Amazing statistic points to reason why Tuchel backs unlucky Chelsea ace
Chelsea striker Timo Werner has admitted his frustration at the number of goals he has had chalked off after VAR disallowed another of his efforts against Southampton.
The 25-year-old bagged his first Premier League goal of the season as the Blues beat Saints 3-1 on Saturday. The Germany international hit his side’s second on 84 minutes after Trevoh Chalobah had given them a ninth-minute lead. Ben Chilwell added the gloss with a third one minute from time but Werner could have had two.
He headed home from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross in the first half and celebrated wildly with his team-mates. However, ecstasy turned to agony as VAR official Mike Dean asked referee Martin Atkinson to view his pitchside monitor.
He deemed that Cesar Azpilicueta had fouled Kyle Walker-Peters in the build-up and the goal did not stand. Chelsea chief Thomas Tuchel was incensed and received a yellow card for his vociferous protests.
It was the 16th time that Werner has had a goal disallowed by VAR since he signed for the Stamford Bridge outfit. It is clearly a statistic that irks the former RB Leipzig man. But he will not allow it to get him down.
“I didn’t hope it would continue like this, but it drops you a little bit when you always score, celebrate with fans,” he told Chelsea TV. “And then to go to the midline for it to get disallowed. 16 times in one year? It’s hard, but I keep going.”
Tuchel was equally unimpressed with the decision and vented his spleen after the match.
He said: “We have talks here before the season. Everybody tells me that we go back to English football and we will not whistle soft touches, and it depends how the game goes’.
“Then we are here in the middle of London, it’s raining, it’s some 40 minutes and we have an intensive match. And it’s not even after this situation that there is a goal.
Barcelona’s struggles to appoint Xavi could open door to two other potential Koeman successors
“There is a chance, a second chance, there is a third cross. The third cross is a goal and we go back. This is not the decisive action for this goal.”
Werner responds to Tuchel faith
It has been a tough period in Werner’s career as he has not scored the expected volume of goals. Prolific at Leipzig, the hitman notched only 12 from 52 appearances in all competitions last term.
He now has two for the current campaign and was handed a start against the south-coast outfit. That was his third league start of 2021-2022 and came after a report claimed Werner will ‘reassess his future’ if nothing changes.
He looked lively against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side and finally opening his top-flight account this season will be a huge confidence boost.
READ MORE: Italian side return for Tuchel favourite; ready to ‘attack’ Chelsea with bid
The post Amazing statistic points to reason why Tuchel backs unlucky Chelsea ace appeared first on TEAMtalk.