Timo Werner wants more confidence after ending his goal drought for Tottenham
By George Sessions, PA
Timo Werner aims to be more confident in front of goal after he scored for the first time in 18 matches to help Tottenham knock Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup.
Werner had endured a torrid run of form in recent weeks, with squandered chances against Manchester United, Ferencvaros and AZ Alkmaar, but ended his goal drought in style on Wednesday.
The on-loan RB Leipzig forward rifled home in the fifth minute from Dejan Kulusevski’s cross following a superb team move to set Spurs on their way to a crucial 2-1 win, which has earned a quarter-final home tie with Manchester United.
“It was a tough game. To score a goal after tough weeks for me was also very nice, especially to have it at home,” Werner said.
“How the crowd reacted, I think it was more not that they were like, ‘finally he did it,’ it was more like relief from them to me.
“They say, ‘we saw he will do it one day’. And finally I can do it. Yeah, the hard work at the end brought the success and I have to continue with that.
“When I saw the goal back, it was way more confident the shot and wanting to score this goal than all the other chances. I have to continue with that.”
Even though Werner’s second loan spell at Tottenham had failed to take off before his key role against Man City, the Germany international continued to put himself in dangerous areas.
It finally paid dividends and while the 28-year-old limped off against City, he plans to produce more crucial moments this season.
Werner told SpursPlay: “Of course when you are a striker and didn’t score, you think too much in front of the goal but I never think about not doing the runs to come into this situation.
“I think it would be stupid to stop those runs only because being scared to score. I think at the end, that’s what my strengths are and that’s why I scored a lot of goals in my career in the past. Exactly from this situation.
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“I think when I come back, exactly like I did the goal, I keep on going with this mentality of being more confident in front of goal and I think ‘yeah, I can score many more goals’.”
City’s defeat came at a cost with Savinho forced to leave the pitch on a stretcher and Manuel Akanji unable to feature following discomfort in the warm-up.
Pep Guardiola stated his team are in “trouble” with only 13 first-team players available for Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth.
Kyle Walker (knee), Kevin De Bruyne (groin) and Jack Grealish (unspecified) are not set to return until later in November.
“I think after the international break, the three of them with Jack Grealish as well,” Guardiola revealed.
This was City’s first defeat since the FA Cup final loss to the Red Devils in May, but it was taken graciously by Guardiola.
He said with a smile: “Congratulations. This is the news. The news is not that we lost, it’s how for a long time we didn’t lost it.
“Of course there was the FA Cup final, but we we were a bit hungover.
“In general, we make a really good performance (against Tottenham). I am so proud. I like the way we are playing.”