Timo Werner: Tottenham’s Chaos Creator Who Has Proved His Worth

Timo Werner has more critics than most Premier League players, and quite possibly doesn’t have a long-term future at Tottenham, but there is still value to having him around.

With a nightmare performance against AZ Alkmaar last week, many of Timo Werner’s remaining defenders gave up on him.

Last Thursday night, the Tottenham forward put in a display of concerning ineptitude. He completed just 70% of his passes, the lowest of any Spurs player to attempt at least 15, giving the ball away all too frequently and all too easily.

His pass success rate dropped to 61.5% in the final third, and his wastefulness in possession was part of the reason the home side were unable to maintain sustained pressure on opponents they would have hoped to beat more comfortably than they did.

Werner was at the heart of a few of the best chances that the home side created, and he did put a promising cross into the box for Mikey Moore early on, but that was to be the highlight of his night.

He spurned two huge chances when through on goal with the game still goalless, firing one effort tamely down the centre of the goal for an easy save, and leaning back to lift the other high over the bar from close range. Those were his only two touches in the opposition box before he was hooked at half-time, replaced by Brennan Johnson, with Moore moving over to the left to replace Werner and thrilling the fans with a performance full of dribbling, tricks and an unerring belief in himself.

For many Spurs fans, that was the last they wanted to see of Werner, whose profligate finishing against AZ was merely the tip of the iceberg. It was far from the first time he had wasted too many chances and good positions in a Spurs shirt this season.

News on Sunday afternoon, then, that in the absence of injured captain Son Heung-min, Moore was starting on the left flank for the trip to Crystal Palace was met with widespread glee among supporters. Academy product Moore is incredibly highly rated at the club and fans are understandably both hugely excited to see him play and desperate for him to succeed. The possibility that manager Ange Postecoglou deemed the 17-year-old first-team ready is very exciting.

But Moore was unable to replicate his performance in the Europa League at Selhurst Park. On an off day for the whole team, he did little of note.

Some reflected that Postecoglou had thrown Moore into too tough an environment, away from home against a physical Premier League team. Still, few were convinced that should mean Werner deserved to go back into the team.

In the context of Werner’s problems at previous clubs, issues in front of goal – be those with confidence or ability – come as little surprise. For many, he is just never going to be the player Spurs need so there’s no point in giving him minutes that could be used to develop Moore.

In England, Werner has never been a prolific goalscorer. Including his time at Chelsea, his Premier League record reads 12 goals in 76 appearances from chances worth 22.8 xG, which suggests the average finisher would have scored almost twice as many goals from the shots he had had.

But the thing about players who consistently struggle in front of goal is that when they hit a rough patch like the 18-game goalless run that Werner was on, they know how to deal with it. They have been there before.

And Werner was back in the team on Wednesday night for the EFL Cup visit of champions Manchester City and he excelled.

The German was arguably Tottenham’s most threatening player. His fifth-minute goal set Tottenham on their way to one of the best and most memorable wins of Postecoglou’s reign.

“It was a great goal and it’s great for Timo,” Postecoglou said afterwards. “It should lift him. We’re kind of supporting him, but ultimately, with all these things, it’s down to him and his approach to things.”

The Australian recently corrected a journalist at a press conference by saying that he “always wins” a trophy in his second season, and this victory kept Tottenham in the fight in three different cup competitions. Werner’s contributions to the win were invaluable, and those weren’t limited to his goal.

He isn’t the best finisher in the game, and he failed with three efforts after scoring, but he caused City all kinds of problems. He doesn’t have the final ball to match his exceptional movement, but he gives defenders headaches with his relentless, intelligent and lightning-quick runs. It means he gets into goalscoring positions more than most other players; his four shots in the City game on Wednesday were more than anyone else on the pitch despite him going off on 69 minutes.

And that is the beauty, charm and value of Werner. He causes chaos with his constant movement and pace that terrifies defenders. He times his runs in behind brilliantly and against City he got in behind time and again; against their high line he was caught offside just once, while Dominic Solanke was on three occasions.

In Premier League games this season, among players who have played at least 200 minutes, Werner ranks third in the whole league for runs made per 90 with 38.3, where a run is defined as a sustained move off the ball for the team in possession. He ranks fifth for the number of runs made that a teammate targets with a pass (11.9 per 90), and second for runs into the opposition penalty area (14.9 per 90).

In more than four hours on the pitch, he has only been caught offside once, and has also recorded the second-highest top speed, at 35.9 km/h, behind only Wolves’ Carlos Forbes (36.9 km/h).

Werner can be accused of many shortcomings, but with him on the pitch, opponents do at least always have something to worry about: runs in behind.

It might sound (quite a bit, in fact) like we’re defending a player who has consistently proven he has too little end product by saying he runs around a lot and tries hard. To an extent, we are.

But with Werner on the pitch, things happen. Without his run for Chelsea out to the left of the pitch in the 2021 Champions League final, Mason Mount wouldn’t have been able to thread a pass through the centre of the pitch for Kai Havertz to score the match-winning goal.

It is understandable that to some fans, smart movement and bags of pace isn’t enough; that a team chasing a first trophy in 16 years and with aspirations to get back into the Champions League would demand more from an attacker than merely getting into good positions.

But when he is on the pitch, Spurs carry a threat in behind and on the break that, when Son is missing, they otherwise lack down that flank. Spurs have scored at least three more fast-break goals (seven) than any other team in the Premier League this season, and having struggled at times with the heavy possession of Postecoglou’s Plan A, their threat on the counter has been a helpful addition to their weaponry. Having Werner in the squad is useful in that sense.

The cold hard truth is that Werner isn’t a long-term solution on the left flank. He is only on loan at Tottenham until the end of this season. He isn’t going to overtake Son as first-choice on the left side of attack, and in all likelihood he won’t even be at the club next season.

But when Son is absent – as was the case on Wednesday night – and with Moore not yet able to perform consistently against top sides, Werner is more than an adequate option, especially when there is space in behind the opposition.

He certainly isn’t worth giving up on just yet.

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