Nicolas Jackson finds similarities between Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery
Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson has compared Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery’s approaches and claimed he sees similarities in both of them.
The striker, who joined from Villarreal for £30 million earlier this summer, has so far impressed in pre-season games and will have a significant role to play next campaign.
Meanwhile, the same goes for Pochettino, who was appointed after long talks between the Argentine manager and Chelsea’s board. He arrived after the club finished 12th in the Premier League last season which saw the sacking of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
Jackson, who has already played under Emery, has featured in 26 games and praised the former Arsenal manager’s management at Villarreal, where he benefited by him growing into a quality striker.
He feels Pochettino and the former Arsenal coach are similar and praised the Argentine manager’s work at Chelsea so far, where they have secured pre-season friendly wins over Wrexham and Brighton & Hove Albion.
After Chelsea’s 4-3 win over Brighton, where he scored once and provided two assists, (h/t Metro) the 22-year-old told Chelsea’s official website:
‘’Things are going very well; I am very happy right now. It is very hot, but I am used to it. It’s the same in Spain and Senegal. The running is not even too bad; it is fine. I am used to it. There are similarities between the boss and Unai Emery, who coached me at Villarreal.”
Emery is among the best managers in Europe; his time at Sevilla and Villarreal is well known due to his ability to achieve the most out of his players on a limited budget. He is known for his counter-attacking style of play, which is kind of similar to that of Pochettino. The Chelsea head coach also favours attacking football and has made his reputation at Tottenham Hotspur.
It is worth mentioning that both Emery and Pochettino have managed in La Liga before and are former PSG managers. They are also currently working in the Premier League. A lot will be expected from Poch to turn the club’s fortunes around, and there are already high hopes for him after Chelsea’s recent games in pre-season.
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Emery guided Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League championships and subsequently won it with the Yellow Submarines in 2020–21. After taking over as Aston Villa’s manager last season, he has already guided the team to the UEFA Europa Conference League after Steven Gerrard left the team in danger of being relegated.
Hence, if a manager like that saw something in Jackson, then Chelsea can rest assured they have a truly top quality player on the brink of breaking out on the European football landscape.