Alabaster Codify7
New Member
He's really bad, we dodged a bullet bigtime here. I mean, Rom has hardly been world-class but Morata makes him look like prime Shearer.
This is the old Morata.
At the start of this thread I was able to predict the issues he's gone on to struggle with, not because I'm a fortune teller but because he struggled with exactly the same issues throughout entire career. He's played just over 3,000 minutes in the league at Chelsea and scored 16 goals - a goal every 188 minutes. He played just under 2,800 league minutes at Juventus and scored 15 goals - a goal every 184 minutes.
This is who he is. He isn't a ruthless goalscorer, he's mentally fragile and those two things combined make it very difficult for him to be a first choice striker for any big club. You need very favourable conditions like he had at Real Madrid for him to a remotely reliable goalscorer.
He played 2k minutes+ in his two seasons at Juventus, 2 league titles, 2 Coppa Italias, started the 14/15 CL final and played 85 minutes and scored in it, also in the CL team of the season that year. Always contributed well at both Juventus and Real Madrid. Granted he's never been a 20-30 goal a season striker. We've tried to give him a different role and it hasn't worked.
He can play a very valuable part of a team though if he's used to his strengths and right mentally. Even during his time in England he's still managed to win more domestic trophies than Kane and Lukaku put together .
Tbf you did call it. You were spot on about him from day one. I remember you and @Raoul having a load of back and forth about him. Wasn’t there a bet involved at some point?!
At Juve he had this great ability to drive forward. I remember a CL game against Madrid or Bayern where he took on the whole of the team and passed to (Cuadrado?) to score. At the time he had scored in big CL games so I just assumed he'd be another in the Spanish production line of excellent players. Seems to have lost that completely. He's incredibly restrained now.
Fair enough. I should point out I barely used to watch him play (just the 4 high profile CL game) hence my formerly high opinion.That's just the highs and lows of confidence. He was never someone you could rely upon to be aggressive or beat a man consistently, only when he was in the mood. He often wasn't but he had a few big moments in the CL that showed how good he could be if he pulled it all together consistently. He'd often go back to the league and look feeble and disinterested.
In fairness dribbling is one of those things that all players have to be confident to even try. When you're in a low that's one of the first things to drop off a cliff. We saw that with Rooney, or we're seeing it now with Sanchez. Dribbling and goals are really the only two things you need to be in a confident mood to do. And he is an unusually good dribbler for a big striker. Which is why Morata's confidence issues were always so problematic. You strip away his two best qualities and you're not left with much.
Aggression on the other hand is just something that's there regardless. Costa could be in the worst form but still he'd be relentless. Morata like any other big striker enjoyed being able to bully defenders, and he had those games, but he was never someone to do that week in, week out.
Clearly he's in a place now where he isn't loved by the manager or fans, and he's struggling to get himself out of a rut. He needs much more support, but also space to work through those struggles without adding more pressure. That's why a bench role at Madrid was perfect.
His problem at Chelsea is that they keep trying to use him like a poacher and want him to stay central when he is more a Benzema than a Ruud. He would do better in a system that allows him more freedom to roam.
Still consider him an overall better player than Lukaku
Fair enough. I should point out I barely used to watch him play (just the 4 high profile CL game) hence my formerly high opinion.
That is precisely why I loved Costa and Rooney. No matter how poor they were they gave it everything in the hope that something would come off. Also Suarez and Tevez.
Fair enough to the lad since he got two goals, but does anyone have a gif of his epic miss? One of the worst I've ever seen.
Edinson Cavani says hello ...I've never seen a striker that misses as many sitters as this guy.
The only thing @Brwned gets wrong in his assessment of Morata was his period at juventus: he was initially Llorente's backup(in part due to a long injury picked up literally the first day of training) before beating him to the starting spot and becoming a regular starter in the second half of the season. Then he was their starter the following season only for Dybala and Mandzukic to beat him for the two spots withing a couple months. Then juventus chose to spunk €90m in transfer fee and €14m a year in wages on Higuain rather than try and buy him for good from us
He's just not consistent enough to be the main striker at a club like chelsea, and now he's completely lost confidence, which in the current situation it won't be easy to regain. Interestingly confidence was never an issue at either Juventus or with us, even though he didn't play much and often ended up being a backup. Chelsea seem to have a special talent in this regard
Lukaku.I've never seen a striker that misses as many sitters as this guy.
Lukaku isn't any better.We dodge a major bullet
Million dollar answer. Cavani does miss some easy ones.Edinson Cavani says hello ...
Edinson Cavani says hello ...
Main reason he wasn't scoring was he wasn't starting many games. The other is that, as we both said, he's inconsistent. But the urgency and hunger were always there. He was still trying stuff, still making his presence felt. He's never gone through such a prolonged bad spell like this before. The loss of confidence he seems to have suffered at chelsea is nothing like what he went through previouslyI know you're based in Italy but if be very surprised if the majority of Juve fans agreed with you that he didn't lack confidence. We're talking about a player who didn't score 1 goal in November, December or January in 14/15 or 15/16. Unless you think Juve were so creatively devoid in that period, then he was doing many things wrong that all stem from confidence.
He wasn't like this with juventus either. Still remember him physically bullying Varane. Started doing it with us, go figure. Though not to this extent of courseThere is something fecked up with this kid. I mean he throws on the ground way too easily at each physical battle. He is a pussy, you need a minimum of fight to make it at a certain level.
He is, he really really is...his scoring record proves that.Lukaku isn't any better.
He is way betterLukaku isn't any better.