8 minutes ago, chi blue said:

When we signed I heard some pundit from Spain say morata good player, but does have issues in his head when confidence is down, seems like he's right

When their confidence is low, ALL strikers have issues in the head, no matter how good or bad they are perceived to be by others. Being a striker isn't a definitive art. Salah's in the sort of form now, where he could be tying up his shoelaces in the penalty area, and the call would cannon off his arse into the back of the net, while for now, Morata can't score whatever he tries to do. Morata has 9 goals this season, same as Lukaku and more than Firmino and Sanchez. Three players who have far more experience of the vagaries of the Premier League than he has. And, let's not forget, this is his very first season where he is deemed to be the No' 1 striker for a top team. You go by your gut instinct and what you've seen and mine is, he has skill,pace and movement (reminds me of Osgood) and has shown that he can put them away. Plus his link up play with Hazard is good and getting better. He'll do for me.

Glad I didn't come on here last night - looks like a lot of "heat of the moment comments"!!

Sure, it is always gutting to lose a lead so late but to be honest, a draw was probably a fair result. We dominated i parts and yes, Morata should have scored 1,2,3...........but they caused us a lot of problems too and we both had our fair share of luck.

Very enjoyable game, that of course would have been more enjoyable had we not conceded the late equaliser, but it's what the PL is all about. Both sides had players who played very well and some who didn't - think most of ours were good bar Morata and Moses but hey-ho, decent performance and we live to fight another day.

 

Edited January 4, 20188 yr by Nibs

10 hours ago, sonic90 said:

Morata's general play has been good, that's why he was in a position to score in the first place. It's better if someone just grabs him and shouts just f**king hit the ball

Look at the two/three one v ones last night though. Bats would have been in those positions and i'd put my house on he wouldn't cave under the pressure. General play is good to have but sometimes you just need the ball in the back of the net. With how patient he has been and no moaning Bats deserves a chance after the reincarnation of Chris Sutton appeared up top last night for us. 

24 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Glad I didn't come on here last night - looks like a lot of "heat of the moment comments"!!

Sure, it is always gutting to lose a lead so late but to be honest, a draw was probably a fair result. We dominated i parts and yes, Morata should have scored 1,2,3...........but they caused us a lot of problems too and we both had our fair share of luck.

Very enjoyable game, that of course would have been more enjoyable had we not conceded the late equaliser, but it's what the PL is all about. Both sides had players who played very well and some who didn't - think most of ours were good bar Morata and Moses but hey-ho, decent performance and we live to fight another day.

 

thought it was a very boring game until the last half an hour. The first half especially was painfully dull. I agree a draw was a fair result but Conte got the team selection wrong here. Should have been a much easier game for us against Rob Holding and Calum Chambers ffs. 

50 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

thought it was a very boring game until the last half an hour. The first half especially was painfully dull. I agree a draw was a fair result but Conte got the team selection wrong here. Should have been a much easier game for us against Rob Holding and Calum Chambers ffs. 

What game were you watching?

Don't often get involved with the post match discussion, but thought I'd have a go after such a big game!

First off, the result was fair I thought. Both teams had a number of chances, both keepers made some good saves, and both teams had something to moan about with the ref. However, we definitely had the better chances with Morata missing several clear 1-v-1's.

On that note, it's incredibly frustrating, because he is actually a decent footballer; he shows good intelligence, strength, pace and control to get himself into these positions, then seems to have a mental block. In a way that's good, as that can be overcome but I just hope this challenge makes him rather than breaks him.

Thought Bakayoko was a complete passenger, it was like we were playing with a 2 man mid with some of the gaps he left, dangerously naïve and tactically unaware. Also doesn't look particularly threatening going forward either, Cesc summed up all our feelings when he threw his arms up after he failed to do anything with that fantastic ball into the box for him.  Thought Kanté had a decent game considering, made some key tackles and got some counters going, goes forward with a lot more intent than he used to, a sign he's still improving and adding to his game, which is good to see.

Moses struggled and frustratingly doesn't seem to fancy taking on the fullback at the moment. I know Zappacosta gets some stick, but I was impressed when he came on, at least he had a go at Maitland-Niles, got half a yard and stuck a dangerous ball into the box for the second goal. Alonso continues to be limited defensively but a great asset going forward; definitely needs to be paired with Rüdiger on that left side of defence, purely for his athleticism and pace to help Alonso out, who got roasted again and again by Bellerin. No shame in that given he's one of the quicker players in the league, but definitely highlights that limitation compared with other wing-backs.

Essentially, we continue to frustrate in front of goal, and this could easily have been 4-2 to either team. They were there for the taking defensively though, and Morata's misses were criminal.

35 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

What game were you watching?

The one where the game was as boring as anything for the first 60 minutes. 

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

The one where the game was as boring as anything for the first 60 minutes. 

Yeah which one was that? 

3 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

Yeah which one was that? 

last nights game, pal. 

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

last nights game, pal. 

Rekon you're in a pretty small isolated minority, chief.  Or are you just trying to be different?

1 minute ago, Van Butsen said:

Rekon you're in a pretty small isolated minority, chief.  Or are you just trying to be different?

Nope. imo it was a dull half of us smashing chances wide and Hazard and Morata dwindling on the ball. It got much more exciting after the first goal, mind you.  

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Nope. imo it was a dull half of us smashing chances wide and Hazard and Morata dwindling on the ball. It got much more exciting after the first goal, mind you.  

So you need goals for a game to be exciting?

Not trying to derail this thread so I won't go on and on.  But I think you're missing the fact that there were a million chances and it was literally end to end, one after the other. It was the opposite to dull.

10 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

So you need goals for a game to be exciting?

Not trying to derail this thread so I won't go on and on.  But I think you're missing the fact that there were a million chances and it was literally end to end, one after the other. It was the opposite to dull.

Ups and downs are fun. That half just seemed to have downs. 

11 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

So you need goals for a game to be exciting?

Not trying to derail this thread so I won't go on and on.  But I think you're missing the fact that there were a million chances and it was literally end to end, one after the other. It was the opposite to dull.

The game was fun for neutrals but would rather have a boring 1-0 win any day.

Worth a read if you missed the match :

http://www.football365.com/news/arsenal-2-2-chelsea-i16-conclusions

Re Morata I heard the other day that Sala needs 3 or 4 chances before he scores. Of course at Liverpool he has been getting those chances. 

Disappointing to only draw yet on another day an acceptable result. Let's hope Conte can work some magic with Morata and Bakayoko.

 

TBH Antonio is the one to blame. He should've taken Morata out given his form, mentality and all the misses he's done lately. But no, no matter whan happens, Batschuay is not getting a minute in important game. Same for Bakayoko - this guys is completely useless in both sides of the game. Defensively he made 2 tackles which is low for match like this and offensively - 3 really bad shots. I didn't like Zapa for Moses as well but somehow it worked out so credit for it. 

Last but not least - the panic in front of Thibaut last minutes was disgusting. If we get that scared against low team like Arsenal, what will be the situation against Barca? Please, Antonio was there and should've given them some instruction to calm the f**k down. 

37 minutes ago, Pendergast said:

TBH Antonio is the one to blame. He should've taken Morata out given his form, mentality and all the misses he's done lately. But no, no matter whan happens, Batschuay is not getting a minute in important game. Same for Bakayoko - this guys is completely useless in both sides of the game. Defensively he made 2 tackles which is low for match like this and offensively - 3 really bad shots. I didn't like Zapa for Moses as well but somehow it worked out so credit for it. 

Last but not least - the panic in front of Thibaut last minutes was disgusting. If we get that scared against low team like Arsenal, what will be the situation against Barca? Please, Antonio was there and should've given them some instruction to calm the f**k down. 

What do you think taking him out would have done to his mentality?

6 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

What do you think taking him out would have done to his mentality?

But look whats happened to his mentality when he gets picked whilst in a spell of bad form, imo you drop players in bad form and try to break it up for them, let them come off the bench with the mentality not broken but full of hope that their chance has come back round.

10 minutes ago, Van Butsen said:

What do you think taking him out would have done to his mentality?

Just look at Batman, his confidence is shot.

1 minute ago, coco said:

But look whats happened to his mentality when he gets picked whilst in a spell of bad form, imo you drop players in bad form and try to break it up for them, let them come off the bench with the mentality not broken but full of hope that their chance has come back round.

Yes I agree with that.  You can't be afraid to take someone out or to not start them regardless of who they are.  My point was more around not needing to bring up his mentality because regardless, bringing him off or not starting him he's going to be disappointed either way.  So it's not really an excuse to not do one or the other.

Disappointed we didn't win. We had the chances. Both keepers played well to be fair.

Real Madrid must be laughing all the way to the bank with the sale of Morata to Chelsea. He's good in the air and holding the ball up but scoring with his feet isn't  one of his fortes. Conte should have Morata in the gym building up his muscles and bulking him out because he's flimsy on the ball and gets knocked over by defenders too easily. Conte also needs to get Morata to practice one on one with the goalkeeper to hone his goalscoring tally. It's beyond me why Conte hasn't done either of these things. They would make Morata a better striker and would make Chelsea's job easier. 'Windbag' Wenger says it wasn't a penalty but he's yet again playing games trying to play the victim. Anywhere on the pitch that challenge is a foul and a free kick to Chelsea. In the penalty area it's a foul and a penalty. Wenger should look up the rules instead of talking BS.

12 hours ago, Stas1 said:

The danger is that by the time we get a real striker (as you put it), Hazard, Courtois, Kante will make up their mind to move elsewhere.

We finished f**king tenth and they stayed. Just stick to dreams of madrid and stuff for reasons not weird stuff like they don't like the current striker. Hazard has been here ages where we had Diego for like 2 seasons if he was gonna leave because of strikers it would have been years ago.

4 minutes ago, TheBluesBrother said:

Real Madrid must be laughing all the way to the bank with the sale of Morata to Chelsea.

They sit in 4th currently and probably aren't as knee jerk as some here. They constantly miss him.

Despite Morata missing the 1v1's I haven't seen anyone highlighting the fact that Big Pete is still one of the best keepers in the league, and at least the final Morata chance was more a really good save than a dire miss.  And there was also a double save earlier which I thought was outstanding.

So, it's not all about a sh*t striker, sometimes you just have to give credit to a really good goal-keeper, playing at his best.