Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson says his doubters "don't know football" and has revealed he takes inspiration from the way Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne came through their struggles at Stamford Bridge.
Jackson scored his seventh goal in 16 Premier League matches when he turned in Cole Palmer's cutback in Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Sheffield United.
But the £32million signing has also faced criticism for being wasteful in front of goal since his summer move from Villarreal.
Asked how he evaluates his season so far, Jackson said: "It is OK, it is not what I was going for, though it is my first season, so I am happy, although everybody is talking s***, I am very happy I don't care what people say.
"It is just people who don't know about football. I will just continue to play more games and score more goals for the team.
"I should have scored more because I have missed some chances. The Premier League is different from La Liga, where I came from. I am trying to adapt myself.
"It is not an excuse. I am trying to continue to work harder and listen to people. Not the people who do not know football, I listen to the coach that knows more football and try to improve myself."
Mauricio Pochettino has had to rely heavily on Jackson this season.
Armando Broja has not been consistently fit to start and versatile attacker Christopher Nkunku only returned as an unused substitute on Saturday after injury.
Jackson admits being the main striker has been a heavy burden but has revealed Mauricio Pochettino eased pressure on him by comparing him to Salah and De Bruyne.
Jackson said: "He has been with a lot of young players, so he motivates me every day and tells me to go and he has seen people worse than me [in the past] and they are now big players.
"De Bruyne was here and Salah was here. They struggled here and are now big players. They didn't listen to people who don't know football, he keeps telling me that.
"He knows football; they don't know football, so I don't listen to them."
Chelsea's win against Sheffield United eased some pressure at the club, as the Blues climbed back up to 10th place in the Premier League.
Jackson believes Chelsea can still salvage something from the season, with an important Carabao Cup quarter-final against Newcastle on Tuesday.
"We still believe," he said. "We have just played 17 games. You cannot just jump from one to a hundred; you have to go step by step.
"For me, all the players here everybody has talent and can be there if they are good mentally. We have to forget about social media and just focus on ourselves and try to win games for the team.
"The coach is really, really helping us a lot. We believe in him and he believes in us because he has been with young players, and we are all young.
"That is not an excuse but we are still working to try and understand each other on the pitch and to win games."
