Craig Burley has criticised Chelsea striker Timo Werner’s “frustrating” performance in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday.
As Thomas Tuchel himself pointed out in his post-match interview, it was a fine overall performance from his team, but they lacked precision in the final third.
Including Jorginho’s penalty goal, Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea only faced six shots on target in the game, despite Chelsea’s having 24 shot attempts in total.
According to Burnley, Tuchel shoulders some of the blame for his late substitutions when Werner, in particular, looked off the pace.
“United were always going to come and sit in to make it difficult,” the former Blues midfield told ESPN FC.
“They’re not good enough to compete with the top three boys in the Premier League at the moment. That’s crystal clear.
“So there’s no surprise Chelsea dominated. But starting with Timo Werner…
“The two Germans; Werner and Kai Havertz are both frustrating at times, I’d say. But I get more frustrated watching Werner than I do Havertz.
“Then to keep him [Werner] for 80+ minutes before he [Tuchel] took him off was also surprising, and Ziyech as well.
“These kind of things cost Chelsea, I think, as well as the bad touch [from Jorginho].
“Dominant performance with the ball, but actually quite poor in the final third.”
Tuchel later revealed that he actually did not plan to use Romelu Lukaku, who recently returned from a one-month injury absence, in the game.
This helps explain why the German was hesitant to replace Werner.
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