Chelsea's
Timo Werner admitted his recent goal drought was the worst time of his
career, but says he is feeling the flow again under Thomas Tuchel.
Werner scored just one goal and provided three assists for Chelsea in 19
appearances in all competitions - his only strike coming against Morecambe
in the FA Cup - with Chelsea's own drop in form resulting in the sacking of
Frank Lampard in January.
But since compatriot Thomas Tuchel moved to Stamford Bridge, Werner's
contribution and performance has improved, scoring once and providing three
assists in five appearances.
Speaking with Sky Sports' Pat Davison, the 24-year-old spoke candidly about
his struggles in front of goal, the mental and physical difficulties of the
Premier League, his guilt around his form, and why he is feeling the flow
again under Tuchel.
Moving from RB Leipzig for £47.5m in the summer, having scored 95 goals in
159 games for the German side, there were high expectations of Werner at
Stamford Bridge. But during his barren run, Werner admits he struggled.
"The smile wasn't on my face all the time. You have to keep smiling, that's
the most important thing because when you are not happy and you don't enjoy
football, and you are always angry or mad, you can't go back to moments
where you can play good football.
"That's my thing and how I want to train. The other things are: always be
positive and not mad, and that's the next step to being back to the old
Timo. Behind the smile, of course there were a lot of days without goals and
also sometimes losing. It's not the best feeling but smiling on the outside
is the best way to keep going.
"The period where I didn't score was the worst time of my career because I'd
never missed so many big chances. I'd never been so long without a goal, so
I was very happy it ended two games ago. It was a difficult time without
those feelings.
"When I look back at my half a year with Chelsea, it wasn't the most
difficult time in my career, but the best time to learn new things. When you
have a period without goals you learn something from yourself. You learn a
lot about how you can handle these situations and it was the best time for
me to learn the most in my career. From bad moments you learn the most and
that's exactly what happened in the last month."
Werner insists goal droughts were not new to him, and that in the past he
learned to become more of a team player to make up for the lack of goals.
"In the past, I've had a lot of difficult situations in my career. Also, at
Leipzig where I scored all the time. These situations were with myself
because I learnt I had to make more for the team than I did before. I had to
do extra work in terms of defensive work and make more assists for my
team-mates rather than just rely on goals.
"That way, I learnt not to be the goalscorer who just counts his goals but
the man who worked for the team. I learnt I had to be patient and be the
best Timo for the team and not the best Timo for myself.
'I feel guilty for missing so many
chances'
Lampard was sacked after a run of just four wins in 11 games, and having
admitted that Werner felt guilt for missing big chances under the former
manager, he says he is not experiencing a fresh start under Tuchel.
"When you come here to play as a striker and be the man to score the goals,
of course I felt a little bit guilty that I missed so many chances. For the
club, for the old manager but also for me because I want to score all the
time and as much as I possibly can.
"Of course, if I'd scored four or five more goals maybe the old manager
would still be here because we'd maybe have won two or three games more but
you can't look too much into the past because there are too many games ahead
of us.
"The past was like this and of course I feel a little bit guilty, but in
football you have to go on, and now we have a lot of big games in the next
few weeks and you have to look forward, especially when you have a new
manager. It's a new beginning for everybody, for me as well because I'd
missed so many chances and so many points, maybe I start now with a new
start, and it's worked very well until now.
"I understood the old manager very well. It was not because of the language,
but when you can talk German to someone, there are things he can explain to
me easier than the old manager could. It's different when you talk to
someone in your own language because one word is enough to make a sentence
completely different.
"For me, that was the thing he changed. He knows me and his assistants know
me from the Bundesliga. He gave me trust back and confidence back to be the
Timo from the Bundesliga, to be back at the top and scoring goals."
'The Premier League is harder than I was
told'
As with most players moving to the Premier League from abroad, Werner was
told to expect a fast and physical division. He experienced that, and
more...
"Everyone says there's a lot of strength, a lot of big guys in defence, the
Premier League is very fast and there's a lot of high intensity. So, I came
here and thought it would fit me very well, but now I know it is much more
than just what people say.
"There's a lot more work in the Premier League. You have to a lot more
defensive work as a team than, for example, in the Bundesliga. What I get
now is that the Premier League is really hard. Every game, whether you play
against the bottom side or the third side, it's always the same game.
"You can't go to the bottom side and say it's going to be an easy win today.
You go to Burnley, you go to West Brom and it's a hard game. It's a very
hard game and that's what makes it a lot of fun. You can never have a break.
You always have to be at 100 per cent, always at the top level and that's
something special in the Premier League."
Target? Top four and double figures
Ahead of Chelsea's huge clash with Manchester United, live on Sky Sports on
Super Sunday, Werner says the club's main goal is to finish in the top four.
And Werner, currently on five league goals, has set his sights on hitting
double figures by the end of the season.
"Manchester United are a very good team. It's always a good game for
everybody but at this moment it's really important for us because when if
win, we can close the gap to United.
"If we win, we are hopefully back in the top four and that has to be the
main goal at the end of the season, to play Champions league football next
season. For that, the next two games in the Premier League are the most
important games.
"If we can reach the top four, as a team, that would be perfect. In the
Champions league and the FA Cup, you never know but we have a big chance go
far in those cups.
"For me, when I score a few more goals in the Premier League, maybe I can
get to 10, that would be good for my first season. Then at the end of the
season, I can go to the European Championships and say it was a good first
season for Chelsea with ups and downs, but at the end we reached the goal of
getting to the Champions League and me getting into double figure for goals.
"That's the goal for the end of the season and with this team and the
manager, we are in good shape now."
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