Thomas Tuchel
How would you assess Timo Werner’s display?
It was a brilliant run for the first goal and it was great decision making for the second goal to go around the goalkeeper. So he got us the decisive penalty again like in Tottenham, it is clear that the situation in Tottenham gave him a confidence boost and he was a bit unlucky with his shot and chances against them. It was good defending from their defenders but he worked incredibly hard and disciplined against the ball. It gave him a boost, I feel him stronger and stronger every day. Today he was more free and I could really feel him on the pitch. He was absolutely in the game mentally and physically and he was decisive. This is the most important thing because if he can continue like this. The goals will come, for sure.
I like them both because they are both in the net. I will never tell a player how to take a penalty. I will never give that advice because I have played football at a lower level and you can feel the pressure when the ball is lying on the spot. No advice for me, Jorgi can take the penalties however helps him score. I was happy he took them because they were both decisive.
Talk of top four once again?
What would it help to talk about it? It is clear that we are responsible now for a situation where we are close to where we want to be. We want to try everything to reach the top four and we said this very clear when we started. So now the guys put themselves in the situation where we are the hunters for the teams in front of us and we are close. It changes nothing because the next game in the league will be a home game and like everybody else we will be under the pressure to continue our run and build on the momentum. We will not allow anybody to focus on the fixture. Today is the best example. What will it help you if you see that Sheffield are very, very low, but if you analyse the team you see their results against Man United. They are bottom of the league, but you have to come here, accept the challenge, play humble. This is what you do and from there on it is now the next challenge to improve, play FA Cup and the next game and keep on going. The future will take care of itself.
Back to Timo, he came off with a dead leg, is he OK?
Yeah, I’m not sure how you say it in English, you call it a “dead leg” or something? That describes it good. It’s not serious, It is very painful for him in this moment but now, I think he’ll be fine.
How’s Thiago Silva? And where was Christian Pulisic?
Christian has some family issues to resolve and family is always first so we decided to give hima rest for this game. With Thiago, we are fighting for him every day but he will be for sure out for the FA Cup so it will take time. It will be several days but we set the goal, I would like him back for maybe Southampton, that’s realistic but also ambitious. I know Thiago, he will do everything to be ready as soon as possible but it is a muscle injury so you cannot take any risk.
