Just now, doctorblue said:

Good...wouldn't want to overtax that brain of yours...

Thanks, I'm glad you noticed I'm not best equipped to decode your self important and bombastic posts/rants. Have a nice day 'Doctor'!

3 hours ago, coco said:

 

Everton are on that list? 

9 minutes ago, MissouriBlue said:

Thanks, I'm glad you noticed I'm not best equipped to decode your self important and bombastic posts/rants. Have a nice day 'Doctor'!

You're doing okay...it's sometimes nice to battle it out in the lower leagues...sleep well...be dry 

5 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

You're doing okay...it's sometimes nice to battle it out in the lower leagues...sleep well...be dry 

It's 14:44, I don't think I can get away with going to sleep yet even if I tried. You know I can't go to bed until your mum brings me my fish fingers and chips anyway.

 

5 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

You're doing okay...it's sometimes nice to battle it out in the lower leagues...sleep well...be dry 

5 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

You're doing okay...it's sometimes nice to battle it out in the lower leagues...sleep well...be dry 

I take it you want last word? I can grant that if it will make you feel better.

Edited July 10, 20179 yr by MissouriBlue

5 minutes ago, MissouriBlue said:

It's 14:44, I don't think I can get away with going to sleep yet even if I tried. You know I can't go to bed until your mum brings me my fish fingers and chips anyway.

 

I take it you want last word? I can grant that if it will make you feel better.

You'd have to be in heaven for my mum to bring you dinner I'm afraid...but she was the type of woman who'd do anything for anyone...she'd even cut the fish fingers up for you in case you hurt yourself with the plastic fork...

5 minutes ago, doctorblue said:

You'd have to be in heaven for my mum to bring you dinner I'm afraid...but she was the type of woman who'd do anything for anyone...she'd even cut the fish fingers up for you in case you hurt yourself with the plastic fork...

That works for me, I use my fingers anyway. I'm not sophisticated enough to pretend to know how to operate cutlery. 

As my dad used to say to my brother and I when we were kids.........If you two don't stop arguing I'll bang your heads together.

1 minute ago, MissouriBlue said:

That works for me, I use my fingers anyway. I'm not sophisticated enough to pretend to know how to operate cutlery. 

You are both making me look bad, I spent over a decade on this forum excusing my piss poor spelling with dyslexia and you two decide to go life and death with perfect f**king spelling after both laying your affliction out in front of you, would you both kindly wind it in a tad 

2 hours ago, MissouriBlue said:

Didn't Atletico win the title with Costa?

That was 3 years ago, since then Real and Barca have stepped up their game in La Liga. 

1 hour ago, coco said:

 

The odds are shaping up nicely. Hopefully something will come of it. Love how Everton even has odds, 33/1 is a terrible price for that to happen at that!

2 hours ago, coco said:

 

Very surprised odds of him staying not better, watching odds far more of an indication than the papers, it is a matter of necessity that bookies have inside information. 

Well, it looks like it's going to be Morata, which I have mixed feelings about.

 

Positives, well, he's obviously a top class striker and we're badly in need of one, so it's the major issue solved within our squad. He's a good age and he has lots of top level experience, with Spain, Juventus and Real Madrid. He's competed at the top with his clubs and his country, he has CL experience and he's won lots of trophies. 25 in October but he's only played about 190 games, and many of them will have been as a sub, if not most, which should mean there's not a lot of wear and tear on him but on the negative side it means he may not have developed as much as he should have done. Nevertheless you can't underestimate the importance of top-level experience, as it gives him an advantage coping with the pressure of a big money move and playing under intense scrutiny. Despite being hugely decorated I also imagine motivation won't be a problem, because he's desperate to get out of Madrid and play regularly it seems, something he has never done before in his career, having always had strikers ahead of him in the pecking order at Juve and Madrid.

 

Negatives, well, I haven't seen an awful lot of him so these are just first impressions, but I don't think he's got the wow factor all the best forwards have, or that magic ingredient if you like. I think he falls just short of that which is probably why Madrid are prepared to let him go. I also don't think he has natural athletic attributes like genuine strength and speed, things which would serve him well in the PL. He may find things tougher over here in terms of the pace of the game and the physicality and also the fact teams don't just roll over like they do in Italy and Spain. Morata reminds me a bit of Berbatov, probably not as skilful but probably not as lazy either. Berbatov was a sublime player who scored loads of goals but he struggled away from home particularly when you have to cope with a bit more physicality and ultimately he didn't quite have the all-round game to lead Utd's front line, because he didn't do enough to occupy defenders, neither by stretching them with his running or by giving them a physical battle. Morata in all likelihood will be a lone striker and I hope he has the all-round game. Certainly his touch and vision is superior to Lukaku's, so he should be able to link up well with his teammates and he can score all sorts of types of goals. I just hope he can't be bullied. You need to be tough in this league. You need to be a fighter. I have no doubt the manager can instil that into him.

 

Ultimately it comes down to presence. You need to have a presence as a front man. Too often Berbatov went missing. We all know in the modern game goals are not enough for a front man. You have to do way more than that, particularly if you're playing up front on your own. The other player Morata reminds me a bit of is Harry Kane, which bodes well for us I think. One of my misgivings about Lukaku was the impact he would have on our game, good striker but we would have to play to his strengths and that would mean sacrificing a bit of fluency, which when you have players like Hazard is a bit of a shame. Kane can play in a fluent side, he can play in tandem with skilful players and he's got a good all-round game, and I think Morata's of that ilk, hopefully even better. There's no doubt we're buying quality it's just whether he's quite good enough. After all we aspire to a very high level, a lot higher than Spurs currently aspire to.

 

As a comparison, in terms of goals, Kane has scored 99 in 165 games for Tottenham, which is pretty incredible, whereas Morata has scored only 58 in 188 games for Juve and Madrid. They are both more or less the same age, with Morata slightly older, by 9 months. Morata's stats are obscured by the fact he has often come on as sub although having said that it's probably easier to score for Juve and Madrid than it is for Tottenham. On the plus side, Morata scored 20 in a season for the first time last campaign, even though he was behind Benzema in the pecking order.

 

I was hoping we'd go for Belotti but he's probably more of a risk at the price being quoted. You want your centre-forward to capture the imagination. You want him to be the focal point of the team. You want him to be a personality that inspires passion. Belotti has all those qualities it appears to me, though I've only ever seen him on youtube videos. Belotti is a player I think the fans will identify with and get behind whereas Morata is more of a player you admire rather than one that inspires really strong emotions. That's the way I see it anyway though I could be wrong. How many of Morata's goals have been really crucial I'd like to know, and how many have been the 3rd or 4th in a rout with his team coasting? Is Morata a player that makes a difference, is he a player that will win you games, the tough games? You want a big player for the money we're spending, a big player that can win you the biggest games, a player that strikes fear into opponents. I'm not sure Morata's that man but obviously we have a decision to make and the manager seemingly believes it's the right decision in the circumstances and that's good enough for me. There aren't a huge amount of top centre-forwards to choose from and centre-forward is our priority so we have to look around and get the best that we can and in that sense we must be happy. Some of you were worried that we wouldn't splash the cash and we wouldn't go into the season with a top striker. Hopefully it's looking like those fears were unfounded.

 

If he does come and if he costs 70 or 80 million quid, I really don't care about the money. Yes he's overpriced but isn't everybody nowadays, and besides, we got good money for Oscar and a few others, we'll get maybe as much as 40 million for Costa, who knows, strikers cost money, I'm quite happy if we pay over the odds for one, we're pretty shrewd with our transfer dealings recently so we're entitled to spend big when we see fit and we're not going to get a top striker on the cheap, not in the present climate and not when everybody knows how badly we need one. Besides, if we spend that sort of money it will show the manager that we're backing him and that we share the same ambition as him.

 

I'm glad Costa's going. I think Conte's got it bang on, for reasons I won't go into now. Having said that Costa's a fine player when his head's right, and he's contributed significantly to two league titles and a LC in 3 seasons, which isn't bad. Costa occupies central defenders, he can play with his back to goal, he can play off the shoulder and he will run the channels. He can also of course sniff a goal around the six yard box. He may not have blistering pace nor be great in the air and he can give away possession easily either though a poor touch or poor dribbling, but he's a handful, he bangs in a lot of important goals and he forages alone up front and does an awful lot of work for the team. Often he has made the difference. Morata is clearly a different player, with different strengths and weaknesses. He'll have something to prove because he's never been a number one and he knows he was only our second choice, so hopefully this makes him even more determined, but he will need to be the difference in important games if he wants to be deemed a success. That's what we're looking for our centre-forward to do. It's not just about how many you score, it's when you score them and against who. If we get him he'll be the man. There won't be anyone else ahead of him. It will be all on him. That's something he's never encountered before. You need to have balls, as well as ability. You need to be a big player. Hopefully he'll rise to the challenge.

Mark my words, he'll be great for Chelsea. 

Edited July 10, 20179 yr by TomCFC85

Does anyone think it's worrying he can't displace benzema who is crap, or is the issue that he want's to be the main man upfront due to his style of play and not Ronaldo's sidekick and tap in provider like benzema? Also Mariano just signed for Lyon they have no back up striker for Benzema, does it make sense for them to sell? 

Edited July 10, 20179 yr by DonAntonio

1 minute ago, DonAntonio said:

Does anyone think its' worrying he can't displace benzema who is crap, or is teh issue that he want's to be the main man upfront due to his style of play and not Ronaldos sidekick and tap in provider like benzema? Also Mariano just signed for Lyon they have no back up striker for Benzema, does it make sense for them to sell? 

They're trying to get Mbappe, selling Morata will help fund it.
 

Just now, TomCFC85 said:

They're trying to get Mbappe, selling Morata will help fund it.
 

That may mean this is an: if A happens then B happens C may happen as long as D doesn't happen sort of a game, something that could happily keep the board occupied until transfer deadline. 

Articles pertaining to Morata

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/91213/Show/Álvaro-Morata

http://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2017/04/28/59025abdca474165398b462a.html

 

All of his goals:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/alvaro-morata/alletore/spieler/128223

 

I think it's fair to say that you can draw your own conclusions from his stats. 

5 minutes ago, Deino said:

Articles pertaining to Morata

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/91213/Show/Álvaro-Morata

http://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2017/04/28/59025abdca474165398b462a.html

 

All of his goals:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/alvaro-morata/alletore/spieler/128223

 

I think it's fair to say that you can draw your own conclusions from his stats. 

He's a much better dribbler than I realized, obviously he won't have as much time on the ball here, but should be able to create more for himself than Diego did.  I think Diego has better movement though, which I think has been mentioned already.

I think real would be willing to take a risk to get the (latest) Monaco wonderkid. If Monaco refuse to sell now am sure they can pick up a back up striker for a small fee compared to what they sell morata. If Monaco do sell then ideal scenario for them. 

Why not cash in if they can get that much money for a backup? Personally I do not know if morata is good enough for the money being quoted. I have not seen enough of him to judge. I saw enough at the end of last season to have faith in the batman if we cannot sign a truly world class forward to push him out of the team. 

 

 

Just seen all of his goals from last season, and one thing I've noticed - His heading is so good. If he arrives then that will be a refreshing change, Costa has never been great at heading.

His finishing is so cool and clinical, I'd be happy with this one.

Morata to Pedro, I can see it now

 

11 minutes ago, Deino said:

Articles pertaining to Morata

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/91213/Show/Álvaro-Morata

http://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2017/04/28/59025abdca474165398b462a.html

 

All of his goals:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/alvaro-morata/alletore/spieler/128223

 

I think it's fair to say that you can draw your own conclusions from his stats. 

The stats look pretty good. His goals earned real 12 points last season, only 3 behind what costa earned for us despite playing much less. 

I think he could break out and be a star striker if he plays regularly. I'm not worried by him not starting ahead of benzema, we should know more than most about how club politics can often dicate team selection, having seen Torres keep better players out of the team for us. 

Great post from @Davey Baby although I disagree about the berbatov comparison. Morata works hard and runs the channels, and he fights for the ball. Berbatov had many qualities, but work ethic and determination weren't in his vocabulary. 

Hopefully we get this done quick, since costa isn't even going to be training with us, we need morata ready to go from match day 1. 

Points difference between the top 3 in La Liga last season:

1. Real 93

2. Barca 90

3. Atleti 78

His goals did make the difference in some games even if they were against lower table opposition

5 minutes ago, Deino said:

Points difference between the top 3 in La Liga last season:

1. Real 93

2. Barca 90

3. Atleti 78

His goals did make the difference in some games even if they were against lower table opposition

Playing £70m plus for someone who only scores against lower table opposition...Who'd do that?
(Sarcasm)
Plus what we can say, Subtract all of Lukaku's goals from Everton, they'd still be 7th, Morata's goals gifted Madrid the league.