Mauricio Pochettino revealed he has spoken to Nicolas Jackson about his yellow card but insists he will adapt after already receiving four bookings for dissent this season.
One more would earn the Senegalese striker, who Pochettino believes could be as slow a player as Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, a one-match ban.
With Armando Broja yet to play this season due to his long-term knee injury but potentially in contention for Sunday’s visit of Aston Villa, and Christopher Nkunku injured, a ban for Jackson would be an attacking headache that Pochettino could do without.
He said: ‘We were talking about that today because we had a meeting with him and also with Enzo (Fernandez). I think: come on. A striker, four yellow cards just for talking to the referee?
‘You should get yellow cards for different actions, not for that. It’s so easy, so cheap yellow cards and I think it will put the team in a very difficult situation, but he understood.
Mauricio Pochettino has revealed he has met with Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson over their frequent bookings this season
Jackson has received four yellow cards in five games, all for talking to the referees
Pochettino told Jackson to be careful with Premier League referees
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‘But he has to be smart not to protest to the referees. Perhaps because it is his normal behavior on the field, it is something that may need to be improved. Maybe change the rule this season, he came from Spain, the relationship with the referees in England is different (things have) changed now and it is more sensitive, people about it.
“It’s all about adapting himself and he’s smart and he’ll definitely adapt. I hope that on Sunday, now that we are talking about it, he is smart and then (it is not) the first action is a yellow card!’
Jackson has scored just once for Chelsea since his £32million move from Villarreal, but Pochettino said: ‘We talked about Broja, but Jackson is also 22. He is young, needs to learn, improve, establish himself.
‘I think he’s a fantastic player. He will be a fantastic player, but he needs time. A friend was with us today and we were talking about the players and I always like to make agreements with another club. Jackson is a fantastic player. Yes, he needs to be calm and relaxed in front of goal and he will definitely score a lot of goals.
“But remember that Vinicius arrives and starts to perform after three seasons, or two and a half seasons.
‘We always forget that we are talking about young players. Of course you can blame us, blame me and talk about tactics, but they need time to find a solution.
“For me there is no doubt that we have the talent, great talent in the team, but now they need time to settle in and they will certainly perform in the way we expect.”