Fans baffled by how long it took for officials to rule Nicolas Jackson offside during Chelsea’s game with Man City – as they question ‘what on earth the Blues forward was trying to do?’

Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was caught offside 28 times in the Premier League last season.

The only player to be caught offside more often than Jackson was Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, who was caught 33 times.

It wasn’t long before Jackson committed his first offside offence of the new season, but it took about 30 seconds after that for the assistant referee to raise his flag.

In the thirty-fifth minute of Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, Jackson was given a long ball and given all the space he needed.

He had so much space because he was offside. However, assistant referees have been told to let attacks continue if there are any doubts, so Jackson was allowed to continue.

Play continued after Jackson’s first offside offence, with the assistant referee keeping his flag low

Despite his lead, Jackson was met by three City defenders upon reaching the penalty area.

He dribbled around two of them before his tame effort was blocked by the third, but the flag still remained low as the loose ball rebounded to Malo Gusto.

The flag was eventually raised after Chelsea’s attack failed, sparking widespread reaction on social media.

Paddy Power tweeted sarcastically: ‘The linesman had to wait 30 seconds to tell us Jackson was offside after getting into that position. That’s ”cool”.

One fan wrote: ‘Jackson was sidelined for days but what on earth was he trying to do? That question applies to the entire match so far.’

Another commented: ‘Jackson was about 2 metres offside and the game has been going on for 30 seconds now. Really sad.’

Jackson played on and eventually saw a tame shot blocked in the Man City penalty area

Another fan added: ‘Jackson is so useless in situations like this. He’s the same as last season. He had chances to shoot to set up another and just kept going until it was too late and then shot a wimp. Even if it was offside, that’s pathetic.’

Another comment read: ‘Everyone could see Jackson was offside, the players knew it, the officials knew it and they let play go on for hours before they put the flag up, which was a completely pointless passage of play. Which was a waste of time. Just put the f***ing flag up.’

Jackson was again ruled offside before the first half was over. He thought he had equalised – after Erling Haaland’s opener for City – when he tapped home a rebound after a blocked shot from Cole Palmer.

Later in the first half, Chelsea striker Jackson had a goal disallowed for another offside situation.

It was a frustrating first appearance of the 2024-25 season for Chelsea’s Colombian striker

However, replays showed that Palmer was slightly in front of the last defender when Palmer fired his shot.

Responding to Jackson being offside twice in his first 45 minutes of the season, former Chelsea and Man City striker Daniel Sturridge said during Sky Sports’ half-time analysis: “Small margins, that’s it. It’s that IQ as well.

‘Sometimes you know, “Okay, he’s going to take a shot, I have to time my run to be onside for the rebound if the keeper happens to play it.” And as a forward, as a striker, those kinds of chances are rare. Keepers who drop the ball are rare. So when it happens, you have to be there, onside to take those chances, because it’s also very difficult to get easy chances in the line.’