Timo Werner admitted that he had difficulty understanding Frank Lampard’s team instructions and that German-speaking Thomas Tuchel has made it “easier”.
Werner, along with Kai Havertz, joined the Blues last summer after a couple of successful seasons in Bundesliga.
It is not a surprise that these Germany internationals needed time to adapt to the Premier League, but they did not perform anywhere near the expected level in the first half of the season.
According to Werner, this is not only due to the big, strong Premier League defenders they had to face week in week out but also due to the language barrier.
“Of course, you speak another language,” Werner told Chelsea’s Mike’d Up podcast when asked about his biggest adjustments since joining Chelsea.
“For you guys [the American interviewers], when you come from America to London or England is much easier because it’s the same language.
“German is completely different to English.
“We learned it in school, but it’s always hard to understand.
“For example, when we had Lampard as the manager before, everything was in English.
“But now [under Tuchel] it’s more in German as well, so it’s easier for me.
“To understand everything at the beginning was not easy.”
Chronicle view
Well, you can neither really blame Lampard nor Werner for this particular situation since that was rather inevitable in the first few months.
Fortunately, the 25-year-old seems to be more comfortable with his English now, as you could see from the interview.
Werner has also become more open to his teammates, according to Tammy Abraham who previously named the fellow striker as the funniest player in the dressing room — and shared his “weird” habit.
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