Former Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has heaped praise onto Thomas Tuchel for changing Kai Havertz’s role in the team in the season just gone.
Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as Chelsea manager back in January, and made a tremendous instant impact by guiding the Blues to Champions League glory in the space of just a few months.
Havertz ended up being a key player for Tuchel’s side, scoring the winning goal against Manchester City in the Champions League final in Porto at the end of May.
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Fabregas admits the Germany international was a bit slow to get going since his move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, but the Spaniard feels he improved a lot since Tuchel came in and changed his system a bit.
“Havertz didn’t start very, very well at Chelsea and sometimes he looked off the pace. But once Thomas Tuchel put him in a false nine position, it was working better,” Fabregas wrote in the Telegraph.
“He didn’t have to touch a lot of the ball, but he helped the team tick. He was not losing the ball, he made everyone else secure, he was creating stuff. And I think at the end of the season, he was very, very good.”
Fabregas also backed Timo Werner to do better next season, provided he keeps on making good runs and getting into the right scoring positions.
It wasn’t the best debut campaign for Werner at Stamford Bridge, but it’s clear Fabregas thinks it’s worth giving him more time.
“As a midfielder who likes to make assists, I have played behind strikers before who are going through a bad time or suffering with their confidence. It’s a bit of both that it can be frustrating that they miss chances, but I would also be thinking at some time Werner will score,” he said.
“The most important thing is that he keeps making the runs, that his timing is good, that he’s not offside and with his speed he will always get chances. Players like Werner are so valuable nowadays because players want the ball at their feet a lot and, as a midfielder, you would like this type of player to run on to your passes.
“I’d definitely still keep trying to find him in games because when your own team-mates start doubting you, this is the worst feeling you can have because you feel it. What I like is to talk to people always in a positive way, even if in training they miss then you say ‘well done, the next one will go in’. Even if it has to be 100 times.
“Football is so much about confidence and what’s in your head and especially strikers who depend so much on scoring or not scoring. If they miss, it’s when you need to support them the most.”