The Palace game really confirmed something that I’ve been thinking ever since Tuchel came: in the attacking phase, the team is much better without Time Werner.

I think the explanation is simple. It’s not something about form, it’s a fit issue. You see, Werner is a goal scorer (the best version of him at least). He’s not going to consistently pick out dangerous passes, he won’t have a consistent delivery into the box, he won’t consistently skip past players, he won’t be integral in recycling the ball. His role his whole career has been to play on the shoulder and get in behind to score goals. He uses his movement and speed to cause problems for teams. I think the best comparison for him is Jaime Vardy. The issue is that for some reason, I guess that being physicality, Timo can’t play as a lone striker. He needs to play with another focal point, just like how he played with Poulsen at Leipzig. Now, that’s not really an issue when we play 4 at the back, but playing that way with 3 at the back is really problematic in my opinion. Essentially, that alignment leaves us with 1 truly creative player in the team, Mason Mount. Obviously Mason is a great player, but that is too much of a burden even for him. He can’t create every chance for the entire team, which is why I think we’ve been struggling to score. When Timo doesn’t play, we can get another creative player on the pitch, such as Pulisic or Ziyech, and when Kai plays upfront he adds a really nice balance of goal scoring and creation.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think Timo could have W place in the team. When we play against teams who play a high line and press, like Liverpool, I think Timo is very dangerous because he has the space to get in behind and cause damage. In that context, which is really against the big sides, I think Timo as a lone striker is a good option. I also think that we will eventually go back to playing a 4-2-3-1, where Timo could play with Kai and 2 other creators, which would be quite good in my opinion (maybe not against low block teams though).

So yeah, so long as we play 3 at the back I don’t think Timo should be in the starting 11 for most games. Maybe against some of the bigger sides who play a more open game, but generally I think we would be better if he came in late in games where there is more space.