortmund in pre-season, if you watch Liverpool, you will see this is one player. The Brentford game was another player. I agree with the analysis, but it’s not fair to say he is not capable of doing what we expect of him.

“I believe in him. The only problem is time. I don’t want to give examples, but he arrived at Chelsea in a situation that is not easy for him.

“Maybe players with more time than Nico, they are not performing in the way that we expect. We need to give time, for sure he has the conditions.

“Nico is young, he arrived this season, circumstances didn’t help him perform at his best. What can we do? Throw him in the bin and say he is useless? Come on, we need to give him confidence.”