12 minutes ago, Nikos said:

Maybe try Zappa as striker.

I was thinking exactly this last night! It would never happen, but I reckon it would work. I think he has that sort of ability.

37 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Eidur has been around the training ground recently doing youtube videos, maybe he can show Morata how it's done.

One of my favourite Chelsea players.

Mourinho turned him into na midfielder and he did well in a deeper role but he was a classy player.

Also... Any excuse to post this:

(The days when two proper strikers playing together was a thing in football. We can still make it happen...

:] ... Didn't Conte use a 4-2-4 before in his career? 17 years ago that Jimmy Eidur combo started. Damn it. 17 years. )

Edited January 4, 20188 yr by Sun zhi

2 hours ago, coco said:

This is the problem for me. We put all our eggs in one basket. We overspent on an unproven striker and didn't buy anyone else, just in case.

Don't tell me Michy was meant to be our second choice striker, Conte had him for a whole season last year, if he didn't rate him why is he still here ? It really is an appalling situation.

How can you enter into such a season with so much football to play, as Champions of England, with one unproven striker and another you don't rate ??

The only way out of this is to either play Michy and give him the same opportunity and time frame to impress as Morata has had. Leave Morata on the bench to contemplate his future and work harder.

Or buy in new stock.

I think it was clear the moment Conte arrived that he didn't rate Michy. I don't think anything has changed in that respect since then, he barely plays even when Morata is rested/not available. As to why we signed only Morata, I'm sure it was, once again, a question of money. As PSG proved, if you're willing to pay what it takes, you can land almost any player. Chelsea in their current situation are not ready to spend big, that much we know now. Even the combined 100m we spent on Morata and Bakayoko were possible due to selling a combo of Matic and Costa for approximately the same amount, so we basically swapped two for two.

Also now after I've had some time to think it over, I tend to agree with the rumours about Conte leaving at the end of the season. None of us knows the details, but by the look of things the manager and the club haven't been on the same page for a while now. My take is, Conte feels he wasn't backed in his first summer and yet he managed to win the league and that should have given him full backing in the summer of 2017.Yet once again, he didn't get most players  he asked for and lost those he wasn't ready to part with yet (Matic). When it became clear that he'll have to make do with whatever he's got, he blew his top and it became apparent to both parties that by the end of the season he's a goner.

I don't know the particulars of why and how we operate the way we do, but I have a feeling that unless some things change, and fast, we risk being left behind. Forget about PSGs and Cities of the world, with VVD signing Liverpool's squad cost now is the the same as ours. We need to make a statement as far as new signings are concerned because not only we regress, our lack of ambition will result in our best players looking to leave, too.

15 minutes ago, Mod Stark said:

I was thinking exactly this last night! It would never happen, but I reckon it would work. I think he has that sort of ability.

Hehehe... Zappa and Alonso rotation.

He's missed one-on-ones in several games this season. Mostly they haven't cost us, so they are overlooked. You can't miss three one-on-ones in one game, and fail to win that game, and get away scott free. He needs to do better.

The frustrating thing, is we have another striker on the bench, who's not trusted to play at all...and ironically, the one thing he is good at is finishing.

58 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Eidur has been around the training ground recently doing youtube videos, maybe he can show Morata how it's done.

Eidur was hardly a natural finisher though.

Costa would have buried 1 or 2 chances Morata had last night, not just that he’d also get into a scrap against one or two of their players.

I miss Costa. Morata is a much better footballer, but I prefer Costa leading the line. He’s such a bar steward.

Edited January 4, 20188 yr by dansubrosa

B*stard, not bar steward!

3 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Costa would have buried 1 or 2 chances Morata had last night, not just that he’d also get into a scrap against one or two of their players.

I miss Costa. Morata is a much better footballer, but I prefer Costa leading the line. He’s such a bar steward.

As much as i loved Costa, it's easy now to forget that he often broke up strong attacks with awful touches which for all intents and purposes was often as damaging as missing a sitter. Think it was Arsenal at home last season he had about 5 clear seconds to play Pedro through on goal but conspired to let the ball bouble from underneath him.

Yes Costa would have most likely buried atleast one of those chances last night but equally he almost certainly wouldn't have performed the neat turn that Alvaro did that lead to our equalizer at Anfield, for example.

I think straws are being clutched comparing Morata to Costa.

I doubt Costa would have taken at least 1 of the 3, he would've scored all the chances (or at least forced good Cech saves)

Morata's confidence is shot that he look's like an early (Chelsea) Torres in games like last night. Going down then waving his arms about at the ref, the look on his face, the shoulders down walk. I feel sorry for the guy because the more things like this are spoke about all over the media etc, the more it's going to affect him. We've been here before.

It seems we have to work through a few strikers before we have one that (mostly consistently) bangs them in. Possibly still early days of course, but looking at games like last night, Morata looks like the earlier.

I don't know what Conte's answer is. He doesn't rate Batman by the looks of it.

I wonder if Guus Hiddink could dust off his old boots and wear the 9 for a while?

 

 

1 hour ago, Argo said:

 it's easy now to forget that he often broke up strong attacks with awful touches which for all intents and purposes was often as damaging as missing a sitter.

Aside from some tricky touches, that's pretty much what Morata does. Bad touches, lack of physical presence, spending too much with the ball and missing the perfect moment to pass it. 

Batshuyai is the better finisher but no way does he get into the positions Morata does or hold the ball as well as he does.

So are some fans saying morata isn't any good 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Alonso and zappa up to, morata rwb Batman lwb.  Problem solved :)

1 hour ago, Pendergast said:

Aside from some tricky touches, that's pretty much what Morata does. Bad touches, lack of physical presence, spending too much with the ball and missing the perfect moment to pass it. 

Yesterday was a shocker all-round. Conceding possession, poor passes,  even caused the first goal with a touch helped Wilshire receive the ball.

The man is too loved-up with his partner and soft right now, expecting twins, posting snaps all the time.... Aaaargh!

Bring out the beast from within, man! 

Got to switch off those tender feels when you're on the pitch. 

Speaking of tender feels, that game yesterday was incredibly competitive with so much given by both sides but it was actually quite a sporting affair.

Fabregas and Sanchez hugging it out in the middle of the game, not too many nasty tackles, stoppages, players crowding, etc, etc,  very unusual. Fabregas being applauded going for corners and during the sub...

8 hours ago, Argo said:

As much as i loved Costa, it's easy now to forget that he often broke up strong attacks with awful touches which for all intents and purposes was often as damaging as missing a sitter. Think it was Arsenal at home last season he had about 5 clear seconds to play Pedro through on goal but conspired to let the ball bouble from underneath him.

Yes Costa would have most likely buried atleast one of those chances last night but equally he almost certainly wouldn't have performed the neat turn that Alvaro did that lead to our equalizer at Anfield, for example.

Very, very good post.

This is a natural finisher:

No matter where the ball is, what foot he's on, what angle, he just knows where the goal is and gets a shot away early, no faffing around, no cutting back onto the other foot to try and make more space, just hits it.

 

 

21 hours ago, dkw said:

Eidur was hardly a natural finisher though.

Don't know which Gudjohnsen you're talking about. I remember him being a very good finisher. If he was through 1-on-1 with the keeper I'd be expecting a goal.

 

Ice woulda buried those two one on ones against Arsenal. Legend! 

Edited January 5, 20188 yr by Famous CFC

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.

There's so much obsession these days with playing 1 striker, and having an extra man in midfield. I wonder if switching to 2 up front would be an option. Then Morata could form a partnership with someone and take the pressure of him a bit to be the sole striker. Maybe a sort of 3-4-1-2, so you still have the 3 at the back, still have wingbacks, still have Hazard roaming free, but have 2 targets up top.

Courtois

Rudiger
Christensen
Azpilicueta

Alonso
Kante
Drinkwater
Moses

Hazard

Morata
Batshayui/whoever

 

Ideally of course with another top striker, like a Belotti or someone.

58 minutes ago, Zeta said:

There's so much obsession these days with playing 1 striker, and having an extra man in midfield. I wonder if switching to 2 up front would be an option. Then Morata could form a partnership with someone and take the pressure of him a bit to be the sole striker. Maybe a sort of 3-4-1-2, so you still have the 3 at the back, still have wingbacks, still have Hazard roaming free, but have 2 targets up top.

Courtois

Rudiger
Christensen
Azpilicueta

Alonso
Kante
Drinkwater
Moses

Hazard

Morata
Batshayui/whoever

 

Ideally of course with another top striker, like a Belotti or someone.

I actually think he'll try this sometimes if he has another striker at his disposal.

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

There's so much obsession these days with playing 1 striker, and having an extra man in midfield. I wonder if switching to 2 up front would be an option. Then Morata could form a partnership with someone and take the pressure of him a bit to be the sole striker. Maybe a sort of 3-4-1-2, so you still have the 3 at the back, still have wingbacks, still have Hazard roaming free, but have 2 targets up top.

Courtois

Rudiger
Christensen
Azpilicueta

Alonso
Kante
Drinkwater
Moses

Hazard

Morata
Batshayui/whoever

 

Ideally of course with another top striker, like a Belotti or someone.

I posted something relating to this in one of the rumours threads, I personally would love to hazard behind 2 strikers. It would be a throwback to the 90's but football does go through cycles, how many defences are setup to deal with 2 strikers? 

The biggest problem though, is hazard in this day and age, would be expected to drop back into midfield to give us an extra man in there when we aren't in possession. 

I'm not saying hazard couldn't do it, but I don't know if he would want to do it, or if conte would even trust him. 

18 hours ago, Sun zhi said:

Yesterday was a shocker all-round. Conceding possession, poor passes,  even caused the first goal with a touch helped Wilshire receive the ball.

The man is too loved-up with his partner and soft right now, expecting twins, posting snaps all the time.... Aaaargh!

Bring out the beast from within, man! 

Got to switch off those tender feels when you're on the pitch. 

Speaking of tender feels, that game yesterday was incredibly competitive with so much given by both sides but it was actually quite a sporting affair.

Fabregas and Sanchez hugging it out in the middle of the game, not too many nasty tackles, stoppages, players crowding, etc, etc,  very unusual. Fabregas being applauded going for corners and during the sub...

Found this strange as well

2 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.

that miss in the CL against Liverpool still haunts me.