Chelsea: Frank Lampard and the Timo Werner dilemma

After recent performances by Timo Werner, Frank Lampard faces a dilemma with the striker: bench him or over keep playing him, both risky options.

After a poor run of form in recent games, Timo Werner has become the talk of the town. Werner, despite all his talent, has only scored three goals since the start of December for the Blues. This has set off alarms for everyone, in particular for Frank Lampard. Now the manager is faced with the dilemma of what to do with the German star.

Before this continues, something has to be noted: Werner is an incredible talent and worth every penny Chelsea paid for him. More importantly, any comparison between Werner and other failed strikers, such as Alvaro Morata or Fernando Torres, are unwarranted. Werner possesses far more ability than the aforementioned. His attitude on the pitch is that of a true professional, his skills are world class and he is willing to give it his all every game is unquestionable. Therefore, he deserves the full support of the fans and the manager.

However, something needs to be done about Werner and Lampard has two options: Let him play through this patch of low confidence or bench him until he can prove he deserves to play. Either way, there is a high risk for both, but the profit could turn the Blues’ season around.

The former, allowing Werner to play through this patch, will give Lampard the ability to assess the team better. Scoring goals is what Werner was brought in to do, but occupying other areas and responsibilities on the pitch could be an option. Further, it could also have the intended direct effect, which is to force Werner to find the back of the net in different ways.

However, this is not likely to be the case as he would need a team that can fully back him. Which, at the moment, is not happening since all Chelsea players are trying to set their own rhythm. Despite that, Werner is a capable striker, and his abilities could allow him to score in any given game. Nevertheless, the Blues need him to start scoring soon in order to turn the season around.
The latter, bench him until he earns his spot, could harm his confidence even further. Assuming that Lampard chooses tough love on the striker, it will only add more pressure every time he comes on the pitch. This could very well backfire if the German keeps failing to hit the back of the net.

On the upside, it could force him to focus blindly on scoring goals, rather than performing other tasks. As of now, Werner has been a supporting striker, which, to be fair, worked for him. But Werner’s desired role of a lone striker could force him to re-evaluate his overall game. Thus, bringing the killer instinct he has been missing.

Both of these tactics have the same downside: if they fail, they are likely to ruin Werner’s career at Chelsea, and have the manager sacked. Nevertheless, it is clear that something needs to be done about Werner. Whatever Lampard chooses, he has to try something before Werner’s Blues career is judged prematurely.