Chelsea must make sure to ease Nkunku pressure – Talk Chelsea

Christopher Nkunku is just one of many Chelsea players currently out on the long-term injured list, as frustrating as this has become.

Nkunku had an impact injury to his knee when playing in pre-season, something that could have happened at any time and on any pitch.

I’m hearing that Nkunku could return around November, although some reports have said sooner and other have said later. It might be the new year before he is on the pitch again for Chelsea, realistically.

He’s had a serious injury and has only this week started his recovery as in doing weights and pool work. There is still a long road left and even my timescale relies on his recovery continuing to go well without any setbacks.

This is why I don’t like seeing comments, or ‘excuses’ such as this:
Fabrizio Romano:

“Nicolas Jackson was working really well with Christopher Nkunku. Chelsea believe when Nkunku comes back it will change everything for the attacking players, he was the key for Mauricio Pochettino.”

This feels like two things for me.

1. That we are using Nkunku’s injury as a reason why we aren’t scoring goals right now.
2. We are relying and waiting on Nkunku to be back before we really start firing.

None of that sits well with me and I just find it a bit odd.

Of course Nkunku made a difference and WILL make a difference when he returns, he is a class player, that is what class players do.

But there is no way we should be speaking like this about Nkunku, and the main reason for that is we must NOT heap the pressure on his shoulders. Not before he was injured, not during his injury, and absolutely not when he returns.

He is still only 25, and we must not throw the weight of the world on his shoulders and expect him to be the answer to everything.

Chelsea heavily relied on Eden Hazard for our success for a good two seasons and as amazing as he was, I don’t want to see that again (not Hazard, I’d LOVE to see another Hazard again). We need more than one talisman in this squad, and we need more than two. We need talisMEN all over the pitch.

Nkunku is going to take time to get back to his top form again and play with confidence, as all of our returning injured players will. We cannot just assume and expect that he will come back firing. I hope he does, and maybe he does, but we must really calm down on the Nkunku to be our saviour thing. Players see such noise, they feel such pressure, and not all of them react positively to it.

I will also be buzzing when Nkunku comes back in because of course we need him and are missing him. But we need to create a team here and not just rely on individuals.