RB Leipzig beat Atlético Madrid 2-1 in the Champions League quarter-finals on Thursday night, a result that was even more impressive as they had to do it against one of the best defensive teams in the world without their lead goal scorer, Timo Werner, who only watched on television, like the rest of us.
But in the end, head coach Julian Nagelsmann claimed that Werner’s absence was not complete, and not just because he had decided to leave the club and join Chelsea in July instead of staying for those games.
“Atletico would not have been the best opponents for Timo Werner, because there is not much space behind the defensive line. That’s why we played with three offensive midfielders to make the space. ”
-Julian Nagelsmann; source: Metro
And that sounds a little ominous, as Chelsea tend to get a lot of packed defenses that leave little to no space behind their lines.
That, (how much) should we concern?
Of course, we won’t know for sure until we see Werner play blue in Chelsea, but answering that question would also be completely useless.
Werner’s most obvious advantage is his blowing speed and confronting classic Premier League defenders (probably on a cold night somewhere north) could ignore most of it. Fortunately, he is also an excellent (if perhaps sometimes straightforward) finisher, with a ton of variety both in the types of shots he takes and the locations from which he takes them. So even if he will not enjoy running like Jamie Vardy, he should have the required ability to not find the back of the net when he gets into shooting positions. Even the best-marshaled defenses will pass away opportunities, sometimes quite cheaply; we just have to take advantage of them – which is probably what separates consistent winners from inconsistent teams like Chelsea at the moment.
Fall a point, despite stereotyping the Premier League as an unfriendly league against the kind of striker Werner, some of the best goal scorers in the league are in a similar form. Even if we claim that Vardy has an easier time, thanks to how opposing teams tend to set up against Leicester, playing the likes of Aubameyang, Salah, Mané, Kane, Martial, Rashford, Sterling, Agüero, Gabriel Jesus, and even Tammy Abraham all for big teams that regularly stand against ten or eleven men behind the ball. Those names were this season 10 of the top 13 goal scorers in the league. (The other three were Vardy, Ings and Jiménez.)
Werner’s versatility should also help him get into shooting positions, including the intriguing prospect of playing with two strikers, as wide left as part of a front three. Werner as a lone striker may not be the best idea against, say Sean Dyche’s Burnley, but we have many options. And again, like some of Chelsea’s best strikers in the Abramovich era, Werner may only need a chance or two to find the back of the net, which would surely be a welcome change of pace.
Nagelsmann could of course be equal – even if he played Werner in literally every game this season prior to the transfer, choosing to start 31 times out of 34, including both times against Mursinho’s Spurs (in addition to a center-forward in Patrick Shick ). Werner might want to like a delicate flower when confronted with towering man mountains of English flesh, and might not be so helpful in a non-depressing negative game plan full of tactical greeting. Lampard, for better or worse, is in no danger of setting up his team that way.
In any case, this is all plausible following a possible throwing quote from a manager who has long stopped thinking about Werner in his team. There’s every reason to be excited about the arrival of one of Europe’s greatest goal scorers in the last three or so years (who’s only 24, mind you).
