Gianfranco Zola has urged Frank Lampard to experiment with Timo Werner out wide and insists the forward has ‘unbelievable qualities’ despite his difficult debut season at Chelsea.
Werner cut a frustrated figure up front as the Blues were comprehensively beaten by Manchester City and the 24-year-old – who completed a high-profile £47.5million move from Leipzig in the summer – has now gone 12 matches without finding the net for the west London club.
The German even managed to hurt himself taking a corner in the dying moments of Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge and was mocked by rival fans across social media.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Lampard has repeatedly defended Werner’s throughout his recent struggles and believes the attacker should be playing through the middle, as he did with minimal success versus City.
However, it appears Zola disagrees with Lampard and reckons Werner should be played out wide for the time being, with one of Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham playing more centrally.
‘I think Werner has got very good qualities, unbelievable qualities but in my opinion he plays best when he’s got a lot of pitch in front of him, when he has to attack the space,’ the iconic ex-Chelsea forward told talkSPORT.
‘The problem with Chelsea is that there many times you play a team that is defending deep; that is a different matter and in that case players with the ability of Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham, they can do better in that contest.
‘So if you want to play Werner, maybe it’s right to play him in the wide areas.
‘Also I think it’s down to Timo to work and also be effective when the spaces in front of him are less and work as a team.
‘This could be a strength for Chelsea, because if you’ve got many players with ability you have to understand very well the abilities of the players and use them differently in the games, because not every game is the same.’
Zola is adamant his former team-mate, Lampard, can turn the situation around at Chelsea despite the club’s miserable run of results over the winter period.
‘It’s certainly not ideal, otherwise we wouldn’t be having these conversations,’ he added.
‘There are some issues that need to be addressed, something has to be improved for sure, but I believe Frank has the potential, the ability and he has the squad to make it better, that’s for sure and without question for me.
‘The balance needs to be better but this will come; it will come through work and experience, it’s something that doesn’t come in a week or a month.
‘I understand exactly the situation Frank is going through. Sometimes it’s about trust and believing a coach can do well, can face the circumstances and get the best out of it – I think that is the point, really.
‘There’s still a lot to play this season.’
