Former Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge has rubbished claims that Timo Werner is ‘lazy’ after Ian Wright criticised the player after his performance against Manchester City.
Although Chelsea came from behind to win at the Etihad on Saturday – potentially getting a huge psychological advantage going into the Champions League final – Werner endured another difficult game.
He was flagged offside three times in the match, spurning several chances in the process, and former Arsenal player Wright was not impressed.
‘You need to look at the runs he makes. He needs to get back onside. He doesn’t get onside,’ said Wright on Match of the Day. ‘He’s got so much space. For me that’s just lazy. It’s lazy work. He’s running straight offside.’
But Bridge totally rejects the notion that Werner is a lazy player and only needs to work on timing his runs in behind opposition defences.
‘I don’t think you can label him as lazy,’ Bridge told bettingexpert.com when asked about the criticism from Wright. ‘The way he played against Real Madrid, the effort he put in the running and closing down means you can’t label him as lazy.
‘It’s just a case of timing his runs and needing to switch on a bit more and get onside and maybe he gets a goal.
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‘I don’t think he [Wright] is calling Werner lazy for the effort he puts in, it’s just he was a couple of yards offside and he should have got back onside and he might have got the chance.
‘If you look at the way he plays he puts a lot of effort in for the team.’
He continued: ‘Kai Havertz and Werner haven’t had a pre-season and to come to the best league in the world is not easy. My move from Southampton to Chelsea was not easy and if I had moved country I don’t know how I would have coped to be honest.
‘You get used to playing with players and what you like and then you know what happens during games, and it’s not easy to just settle in. Some people can hit the ground running and some people can’t. If Chelsea do sign a striker I think they’ll still have chances. They’ll still have a good career at Chelsea.’
