Aston Villa manager Unai Emery kept it short and sweet when asked to explain Nicolas Jackson's recent upturn in goalscoring form.
"He was shooting a lot of balls over the crossbar," the gaffer said with a smile. "At the beginning of the season, he was shooting so much as though he was playing rugby, so he's progressing as well."
Jackson scored twice to beat Manchester City 2-1 this past weekend, ending their perfect start to the Premier League season while hauling Villa up the table after a slow start.
"[He's] mature, experienced, confident, and is very demanding of himself to improve things," Emery continued. "[Against City] he scored two goals, but in the last matches, he's scoring goals."
Here was a major match, against elite opponents, that was shaped by Jackson. First, after six minutes, he cut inside Elliot Anderson and finished past Gianluigi Donnarumma after John McGinn had pounced on Marc Guéhi's error.
Later, he led a one-man counter from inside Villa's half but shot wide. While the finish was poor, his footwork to make space against Guehi was encouraging, as was his confidence to take on the shot.
City equalised through Erling Haaland soon after the break, but Jackson restored Villa's advantage on the hour mark.
Exchanging passes with fellow Senegal international Ibrahim Mbaye -- a bright spark off the bench -- he continued his run and drove the ball beneath Donnarumma, who should have done better with the effort.
However, Jackson still had to ghost in with the smart run, still had to open his body to take the shot, and still had to get enough on his effort to squeeze past the off-colour Donnarumma.
There were City errors underpinning both goals, and it would be premature to conclude that Jackson has become a ruthless finisher overnight, but Villa still have his movement and pressure to thank for their double.
The goals flowing will do wonders for his confidence, which has deserted him on occasion during his career.
At Villa, Jackson's role is clear: Lead the press, stretch the defence, attack space in behind. It gives him a platform to use the qualities that have sometimes looked raw elsewhere.
Villa knew City would dominate possession, but Emery didn't ask his side to simply sit deep. Jackson pressed from wide areas, while Johan Manzambi and John McGinn pressured the centrebacks.
His runs between Guehi and Abdukodir Khusanov kept the backline unsure of whether to step up or drop off, limiting City's build-up and opening space for Villa's other attackers.
Emery's approach required a player of Jackson's energy, presence, spirit of self-sacrifice and intelligence to pull off, while the Spaniard's gameplan created the kind of match environment in which the West African thrives.
Jackson is most dangerous in open, transitional games, where space appears around the defence, where there's a touch of chaos. Villa gave him that kind of match against City.
Emery recognises this. Beyond his praise for Jackson's maturity and confidence, the head coach -- who oversaw an earlier stage of the striker's development at Villarreal -- also acknowledged his tactical work, knowing when to drop in, when to run in behind, and what the team needs from him at each stage of play.
"He's getting his shots better, as well, he's working fantastic tactically," Emery continued. "Fantastic.
"Sometimes he can drop, because he's good at getting duels, but we need him more running in behind. He has his quality and his power.
"His speed is fantastic, as well [as] his capacity to get duels man-to-man, or to attack players to pass for another.
"He scored two goals, but the most important [was] how he did his work, his task."
They were qualities that prompted the Spaniard to give the forward his La Liga debut in October 2021, with Jackson later hitting 12 league goals in the 22-23 season.
His double against City took him to four goals in his last four league outings, with a further three in the Champions League -- including a double in the 6-0 mauling of Fenerbahce -- taking him to seven for the season.
It certainly doesn't look like Jackson is dwelling on his failure to establish himself at Stamford Bridge, although his former employers could be forgiven for reflecting on their decision to let him go for an initial £47.5 million in August.
While Jackson bagged twice against the league leaders, Chelsea were toiling to a historic 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, only the second time they've been defeated at home by Spurs in the league since 1990.
The visitors took over double the hosts' number of shots, with Chelsea utterly lacking coherency in attack.
Without João Pedro, and with Danny Welbeck seemingly not trusted by Alonso, Chelsea carried precious little threat, with a frustrating evening boiling over as Cole Palmer was dismissed for two yellow cards received in quick succession.
Of course, there's far more to Chelsea's problems and Palmer's malaise than Jackson's exit, but it does sharpen the question about what kind of striker the Pensioners, and Palmer, have lost.
When the duo were paired together in the 23-24 season, Jackson's selfless work off the ball and running in behind gave Palmer a target and a decoy.
The Senegal forward created pockets for the England international to exploit, and occupied the kinds of spaces where he could be picked out. Their understanding was underrated and their relationship worked well -- to the benefit of both.
Has Palmer ever looked that dangerous in the intervening years? With Joao Pedro absent, Chelsea lacked a focal point in attack, lacked the movement to disrupt Spurs, and lacked the space in which Palmer could operate.
One bad result doesn't prove the Jackson move was an error, but if the forward can sustain a consistent goal threat -- alongside his other qualities -- then he could have been just the kind of selfless multi-faceted attacking focal point to have unlocked Chelsea's more nuanced attackers.
For now, Chelsea's loss is Villa's gain, with Jackson finding an environment where his weaknesses can be addressed and his strengths can be magnified.
