Enigmatic Havertz gives Tuchel plenty to ponder
While Thomas Tuchel is getting away from the game over the next week or two, he may still have a few football-related questions nagging away at him.
His biggest concern, as ever during an international break, is that none of Chelsea’s players become injured, particularly Christian Pulisic, who is still playing with pain as he joins up with the United States for two World Cup qualifiers.
Second, the coach will be thinking of ways to make Chelsea more clinical than they were on Saturday, when they were held at home by struggling Burnley despite dominating. They had 70 per cent of possession, 25 attempts on goal as opposed to Burnley’s five, and more than twice as many passes and touches of the ball. But a combination of missed chances and the outstanding goalkeeping of Nick Pope kept Chelsea to a single goal from Kai Havertz, before Matej Vydra scored a late equaliser.
Third, Tuchel may ponder the enigmatic Havertz, who was signed for a huge fee as the wunderkind of German football but has flickered only intermittently into moments of brilliance. The jury is still out on Havertz and where he fits in at Chelsea. While his scoring record for Germany is good, the 22-year-old hit only four league goals last season, and his 33rd-minute header against Burnley was only his second in the Premier League this season. He has been playing in the forward line since Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner were injured last month, and with those two ready to return after the international break, the question will be whether Havertz can keep his place in the starting XI.
Signed as an attacking midfelder from Bayer Leverkusen for £71million in the summer of 2020, it can be argued his best moments at Chelsea have been as a false nine rather than leading the line. He will certainly go down in Chelsea history for the goal that beat Manchester City to win the Champions League, but there appear to have been as many misses as hits in his time at the club so far.
That was the case on Saturday, when Havertz was guilty, along with Callum Hudson-odoi, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Ross Barkley, of missing the target when he should have scored. He drifted in and out of the action and has neither the physical presence of Lukaku nor the pace of Werner.
If Tuchel continues to favour those two, it is hard to see where Havertz starts, with the head coach’s most popular midfield shape consisting of two wing-backs and a double pivot of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic. Tuchel rarely plays with a classic No10, and if he does it is more likely to be Mason Mount.
There may be more competition for Havertz if Pulisic comes through the games against Mexico and Jamaica unscathed. The American has still not fully recovered from the ankle injury that he sustained on international duty in September.
Tuchel admitted that he was concerned about both Pulisic and France’s N’golo Kante during this international break. “We have no control over it. I am always a bit frightened,” he said.