3 hours ago, dkw said:

Eidur missed a hell of a lot of chances too, the most famous one was in the CL game against Liverpool which was basically a sitter, I can remember often being frustrated with his finishing. He was a scorer of great goals, not a great scorer of goals. JFH on the other hand was a machine.

Agree, he did miss a few though the relationship with Jimmy Floyd Haselbaink was special.

After taking the emotion out of the other nights game it was a very exciting game in the second half, end to end stuff which was great.

 

Alvaro general play is really good as well as his aerial ability.

 

He really needs to work on his composure though, a few weeks can go down to form, but half a season is a little concerning. He still has his best years ahead of him so hopefully he’ll sort it out as he acclimatises. 

He only shoots with his left peg when he absolutely has to, which makes things tens times easier for defenders.

With that in mind you would expect him to be lethal with his right foot. But up till we played a Stoke team (who were threadbare in defence) when he got the hat trick of right foot goals, he only scored one other right footer, against WBA.

That's very worrying, and needs to be much improved come May.

 

On 1/4/2018 at 02:52, Sun zhi said:

 

Would this be an accurate representation of Alvaro Morata's strengths and weaknesses ?

Strengths:

1. Golden Header

2. Decent Playmaker (Helpful In Assists)

3. Link Up.

Weaknesses:

1. Horrible Finisher (On Foot)

2. Lacking Aggression

3. Easily Pushed Around

Would it make sense if we were to reconsider Morata's role as far as offensive strategy goes and we place him as a Winger instead of a Center Forward ?? (Switching Sides With Hazard)

I'd like everyone's input on this and would be interested in reading your personal list of strengths and weaknesses you've spotted in Morata so far this season.

Wouldn't surprise me if we're back in the market for a big name striker in the summer. 

Morata is looking less and less like a player you rely on to lead a title charge. 

£60 million you would think that would bring the success, I mean Diego was half the price. Then again Torres was £10 less in a less inflated market.

Belotti? Whoever it is we will need to spend around the same or more to land them.

Prices have almost doubled in the last 2 years though. You have to look at what the player would have cost 2-3 years ago to get a real sense of how good they are. I mean, Kyle Walker cost £50m, but really that price should be about £20-25m. Zappacosta is not a £22m pound player, more like £10m. So £58m for Morata (plus add-ons) is really about £35m I'd say, which is about what we paid for Costa I think. That gives it a bit more perspective. These transfer fees are giving skewed perspectives on player ability. Same goes for Bakayoko, he's not a £40m player, he could have been about £20-22m realistically.

I'd say as a rule, take the fee paid this year and multiply it by 0.6 for a rough estimate of what they are actually worth:

Rudiger - 29m -> 17.4m
Bakayoko - 40m -> 24m
Morata - 58m -> 34.8m
Zappacosta - 23m -> 13.8m
Drinkwater - 35m -> 21m (English so costs more)

Edited January 8, 20188 yr by Zeta

Still for those prices (that you have reduced) you expect better output than what we have been getting.

Funny how everybody's opinions fluctuate as the season goes.  2 months ago, we have a world class striker and now we are talking about wanting to sign a replacement.  I did not expect him to score 20 goals (around 15 was my thought), but he has a great chance at hitting that mark.  Couple that with his link up play and ability to create for his teammates, is say he is having a mighty fine first season in England.

 

I think Morata has been good overall and outstanding at times.  I am as frustrated as anyone with his 1v1 finishing lately, but I think he has proven capable of doing it.  His first goal of the hat trick against Stoke jumps to mind and the winner against Bournemouth in the cup game, as well.

 

I fully expect him to bounce back and start banging them in regularly, and we can all look back on this "dry spell" and laugh about it.

You're not expecting patience from the membership here, are you?

Funny how everybody's opinions fluctuate as the season goes.  2 months ago, we have a world class striker and now we are talking about wanting to sign a replacement.  I did not expect him to score 20 goals (around 15 was my thought), but he has a great chance at hitting that mark.  Couple that with his link up play and ability to create for his teammates, is say he is having a mighty fine first season in England.
 
I think Morata has been good overall and outstanding at times.  I am as frustrated as anyone with his 1v1 finishing lately, but I think he has proven capable of doing it.  His first goal of the hat trick against Stoke jumps to mind and the winner against Bournemouth in the cup game, as well.
 
I fully expect him to bounce back and start banging them in regularly, and we can all look back on this "dry spell" and laugh about it.

And the header against United!

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

You're not expecting patience from the membership here, are you?

Should have signed Lukaku tbh

7 minutes ago, Alpha Blondy said:

Should have signed Lukaku tbh

Don't be silly

7 minutes ago, Alpha Blondy said:

Should have signed Lukaku tbh

Would have taken either. Lukaku is definitely a better finisher as far a 1v1’s go. Morata brings other team members into the game much more and got better all round skills. The problem with Morata is that his misses are so glaring they are what stick in people’s minds and all his good work is forgotten.

Condering that Morata is only half way through a season in a new league and Lukaku is a bit of an old hand here I’d say Morata has had the best start for his new club. 

Morata just needs to improve his finishing, then he's there. Lukaku needs to improve his whole attitude, that's something much harder to do.

I don't really know what the hysteria is about to be honest.   He's missed a few very getable chances and yes should have scored them.  But it happens!  Even to the very best. It's just compounded by the fact they happened in succession during a very busy period and every bloke and his dog is now a twitter expert.  He's been excellent this season all things considered.

 

Edited January 9, 20188 yr by Van Butsen

Very annoying misses against Stoke and Arsenal but unfortunately it happens. His movement is still fantastic and he’s getting into the perfect positions to finish chances. It’ll happen for him sooner rather than later if he keeps it up. 

He's got the ability but his confidence is down and his shooting is poor.

Get this man a psychologist and put him on extra shooting practise and he'll come good. 

Edited January 9, 20188 yr by Odiddy

On 08/01/2018 at 14:44, Zeta said:

Prices have almost doubled in the last 2 years though. You have to look at what the player would have cost 2-3 years ago to get a real sense of how good they are. I mean, Kyle Walker cost £50m, but really that price should be about £20-25m. Zappacosta is not a £22m pound player, more like £10m. So £58m for Morata (plus add-ons) is really about £35m I'd say, which is about what we paid for Costa I think. That gives it a bit more perspective. These transfer fees are giving skewed perspectives on player ability. Same goes for Bakayoko, he's not a £40m player, he could have been about £20-22m realistically.

I'd say as a rule, take the fee paid this year and multiply it by 0.6 for a rough estimate of what they are actually worth:

Rudiger - 29m -> 17.4m
Bakayoko - 40m -> 24m
Morata - 58m -> 34.8m
Zappacosta - 23m -> 13.8m
Drinkwater - 35m -> 21m (English so costs more)

What does actually worth mean? They are worth what was paid for them. If the prices are inflated, then that's how much things cost and are worth.

Absolutely can't believe some of the drvial on here...

Neither drogba or Costa were perfect in a "one on one" situation. Drobga only managed 16 goals in his first season with us, same again in his second, and I remember him getting absolute pellets, despite us winning the league both years.  

Costa does not score the goal Morata did against untied, and probably doesn't get the one against Madrid either. Both great players but neither of them perfect. Morata is a great player, he takes that finishing up a level and he's world class, it's that simple, but even now he has been massive for us this season and won us a lot of big points. 

 

how is this for some predatory finishing

 

 

 

Fans are making him look like a flop, but just a month ago they were all loving him when he was bagging in important goals. I have eyes and i know that he could have bagged a hat trick against both Stoke and Arsenal but missed 100% chances. Does it really make him a bad player? Or did he just have a bad day at the office? I would claim the second, he did well so far in the season and we still have a lot of games so he can make it a better season. His finishing is something he should work on, however my main concern regarding him is that he falls down to easily expecting the ref's to award him fouls. That is probably something he got a lot in La Liga but he won't get soft fouls in the Premiership. 

Glad there's some sense being spokBAKAYOKO OUT ANNOUNCE MAHREZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On 09/01/2018 at 11:22, yorkleyblue said:

Don't be silly

I think that was tongue in cheek, surely 

On 09/01/2018 at 13:03, Zeta said:

Morata just needs to improve his finishing, then he's there. Lukaku needs to improve his whole attitude, that's something much harder to do.

Needs to get a first touch as well which is something that in my opinion, can’t be taught - certainly not at 23/24!

 

Edit: referring to Lukaku btw

Edited January 10, 20188 yr by EdinburghBlue

20 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

I think that was tongue in cheek, surely 

I'm not sure that concept is understood much in here   I wouldn't want to bet my house on any one of these ridiculous posts actually being someone just pissing about, tongue in cheek.

Would you?