FROWN AND OUT
Werner needs to cheer up to regain his place says Tuchel
THOMAS TUCHEL has told Timo Werner he needs to put a smile back on his face to win his place in Chelsea’s team.
The new manager has had just three training sessions to assess his players. But Tuchel, below, has already come to the conclusion that £45million buy Werner is too down in the dumps after scoring one goal – in the FA Cup against Morecambe – in his past 16 games. Tuchel, who omitted his fellow German for his opening game in charge – a 0-0 draw against Wolves – said: “Why did I not use him on Wednesday? I see his face is a bit closed and the weight is on his shoulders.
“He cares a lot and that shows he has a fantastic character. “Sometimes, as a striker, it does not help if you care a lot. Sometimes, as a striker, it’s better to not care at all. “He’s not that guy, however. He cares and he’s not happy with himself and with the way things went. “Right now it’s important to rebuild his trust in himself and to find a smile on his face and stop doubting too much. It’s my job to do this, to help him with this and then to find also a position where we can use his strengths.” Tuchel is hopeful, too, that by spending time working on a new attacking philosophy at the training ground, he can find a system whereWerner is able to flourish. “From his profile, I would say he prefers to have space,” he said.
“That’s clear because he’s super-fast and he likes to play in the last line, very, very, very high up, but a little bit more to the left, half open to the goal and to receive the balls into the open space.
“Can we develop movements, patterns, behaviour to use his quality in narrow spaces?
“That’s my job and I’m absolutely convinced we can because the guy is open, the guy is friendly and the guy is eager to learn.
“There will be games – on Wednesday we had 80 per cent ball possession – and it felt like we played 90 per cent of the match in the last 30 metres.
“But there are movements to create with him that he can help us, I am sure.”