🇩🇪 Timo Werner

[manpe 10,861]

Spot on. I was excited to see Werner come on not for a winger... "maybe we'll finally attack through the middle" I thought... nope! High crosses still, the only high cross that almost got us something was that Chilwell volley. Reminiscent of when Hazard played striker and the team kept lumping high passes to him.

Lampard doesn't understand we don't have Drogba in our team.

If we're gonna persist with this high crossing shit then just switch to 4-4-2 and play Tammy and Giroud together, sell Werner as he has no use in such an archaic team. No need to work on attacking patterns or anything, just lump it high and keep tight blocks in defence.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

10 minutes ago, manpe said:

Spot on. I was excited to see Werner come on not for a winger... "maybe we'll finally attack through the middle" I thought... nope! High crosses still, the only high cross that almost got us something was that Chilwell volley. Reminiscent of when Hazard played striker and the team kept lumping high passes to him.

Lampard doesn't understand we don't have Drogba in our team.

If we're gonna persist with this high crossing shit then just switch to 4-4-2 and play Tammy and Giroud together, sell Werner as he has no use in such an archaic team. No need to work on attacking patterns or anything, just lump it high and keep tight blocks in defence.

Honestly the way we are playing, we might as well hire Sean Dyche of Burnley because he is an expert in organizing a team that crosses to his strikers, and he'll have better players in Chelsea. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

Honestly the way we are playing, we might as well hire Sean Dyche of Burnley because he is an expert in organizing a team that crosses to his strikers, and he'll have better players in Chelsea. 

Tony Pulis is available again.  

[kellzfresh 7,229]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

Tony Pulis is available again.  

When last did I hear of him?  

[Jase 43,479]

31 minutes ago, kellzfresh said:

When last did I hear of him?  

Just got sacked by Sheffield Wednesday after 1 win in 10 games. lol

[Jase 43,479]

Alan Shearer analyses Timo Werner’s misses and how he can start firing again

https://theathletic.com/2290861/2020/12/30/chelsea-timo-werner-shearer/

Having sat and squirmed through every one of his missed chances for Chelsea, I know precisely what Timo Werner will be going through. First thing in the morning, middle of the day, last thing at night, the same thought will be jabbing at his brain: “Where is my next goal coming from?”

He’ll be praying for one to go in off his arse, for that little fluke, anything to have that feeling again. When you lose it, nothing is worse.

In those 11 games in all competitions since his last goal, you can see Werner’s desperation fester and grow to the point where if you’d been watching him play for the first time recently you’d assume he was just terrible at finishing.

His record for Germany and RB Leipzig tells you otherwise, but we’re talking about a player whose confidence is zero — it’s shattered and battered — and he’s got no belief in his ability to put the ball in the back of the net.

What’s interesting is just how that lack of confidence can wheedle its way into your body, how it can affect your balance and technique and body shape, creating a classic vicious circle and I think my own experience is worth mentioning here, if only because I played the same position and went through the same thing. There’s no easy way out of it — just a retreat to the training ground — but I’ll come back to that.

My career burst into life when I scored a hat-trick against Arsenal on my full debut for Southampton. I was 17 and being eased into the first team, but what happened next was a bit less newsworthy; no more goals for the remainder of that season and none at all the following campaign. I can remember it vividly; “Jesus Christ, I can’t score for toffee.” It was incredibly frustrating.

Later, there were two years without scoring in an England shirt. I was still banging in goals for Blackburn Rovers at that point which made it slightly easier, I suppose, although I was reporting for international duty thinking to myself, “Is this ever going to change?” Thankfully, it did when it mattered and Euro ’96 came along, but that sensation was truly horrible. You question everything.

Your technique can desert you, 100 per cent. It’s the same with golf; when you’re playing well, you don’t even think about the four-foot putt or when you line up for a drive on the first tee. You just hit it. When form goes, your whole technique can go. You over-think it, you over-analyse and compensate. Nothing comes naturally any more. Everything becomes difficult when you’re going through a barren spell.

That’s exactly where Werner finds himself now, as the following examples illustrate. Until I sat down and analysed his misses, I hadn’t appreciated just how bad some of his finishing has been.

---

Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa, December 28

This isn’t a great opportunity — there are plenty of bodies in front of him — but it’s a great demonstration of how the basics can be lost. Werner came off the substitutes’ bench in the 72nd minute and, if anything, that puts greater pressure on him to make a difference and get it right. It’s not his fault that Chelsea paid £47.5 million for him, but there is a responsibility and expectation that comes with it.

Werner is leaning back as he shoots and that’s something you’re told repeatedly to avoid as a kid; lean back and it goes sky high, get over the ball and it stays low. As I say, it’s not an easy chance, but he looks so desperate to get his shot away that it’s clouding his judgment and affecting his technique. He makes a right hash of it. And, sure enough, sky-high it goes.

Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea, December 26

I’ve frozen this just before Werner hits the ball and it’s a model of desperation. I’d never criticise anybody for wanting to get a shot away — that instinct is fine — but look at his stance; it’s desperation to help his team, impress his manager.

He’s actually a yard ahead of the ball, so he’s having to adjust everything. There’s no way he makes a good connection because of his body position and the outcome — a weak shot that dribbles wide — is inevitable.

Chelsea 3-0 West Ham, December 21

This is a game of bad touches and faulty thinking and how that can make life infinitely more difficult for strikers. Look at the position where Werner receives the ball for the first chance. Look at how much space he has and at the size of the gap to the goalkeeper’s right. For me, a striker who is among the goals and full of confidence doesn’t even think about taking a touch there. He hits it first time.

Werner is not that striker, though, and everything falls apart from there. Instead, he takes it with the outside of his right boot, his body is in the wrong position to do it and his touch is poor. The ball is now right under his feet, so he has to adjust himself again, which means another touch and because of that, the keeper is bigger and covering far more of the goal. He is now the one in control. Werner is stumbling over it, off balance, having to sort his feet out.

His second chance from that game tells a similar tale, although I think that Werner was within his rights to take a touch here because the weight of the pass dictates it. The extraordinary thing is the contrast between where he receives the ball and where he ends up shooting from. He goes from a brilliant position, where he has the entire goal to aim at, to a difficult one, where his angle has been cut off. His probability of scoring plummets.

Again, this is purely about how confidence can impinge upon technique, but it’s an absolutely awful, rotten touch, which sees the ball travel eight or nine yards. The one positive is that he’s still getting into these positions.

The old cliche is right; the time to worry is when you’re not getting chances, although it’s easy for me to say that when I’m out of the game. It probably doesn’t pacify you when you’re playing and being bombarded with advice.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 -1 Chelsea, December 15

Another big lean backwards. What’s curious about this clip is that when you watch it at full pace, Werner does not need to stretch this much. It’s not as if he falls over afterwards. He’s done the hard work by getting into the box, but he actually slows down and checks his run, extending his stride.

The ball is on the half-volley, but it’s the middle of the goal, 12 yards out and he’s making it far more difficult for himself. He’s stretching, leaning back, all over the place.

Chelsea 3-1 Leeds, December 5

I’m really not sure what to say about this apart from, “Fucking hell”. If ever you wanted or needed a tap-in… The ball has been hit to the far post from a corner, it’s pretty much on the line and somehow it goes backwards. He’s stretching and he’s trying to tap it in with his studs, which is fair enough, but he just gets it all wrong. It’s a sitter.

From later in the same game… again, it’s that extra touch. It’s a great pass from Olivier Giroud but Werner’s first touch is terrible again and because it’s so bad, it means another one.

If the first touch was towards the goal or even slightly to his right, the defender doesn’t get near him, but the second takes him wide which means he’s reducing his angle all the time and having to come around the ball. The keeper makes a decent save, but he had time to set himself.

Later still, there was another chance when Werner is running onto the ball in the box. I think he could have got there quicker, he shortens his stride and takes too many steps. He’s waiting, waiting and waiting and thinking about it. It should be: go on, get onto it, stick it into the net.

Rennes 1-2 Chelsea, November 24

Unbelievable. If you play through the build-up, his body is just contorted, he’s tying himself up in knots as the ball gets to him and he checks twice to get around it. There are one, two extra steps; it’s as if his feet are working at a different speed to the rest of him.

It’s fine to open himself up — it’s right to do that — but it’s how he does it which is particularly weird and awkward.

Chelsea 4-1 Sheffield United, November 7

At this stage, Werner is coming to the end of a run of 11 goals in 12 games for club and country and it was the last time he scored for Chelsea. It’s worth including because it’s a great example of someone who isn’t thinking about anything. He doesn’t look, he doesn’t check his run, his technique is all right, his balance is there, he doesn’t have to touch the ball or push away from goal.

The only thing that will happen here is that Werner will score.

So the big question is how he gets back there. He can’t knock on the manager’s door and say he should be starting matches, because when you look at the chances he’s missing, he doesn’t deserve to. History suggests it’s not going to last and it can’t do, both for his sake and Frank Lampard’s sake. It has to change.

If I was Werner, I would be straining for the ball every time Chelsea are awarded a penalty. It’s such a great opportunity to get up and running again. You’d be amazed what it does to you, that feeling of seeing the ball hit the net. You grow two feet taller instantly.

On the training pitch, I’d be doubling down on work. I would get someone to knock balls into me from little angles, just behind the goal. I’d stand five or six yards out and just roll shots into an empty net. Maybe that sounds simplistic, but I’d do it time and time again, just to build my confidence up. Then I’d bring in a keeper — a first-teamer wouldn’t do it, so I’d rope in someone from the youth team — and do the same thing.

It’s about repetition, repetition, repetition. “Practice makes permanent,” as Sir Bobby Robson, my old manager at Newcastle United, used to say. The next time the ball comes to you in a match, that repetition kicks in.

[Jase 43,479]

I know he also missed a lot of chances in Germany but having read Alan Shearer's piece above, it feels as though we suddenly got a different Werner back after the last international break, one who suddenly can't score but provide an assist here and there. So many, if not all, of his bad misses came after that international break. It's almost as if an imposter took his place! Did that 6-0 loss to Spain really affect him? Or did he suddenly hit a wall and got fatigue at that point after having so many minutes? 

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

10 minutes ago, Jason said:

I know he also missed a lot of chances in Germany but having read Alan Shearer's piece above, it feels as though we suddenly got a different Werner back after the last international break, one who suddenly can't score but provide an assist here and there. So many, if not all, of his bad misses came after that international break. It's almost as if an imposter took his place! Did that 6-0 loss to Spain really affect him? Or did he suddenly hit a wall and got fatigue at that point after having so many minutes? 

IMO I think it\s he's trying too much to prove himself, and the harder he tries the worse it makes him.

I agree with Shearer, but then again what do I know, I never played the game apart for fun, but I do believe that once he does score it'll lift the burden that he's feeling.

For me I like our 2 german lads, but it will take time for them to integrate into the team, just hope for their sake others see it that way.

[Jase 43,479]

11 minutes ago, bigbluewillie said:

IMO I think it\s he's trying too much to prove himself, and the harder he tries the worse it makes him.

Not so sure because he was doing just fine, in terms of scoring anyway, before the last international break and then everything started going south after that.

[Tomo 21,751]

44 minutes ago, Jason said:

I know he also missed a lot of chances in Germany but having read Alan Shearer's piece above, it feels as though we suddenly got a different Werner back after the last international break, one who suddenly can't score but provide an assist here and there. So many, if not all, of his bad misses came after that international break. It's almost as if an imposter took his place! Did that 6-0 loss to Spain really affect him? Or did he suddenly hit a wall and got fatigue at that point after having so many minutes? 

Upto and including Leeds he wasn't that bad comical misses aside. 

[Jase 43,479]

43 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Upto and including Leeds he wasn't that bad comical misses aside. 

Please, don't get me started again on anything other than his misses... 

[killer1257 3,282]

I thought his LW position caused him to make those misses [emoji28].

Alan Shearer clearly knows nothing because on TC, everyone agrees that it is Werner's position that causes him to miss chances [emoji19]

 

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[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, killer1257 said:

I thought his LW position caused him to make those misses .

Alan Shearer clearly knows nothing because on TC, everyone agrees that it is Werner's position that causes him to miss chances

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People read what they want to ready and not what it's actually written? 

[Vesper 30,260]

9 hours ago, Jason said:

Not so sure because he was doing just fine, in terms of scoring anyway, before the last international break and then everything started going south after that.

Frank needs to take as much of the pressure off the both of them as best he can

they are BOTH world class players

he also truly needs to use them correctly, formational-wise and positionally

there is not a chance we bought two busts, no way, not possible given their track records and play before they came

100% on Lampard if he fucks them up, sorry, not sorry

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

21 hours ago, killer1257 said:

I thought his LW position caused him to make those misses .

Alan Shearer clearly knows nothing because on TC, everyone agrees that it is Werner's position that causes him to miss chances

 

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Oh ok you know it all and Shearer knows nothing

Let me inform you, we on TC do know that LW or RW for that matter is not his preferred position, but that is not the reason he missing chances.

He's missed chances playing down the middle so how do you account for that?

[killer1257 3,282]

Oh ok you know it all and Shearer knows nothing
Let me inform you, we on TC do know that LW or RW for that matter is not his preferred position, but that is not the reason he missing chances.
He's missed chances playing down the middle so how do you account for that?

I was being sarcastic bro

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Lampard on Werner improving his finishing and facing low blocks. Nothing on using him as a winger...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/02/frank-lampard-chelsea-striker-timo-werner

“Every player goes through tough times in front of goal,” Chelsea’s manager said. “The beauty is that he has been getting chances because that is definitely a positive. I found work on the training ground to be the only way to turn that; simple work and repetition of finishing, which Timo is doing.

“When you work like that it is a matter of time because his natural attributes will get him in front of goal and away from defenders. If his confidence comes down from missing a couple, that is only natural. It is my job to help him with his confidence. I feel the goals will come.”

One of the criticisms of Werner, who has eight goals this season, is that he struggles against deep defences. The German could have more space on the break against City, although Lampard believes the striker’s threat is far from one-dimensional.

“I think Timo’s attributes can be very powerful on the counterattack but there are lots of things that we need in the game against City, on and off the ball,” he said. “He is always a huge weapon on that and I think he will become a huge weapon against low blocks. Sometimes the onus is on us to get the ball in the right areas.”

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

I feel like this one has kind of been overblown. Hes been truly bad 2, maybe 3x this season and exclusively in roles where he has not been in his preferred position. He's been fine IMO.

 

The elephant in the room is the other German we bought this summer.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

 

Man what a jinx my previous post was.

[NikkiCFC 8,365]

11 games without a goal. He has no business starting over Giroud or even Tammy. 

I said it like month ago and now I'm even more sure about this. Play this:

Pulisic Giroud CHO 

         Havertz