Chelsea can’t afford to play Timo Werner alone up top most days

Despite all evidence to the contrary, many are still begging for Timo Werner to play alone up top. Chelsea can’t afford that.

There seems to be a common consensus that some midfielders can only play in a trio. Take one away and make it a pair and many will immediately state that the player is not capable of handling the greater work load. Interestingly enough, this does not seem to hold true for strikers who play in a pair and then play alone up top.

Timo Werner has played alone up top for Chelsea in eight of his 24 appearances. Two of those he came off the bench (Sevilla and Aston Villa). In the remaining six he scored two goals and had an assist against Southampton (a 3-3 draw), a goal and assist against Krasnodar, and an assist against Brighton. The games where he had zero goal involvement include Sevilla, Manchester United, and Manchester City.

That’s not terrible, but it’s hardly great in the shadow of Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud this season. Werner had more goals than both last season but that came in a strike partnership. In fact, Werner’s entire career comes off the back of a strike partnership. Every time he has played alone up top, he has left the team somewhat crippled.

This is not to blame Werner for Chelsea’s poor run of form. But the simple fact of the matter is Chelsea’s current style doesn’t suit a striker like him up top. He can’t pin centerbacks in because he likes to roam out of the box. The Blues have no other player that can move in a fill that space which leaves opposition defenses open to defend more aggressively in other areas. Several times as the Blues advance, Werner finds himself out wide (despite not being a winger which is often criticized) or very deep centrally. The end result is the same. No one is in the box to put it in.

There were similar fears when Diego Costa joined the club, but Chelsea played a different style then and had a winger in Eden Hazard who would fill the box if Costa roamed away. A striker like that suits a team that is hitting teams hard on the counter but not one that is trying to break opponents down. That’s why Costa very quickly found himself on the outs with the Spanish national team. They simply didn’t have a place for a striker like him.

Werner’s struggles alone up top mirror Costa’s for the national team, and so long as Chelsea looks to play possession and break teams down (because let’s be real, most teams are going to pack it in against Chelsea because it works), Werner cannot play up top alone. He made his career off playing with a partner which Chelsea has worked around by playing Werner “wide”.

And make no mistake; Werner playing wide isn’t why he’s missing chances. In fact, playing with a partner last season, his heat map looked very similar to the one at Chelsea. He’s playing how he’s going to play. The issue is that he’s either had a strike partner he pairs poorly with (Olivier Giroud) or he’s just been plain out of form.

But more than anything, starting the very out of form Werner up top over the very in form Tammy Abraham or Olivier Giroud was a ridiculous decision by Frank Lampard. Chelsea didn’t lose because of Werner, but they certainly didn’t look like winning with him either. Furthermore, it completely undermines the notion of meritocracy Lampard has frequently mentioned. You play your in form players over your out of form players, not the reverse.

There are days when Werner up top alone could work. Evidence suggests those are few and far between. He’s a striker that needs a partner to play at his best or, at the very least, constant chances for runs in behind. Barring one or the other, Werner shouldn’t be playing alone up top for Chelsea any time soon again.