Bizarre scenes as Chelsea player looks torn up after putting in an average performance

When Nicolas Jackson’s number came up on the substitutes board after 76 minutes of Sunday’s game against Tottenham, he looked broken.

He trudged to the bench and flipped his shirt over his face, as though to cover his emotions or even some tears. For a moment we panicked – this is usually the reaction you get when a player has picked up an injury. His face was a bit like Wesley Fofana’s when he limped off against Aston Villa a week before.

But as far as we could tell, there was no injury.

After the game, more interesting scenes emerged. As Chelsea’s squad went to celebrate joyously with their away fans, Jackson stayed separate, and Enzo Maresca had to run over to encourage him to join in with the fun. You can see that in the clip embedded here:

Today, another clip has emerged – this time showing Jackson on the bench, looking utterly distraught.

You can see that video in the clip embedded here:

Mystery of emotional Jackson

Now we’d understand why, say, Marc Cucurella might be upset by how he played. The Spaniard made two huge errors which cost his team two goals. But we wouldn’t even expect a player in that situation to look so distraught.

Jackson didn’t score or have his best game, but this seems like a mad way to react. His team won, he didn’t do anything crazy or stupid. We can understand a bit of frustration about his performance, but this is like someone who has missed a penalty in a Champions League final.

We’ve seen Jackson play far worse and miss big chances without looking like this. We wonder if there’s more going on than meets the eye?

He’s having a great season, and this just seems… odd.