Chelsea: Timo Werner was never just a goal scorer

Chelsea fans seem disappointed in Timo Werner’s performance so far. Could this be because they were excited for the wrong reasons?

Chelsea completed the signing of Timo Werner from RB Leipzig long before the transfer window opened. Many fans were excited ahead of the 2020/21 Premier League season, but it would seem like many of these fans were expectant based on Werner’s goal tally alone. They seemed to have expected Werner to jump into a talented team and, by logic, hammer in another 28 league goals. Yes, Werner should be expected to score a lot of goals (he is a very talented striker after all) but it seems a lot of his performance at Leipzig wasn’t given the right context.

First of all, the formation. Leipzig’s three most used formations were two-striker formations, according to WhoScored. Werner was almost always playing with a strike partner at Leipzig. This means Werner’s strike partner could contain centerbacks while he exploited whatever space was created, which is part of what a two-striker formation is for. Werner could escape being the focus of centerbacks’ attention due to his strike partner. This meant Werner could get on the end of second balls in the middle and final third. His speed meant that he could easily turn seemingly harmless situations into goal scoring opportunities.

Another important ingredient that defined Werner’s performance for the German club is his speed and movement. One of the disadvantages of watching only YouTube highlight reels is that most/all of what you see is goals and maybe assists. Even then, from the highlight reels, you’d have seen that Werner used his speed and excellent off the ball movement to make himself difficult to mark. Good off the ball movement also means that you can not only create chances for yourself but also for your teammates. This is evident in the fact that Werner led Leipzig with big chances created in the league last season (14). This shows that Werner’s contribution to his teams goes beyond goals.

Werner’s heat map from last season, according to SofaScore, also reveals that though Werner almost always played as a striker, he drifted wide left a lot. This did not cause conflict because Leipzig didn’t have players designated to those areas. He also sometimes played as a left winger for Leipzig on some of the few times they played a 3-4-3 formation.

Translate that to playing for Chelsea in the Premier League and you instantly see it’s not exactly the same conditions. For one, Frank Lampard doesn’t play a two striker formation.

“Then just play two up top!! It’s so simple! Ugh!!” No, it’s not that simple. You choose a formation that fits majority of your players, not a formation that fits just one player. Two striker formations (4-4-2, 3-4-1-2, 4-Diamond-2, 4-2-2-2) require extreme levels of discipline and tactical awareness. Chelsea right now is everything but disciplined, so Lampard can’t just go to a two-striker formation to “get the best out of Werner”.

The other factor is that the space Werner is getting to stretch his legs, is considerably less. At least 75 percent of teams in the Premier League will sit back and just play a low block. Chelsea then need players like Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic to break teams down. Werner has not had as much freedom in the Premier League but even then he has been making his mark because of his excellent off the ball movement. Werner also missed many big chances last season, missing a total of 21 big chances in the league.

Many fans dissatisfaction with Werner is coming mainly from the frustration of the back to back losses and the need to lash out and find something to blame. Some think that because Werner scored a lot of goals last season he should also be scoring as much goals now and the reason he’s not is because he’s not being played at striker.

Werner’s goal scoring should not blind fans to all the other things he does and all the other ways in which he contributes to the team. It’s a relatively new set of teammates and they’re still building communication and synergy. A 17-game unbeaten run should not blind people to the fact that the development is not yet complete. Werner will continue to adapt to the league, he will still score a lot of goals. Good things take time.