Timo Werner

[MoroccanBlue 5,199]

If he's not scoring, he's creating chances. That's what we want in players who are in a rut. Always getting involved. 

[Vytis33 1,043]

Has had his misses no doubt but keeps coming like a freight train all game long.  Love that trait about him.  No head down sulking like Morata. 

[Azul 1,615]

Maybe I should have worded it properly but don't get me wrong, I am not making excuses for him and those missed chances. He should have scored a few goals today. We all know it and am sure Werner know it as well. That is that.
The wider point, as I mentioned above, is how we are using him. We are using him out wide like a winger and let's face it, he's not a winger. He's not going to consistently dribble at players, dribble past them to create chances like a normal winger would. When we use him out wide, we practically lose that kind of threat from a wide position. We and he might be better served playing as a striker upfront, where he can focus on just doing damage there, instead of having to chase people out wide, run up and down, create chances, score goals etc.

Very true. I hope that he starts as a striker against Krasnodar. He needs to score some goals against them to get back in his element.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Azul said:

19 minutes ago, Jason said:

Maybe I should have worded it properly but don't get me wrong, I am not making excuses for him and those missed chances. He should have scored a few goals today. We all know it and am sure Werner know it as well. That is that.
The wider point, as I mentioned above, is how we are using him. We are using him out wide like a winger and let's face it, he's not a winger. He's not going to consistently dribble at players, dribble past them to create chances like a normal winger would. When we use him out wide, we practically lose that kind of threat from a wide position. We and he might be better served playing as a striker upfront, where he can focus on just doing damage there, instead of having to chase people out wide, run up and down, create chances, score goals etc.

Very true. I hope that he starts as a striker against Krasnodar. He needs to score some goals against them to get back in his element.

As much as it is tempting to do that, I wouldn't risk it. We have Everton, Wolves and West Ham to come after that in the space of a week.

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

Is it really just last couple of games? In the league he did not score in 8 from 11 games. Two goals against SU and Burnley were out of the context because it was already game over and in those games he also had some misses...

That leaves only Southampton where he was excellent! In CL in 5 games he did not score apart from penalties! Strikers are judged by goals as always so he needs to improve big time.

So take away pens he scored in just 3 games from 16.

[Jase 43,479]

7 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Is it really just last couple of games? In the league he did not score in 8 from 11 games. Two goals against SU and Burnley were out of the context because it was already game over and in those games he also had some misses...

That leaves only Southampton where he was excellent! In CL in 5 games he did not score apart from penalties! Strikers are judged by goals as always so he needs to improve big time.

So take away pens he scored in just 3 games from 16.

Ironically, he's our top scorer this season.

Make no mistake, that he should have scored more is obvious. Some of the recent misses have been shit...even I could only laugh in despair!  

That aside, are we suddenly just dismissing the period of adaptation, the fact that the whole team took some time to get going and all that earlier in the season? 

And by the way, he also has 3 assists this season and has won 3-4 penalties as well. 

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

3 minutes ago, Jason said:

Ironically, he's our top scorer this season.

Make no mistake, that he should have scored more is obvious. Some of the recent misses have been shit...even I could only laugh in despair!  

That aside, are we suddenly just dismissing the period of adaptation, the fact that the whole team took some time to get going and all that earlier in the season? 

And by the way, he also has 3 assists this season and has won 3-4 penalties as well. 

Morata started better... 

[Tomo 21,681]

I thought he played well despite that horror miss (not blaming him for the other two they were world class saves by Meslier).

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, NikkiCFC said:

Morata started better... 

LOL and look what happened...

And the comparison with Morata just because of the missed chances is just fucking lazy and stupid. For starters, had Morata missed all those chances that Werner had recently, he would have started to sulk and hide away from the action. But that's not the case with Werner, is it? He always keeps going at it, going for the shots etc. You might make his numbers look unimpressive by breaking them down but overall, it's been a decent return for someone in his first season in England, with the club in this crazy season. If he's already posting that kind of numbers while on a slow start, just imagine the kind of numbers he will start putting up when he and the team really get going!

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

LOL and look what happened...

And the comparison with Morata just because of the missed chances is just fucking lazy and stupid. For starters, had Morata missed all those chances that Werner had recently, he would have started to sulk and hide away from the action. But that's not the case with Werner, is it? He always keeps going at it, going for the shots etc. You might make his numbers look unimpressive by breaking them down but overall, it's been a decent return for someone in his first season in England, with the club in this crazy season. If he's already posting that kind of numbers while on a slow start, just imagine the kind of numbers he will start putting up when he and the team really get going!

No one is comparing him to Morata. I am just messing around. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, NikkiCFC said:

No one is comparing him to Morata. I am just messing around. 

Still... 

[Vesper 27,317]

Werner missing chances but blistering pace is invaluable for Lampard’s side 

https://theathletic.com/2244122/2020/12/07/werner-chelsea-speed-premier-league/

When he inadvertently executed a brilliant last-ditch clearance of Olivier Giroud’s goal-bound flick against Leeds United on Saturday, one question that has dogged Timo Werner in recent weeks was inevitably asked again: Does he need a rest?

It was reasonable to wonder. After all, Werner has appeared in 17 of Chelsea’s 18 matches this season, started 16 times and played the most minutes (1,388) of anyone in head coach Frank Lampard’s squad. And that number doesn’t even include the three starts and four total appearances and 253 minutes for Germany in the Nations League during the last two international breaks. Such a gruelling schedule would be enough to leave anyone feeling jaded, mentally if not physically.

Less convenient for that particular narrative, however, were the events of the 93rd minute in that win over Leeds. Tracking back to help protect a 2-1 lead, striker Tammy Abraham poked the ball free to Reece James in the right-back position, who played a clever pass to find Mateo Kovacic in space deep in his own half.

The Croatian slowly advanced towards the halfway line with no obvious passing options — until Werner set off running outside him…

… approximately six seconds, 50 metres and one feeble attempt by Stuart Dallas to pull him back later, the German slowed, steadied himself and rolled the ball across the penalty area for Christian Pulisic to tap in Chelsea’s decisive third. Game over.

As a sequence, it conjured instant memories of the laboured away win over Newcastle United a fortnight earlier, when Werner shook off missing two gilt-edged scoring chances to embark on a similar blistering long-distance run — this time entirely with the ball at his feet — and set up Abraham for the goal that put Chelsea 2-0 up in the 65th minute.

The main takeaways from these moments are two-fold: firstly, that we might have to look beyond notions of fatigue when discussing Werner’s finishing; and secondly, that regardless of whether or not he is converting easy chances, Chelsea’s shiny new striker retains the hugely valuable ability to run really, really fast over long distances at virtually any point in a match.

You can’t teach raw, blistering speed. Ally it with highly refined instincts for finding the most direct route through or around scrambling defenders towards the opposition goal, and it’s easy to see why Lampard prizes what the summer buy from RB Leipzig brings to this Chelsea team even if he isn’t taking his best scoring opportunities.

“I’ve got no worries about Timo,” Lampard insisted on Monday. “He’s come into this league and made a big impact straight away. His speed, his direct nature, the things he creates for the team, the fact that he’s getting lots of chances and makes a lot of chances through his explosive nature and desire to be in the right areas — (those things) I love. I’ve got no worries about him. Timo’s going to be a huge player for this club.

“He’s scored some goals already — of course, he’ll want to be scoring more — and he’s missed a couple. But he’ll keep getting there and he’ll score those goals.”

The advanced numbers back up Lampard’s bullishness: Werner ranks second in the Chelsea squad for goal-creating actions per 90 minutes (0.76) across all competitions this season, behind only Hakim Ziyech (1.33). His non-penalty expected goals (npxG) rating per 90 minutes is 0.42, behind only Giroud (0.65) and Abraham (0.46), while he also ranks third in the squad with 0.15 expected assists (xA) per 90 minutes, behind only Ziyech (0.44) and James (0.20).

Werner’s transition threat in particular, whether operating from the left flank or the right, has been a significant reason why Chelsea’s attack hasn’t suffered much despite Pulisic’s early-season injury problems — a startling fact, when you consider just how integral the American was to the functioning of their team in the final third for long stretches of last season.

The imminent absence of fellow newcomer Ziyech with a hamstring injury, likely for much of Chelsea’s festive schedule, will give Lampard more of a chance to start both in the same attack. If that happens, you can expect to see more teams carved open in transition within a matter of seconds over the next few weeks, as Leeds were at the weekend. If there’s a Premier League blueprint for how they can co-exist, it’s the slick, high-speed combinations between Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane that have helped make Liverpool a juggernaut in recent seasons.

Werner is similar in style to Salah when deployed on the left of Chelsea’s attack, if not quite comparable in terms of ruthlessness in front of goal just yet.

Lampard is confident the 24-year-old will get there sooner rather than later, but his sheer speed and sharp movement will give opposing defences more than enough to worry about until he does.

[Dan Lee 47]

I believe in Timo. He will score a lot for us. I know that he missed many goals, but I don't worry about it. It happens for everybody at certain time of life. As a fan, I support him no matter what. I see his potential and his contribution to Chelsea. He is a good player.

[NikkiCFC 7,582]

Play him as CF or don't play him at all. 

[R2D2 368]

1 minute ago, NikkiCFC said:

Play him as CF or don't play him at all. 

We don't have any other fit wingers in team, think that's why he keep getting shafted on the wing.

[Jase 43,479]

Hardly a secret that I was over the moon when we signed Werner but really, what was the point of us even signing him when we aren't even utilizing his strengths? Did we buy him only because of his goalscoring numbers at Leipzig? 

Don't get me wrong, am not making excuses for some of the basics that he couldn't do right of late but it's clear as hell that he isn't a winger and yet, he gets put out there to do winger things. Moreover, he did miss a few bad chances in the 2-3 games after the last international break but more recently, we have barely even created any chances for him. So really, what's the point of him then? Why didn't we just go buy an out-and-out winger? 

[Jase 43,479]

10 minutes ago, R2D2 said:

We don't have any other fit wingers in team, think that's why he keep getting shafted on the wing.

Pulisic aside, am pretty sure we had CHO and Ziyech available at the same time at one point but Lampard didn't even bother to try it out.

[Special Juan 27,103]

Until he keeps playing wide we will keep asking the same questions as to why he is not doing it....he needs to be central