Timo Werner expressed his joy at playing in front of the boisterous home crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and acknowledged his relief after scoring the team’s first goal against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The frustration of the Spurs supporters was audible as Werner, who had been sent through on goal by Son Heung-min, failed to capitalise on a significant opportunity in the first half.
After some excellent work by Brennan Johnson on the right, Werner did eventually score in the 77th minute, and the striker acknowledged that he was happy to get off the mark.
He said on the club’s official website, in response to a question regarding his equaliser: “I’m very happy, especially after the first half when I missed a big chance.” There was a lot of ballast, as they say in Germany, falling on my shoulders! Nevertheless, I relished the opportunity to score my first goal in this stadium.
“I wanted to celebrate, but I understood we only had one winner and we had work to do when I realised no one was coming over because the game was still 1-1! I therefore immediately returned to the centre of the pitch.
Since joining the team, Werner noted, Tottenham has developed a bit of a habit of conceding goals early. Nevertheless, he maintained that winning after trailing makes victories even more satisfying.
“You have to admit that their free-kick… the 1-0 was not deserved at that moment for Palace,” he went on. We performed well after the break and they never once got in front of our goal in the second half.
“It’s an even better feeling at the end of the game, but we were closer to scoring the first goal. Like it’s been the last few weeks since I’ve been here, we’ve always been 1-0 down and had to come back.”
When Postecoglou’s team scored three goals in a row to reverse the score, the atmosphere in the closing minutes of the match was electrifying. Werner said that the fans had been a huge help in motivating the players.
“With everyone behind us, the noise… when you have 60,000 fans behind you, you hear them, you feel them, especially after we made it 1-1,” the 27-year-old continued.
They greatly aided us since they could see that we were the superior team in this match. At 3-1, it was evident that everyone was relieved and glad to have won the match.
Werner needed that goal badly, even if it was an easy finish. He had missed a few good chances earlier in the game, and his confidence would have suffered greatly if he hadn’t scored.
The German will now have more freedom to express himself, and Postecoglou will be hoping that this can open doors for the RB Leipzig player who is now on loan.