Thomas Tuchel is eager to avoid coming across as "rude", but admits he is looking for his striking crop at Chelsea to start doing their job as nobody in his squad has scored more than six Premier League goals this season.
Tammy Abraham, who has not figured for the Blues since February 20, has hit that mark along with midfield colleagues Mason Mount and Jorginho.
Timo Werner has five top-flight efforts to his name, while World Cup winner Olivier Giroud has four, and the man calling the shots at Stamford Bridge admits more is required from those in the final third as he faces questions of attacking selections and future recruitment.
What has been said?
Tuchel has told Sky Sports ahead of a derby date with London neighbours West Ham on Saturday: "Tammy had a very good training week and he's very welcome to show his quality. We need more goals and we want to trust anybody who is capable of scoring.
"But you just need to read the numbers, our top scorers have six goals. This is clearly not enough for the demands, the expectations and the targets Chelsea football club has and what we demand.
"I say this without any anger and without being rude to any of the offensive guys, I think they're very well aware of it. But when we put the goalkeeper in goal for Chelsea we expect him to have a clean sheet. When we let the defenders play, we expect them to produce clean sheets and the best possible outcome straight away. And this is what we expect from the midfielders, we expect passing percentage, we expect the rhythm of the game. And when we put strikers in we expect goals and assists and nothing else.
"This is one of the most challenging clubs in European football, and if the challenge is on you simply need to accept that we didn't produce the kind of numbers that we expect from our strikers. This explains a little bit the situation in which we are. We don't struggle to have touches in the opponent's box, we do not struggle to produce Expected Goals but we need to improve on the conversion, this is clear.
"We try to create even more chances for them to have more clear chances… don't get me wrong, they are clearly part of a very successful team and they play their role also in defence and counter-pressing. But still sometimes we wait a little bit for somebody to catch the momentum, and score game after game after game after game, which could be an extraordinary help.
"But it does not help to wish for something that does not exist, so we try to make the most of the situation as it is now but this is the pressure you live up to naturally when you sign up for Chelsea."
The bigger picture
Abraham is Chelsea's top scorer across all competitions on 12, but has figured just five times under Tuchel to see questions asked of his future.
Defensive stability has been making life easier for the Blues, with 15 clean sheets collected through 20 outings under their current coach.
That record has helped them into the FA Cup final and Champions League semi-finals, but there is still work to do in order to secure major silverware and wrap up a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Further reading
- Werner makes 'everybody is happy' claim amid exit rumours
- Chelsea express 'deep regret' for joining Super League
- Lampard was not ready for Chelsea job, says Jorginho