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 who was declared offside more often than Jackson was Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, who was declared offside 33 times.

It didn’t take long for Jackson to commit his first offside offence of the new campaign, but it was around 30 seconds before the assistant referee raised his flag.

Thirty-five minutes into Sunday’s Chelsea-Manchester City game at Stamford Bridge, Jackson collected a long ball and was given plenty of space.

He had plenty of room because he was offside. However, as part of the existing VAR protocol, assistant referees have been told to allow attacks to continue when there is doubt, so Jackson was able to play on.

Despite his early lead, Jackson was caught by three City defenders when he finally reached the penalty area.

He dribbled past two of them, before his weak shot was blocked by the third. But still, the flag remained down as the loose ball bounced back to Malo Gusto.

The flag was finally raised after Chelsea’s attack failed, prompting widespread backlash on social media.

Paddy Power tweeted sarcastically: “The linesman actually had to wait 30 seconds to tell us Jackson was offside after ending up in this position. That’s brilliant.”

One fan wrote: “Jackson was out for days, but what the hell was he trying to do? That question applies to the entire game so far.”

Another commented: “Jackson was two yards offside and the game lasted 30 seconds. Absolutely pathetic.”

Another fan added: “Jackson is so useless in these situations. He’s the same as last season. He had chances to shoot to set up another goal and he wasted time until it was too late and then he took a weak shot. Even if he was offside, it’s pathetic.”

Another comment read: “Everyone could see Jackson was offside, the players knew it, the refs knew it and they let the game continue for a long time before raising the flag, which was an absolutely pointless play. It was a waste of time. Just raise the damn flag.”

Jackson was caught offside again before the end of the first half. He thought he had equalised (after Erling Haaland’s goal for City) when he pounced on a rebound after a shot blocked by Cole Palmer.

However, replays showed Jackson was marginally ahead of the last defender when Palmer took his shot.

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

‘Sometimes you know that if the goalkeeper loses the ball, you have to be in a position to take advantage of it, because if by chance he loses the ball, the goalkeeper loses it.’ And as an attacker, as a centre forward, these opportunities are rare. It’s rare for goalkeepers to lose the ball. So when it happens, you have to be there, in a position to take advantage of those opportunities, because it’s also very difficult to get easy opportunities from the goal line.’