Thomas Tuchel has backed Timo Werner to rediscover his goalscoring touch and has joked Ilkgay Gundogan was at fault for the Chelsea forward’s horror miss for Germany this week.
Werner has endured a difficult debut season in the Premier League since signing in a £54m deal from RB Leipzig last summer, scoring just five league goals and enduring a 14-game run without a goal earlier this season.
The 24-year-old’s confidence has suffered and was left out of Germany’s starting line up for each of the nation’s three fixtures during the international break, before coming on as a substitute to miss a glaring opportunity against North Macedonia.
Werner spurned the simplest of opportunities from close range with an open goal at his mercy, the miss coming short before the Macedonia’s scored a surprise winner to seal a shock result in Dusseldorf.
Ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Brom in the Premier League, Tuchel admitted that the Chelsea forward is lacking in confidence but has backed Werner to bounce back and regain his form.
“It was a bad pass from Ilkay Gundogan is how I see it! I’m only joking.” Tuchel told a pre-match press conference.
“He is in a moment where he lacks confidence and things aren’t too easy. The goals are not working out as usual but he works out for us.
“He still scores for us, still assists for us, still wins penalties. If this is the most critical point of his career you can say it’s still pretty impressive so far.”
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