Joachim Low insisted Timo Werner “must put that ball away” following the Chelsea striker’s shocking miss in Germany’s 2-1 defeat to North Macedonia on Wednesday.
Goran Pandev put North Macedonia in front before half time before Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty drew the Germans level on the hour mark.
With ten minutes left Werner had the chance to give Germany the lead as Gundogan squared the ball to him eight yards out, but the forward completely fluffed his effort and the ball trickled harmlessly wide of the post.
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North Macedonia then scored a memorable winner in the 85th minute to secure victory, ending Germany’s 35-game unbeaten run in World Cup qualifying, which dates back to their 5-1 loss to England in 2001.
When asked about Werner’s miss, Low told RTL: “He must put that ball away, no question at all.
“He has shown here he can score goals.
“But he doesn’t hit the ball right with his left foot, if he makes a clean contact with the ball it’s a goal.”
TIMO WERNER, HOW DID YOU MISS?!
pic.twitter.com/ACDf2yw26z
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 31, 2021
Gundogan, however, showed sympathy towards the Chelsea striker over his miss.
“I’m sorry for Timo,” said the Manchester City midfielder. “He’s the one who wants to score the most.
“We have no choice but to continue. We all know that such a defeat shouldn’t happen to us.
“That is not our right. It cannot be explained either. But that’s the way it is, we have to accept that.”
Werner has endured a frustrating season for Chelsea, missing similar chances under Frank Lampard and now Thomas Tuchel.
His form has led to suggestions Tuchel could allow him to leave Stamford Bridge, but the German boss has dismissed the rumours as nonsense.
Tuchel said: “Stop reading! Read a book!
“There is no book on Timo, so read a book! For Timo, I think he has no reason now to be frustrated because he played an amazing match against Liverpool, maybe his best match since I arrived.
“Then he had a good match against Everton with a lot of chances to score, which he normally is clinical enough and strong enough.
“He did not score, okay, in a situation like this, this can affect his self-confidence of course, but what does it help?
“The clear advice from us is don’t focus on the result, focus on the process, get your decision-making right, get your technique right, take good decisions and the ball and the opponent’s goalkeeper will do the rest.
“And then it’s either in or it’s an amazing save.
“He can improve from there, but there is simply no time to reflect on what is going to happen in the summer and next year. There’s no time.
“In the moment I don’t see why he should be frustrated. We gave him a little time to breathe against Leeds.
“But right now, I don’t see why he should be too frustrated.
“And honestly, nobody here is blaming the strikers. This is a team effort to attack and defend, but we expect our guys to create more chances, to be more decisive because we expect the defenders to play on the highest level and so we also expect that of our strikers.
“And then maybe all the stuff you read will disappear.”
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