Chelsea’s Timo Werner is lucky to have joined the club when he did

Timo Werner is a volume striker and he is lucky to have joined Chelsea at a time when the Blues can support that volume and the fans have the patience.

Alvaro Morata’s final game for Chelsea was against Nottingham Forest. In that match he missed two wide open sitters on goal and that is all anyone wanted to talk about ahead of his loan/transfer that January. What is rarely talked about is the two goals the Blues scored in that match were both Morata’s.

Morata is finding a bit of a resurgence in Juventus now, which he also had at Atletico Madrid to a lesser degree. What has happened? He has better support on the field. Morata is a volume striker. He may score twice, but he’ll need five great chances to do that. The team around him has to create that often to see him succeed.

Much of the half time talk yesterday was about Timo Werner missing shots. The game ended with a similar story even after he set up Tammy Abraham for a goal and had one chalked offside. Mind, Werner, not unlike Morata, is doing fine goal wise. Eight goals and four assists in 13 matches is nearly a contribution per game and even half a contribution per game is great for a striker in a top six club. But, not unlike Morata, much of the focus was on the shots he missed rather than the shots he has been scoring or the other work he does.

Tammy Abraham has similar criticisms. That narrative has started to shift as of late, but there is still a great deal of surprise every time his five goals and five assists in 13 is brought up. Ideally, half a goal per game would be the ideal but if his contribution is far past that it doesn’t matter as much.

So what is happening with Werner? Simply put, Werner, not unlike Morata, is a volume striker. He will help the team in a number of ways, but when it comes to the goal, his production is as much of a result of how many shots he takes as his ability. That is not necessarily a negative. After all, Cristiano Ronaldo is also a volume goal scorer. Players like that take shots and their chances and get a lot of goals. They just need a lot of chances to make the math work.

That is where Werner is lucky. Morata did not have the benefit of many creative attackers around him to supply him with opportunities. He does now with Juventus and the national team. To a lesser extent, he had it at Atletico Madrid but the Spanish side doesn’t create much as it is.

Werner has Hakim Ziyech pulling the strings like a master. Abraham is proving an increasingly productive partner. Reece James and Ben Chilwell are a constant source of crosses and cutbacks. Werner is surrounded by players to feed him the ball. He may need five chances a game to score, but he will score if given those chances.

That is why the criticism against Werner not only yesterday, but as of late, feels harsh and reminiscent of Morata’s. Should he have scored more against Newcastle? Sure. Does focusing too much on that distract from his actual contributions? Absolutely. Had Werner joined under Antonio Conte or Maurizio Sarri with less creativity around him, he may be facing a sudden turn of support like Morata.

But that luckily isn’t what happened. So much of succeeding in the game as a player or manager is being in the right place at the right time, not just on the pitch but in the career. Werner joined Chelsea at the perfect time. Now fans just need to cut him some slack and let him play the odds like other volume strikers. The Blues are good for it and Werner is too.