Werner WILL come good, insists Tuchel
THOMAS TUCHEL gave his emphatic backing to Timo Werner after his horror miss for Germany. The Chelsea boss told his fellow countryman to stop trying to force things after Werner fluffed his lines from close range — moments before North Macedonia’s shock winner condemned Germany to their first World Cup qualifying defeat since they lost 5-1 to England 20 years ago. The miss came with Werner, 25, on a run of one goal in his last 17 games for club and country. And one publication cruelly poked fun by awarding Werner honorary citizenship of North Macedonia. Tuchel, who confirmed his forward will start against West Brom today, said: ‘It’s an easy solution and moment to point the finger to Timo which I cannot fully understand, I will not accept it and I’m happy he is back here because he is protected. We demand a lot and get a lot from him.’ Indeed, £47.5million signing Werner’s contribution of 10 goals and 10 assists in all competitions this season is higher than any other Chelsea player. Tuchel said: ‘If this is the most critical point in your career you can still accept it and say it’s pretty impressive so far. On Thursday, I sent him in from training because he wanted to do some finishing with us. I said you don’t need that, your body, your brain knows how to score. ‘This guy has scored since he was five years old and his body remembers how to do that. It will come back, it is just a matter of time.’ M Chelsea v West Brom, 12.30pm, LIVE on BT Sport 1.