I personally still think he deserves another chance, I'm trying to cling on to the form he had in the first half of the season as some kind of positive and maybe his recent form is more of a confidence issue than his overall quality. However, I can totally understand if some people think he isn't good enough, every football fan is entitled to a fair opinion after all.

14 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

People saying about the Strikers getting poor service but last night Morata missed a lovely 1v1 that Kante slipped through to him and there were no end of ball fizzed across the goal mouth. I'd put money on Batshuayi would have got on the end of one of those last night. 

Its not just about that. Each striker has its strengths and needs to play to it. What are morata's? For all of michy's faults, he scores, like the league cup games, where his overall game looked meh... but he got braces and consistently was in goal scoring position. I dont get what Morata's USP is. He can head... so basically now we need to be an overpriced stoke? His goal scoring positioning and getting at the end of low crosses is average, his 1v1 finishing is dreadful, his link up play is good in 1 out of 15 games. He has looked so average in PL. 

Also NOW, people dont want to gamble on him being no.1 striker for the next season but also dont want him sold. So basically they want the same thing they were arguing against just a day or 2 back. Its a funny world. Is there an etoo-ish striker out there who can come in, do a job as well as coach the sh*t out of morata? 

2 hours ago, didierforever said:

Its not just about that. Each striker has its strengths and needs to play to it. What are morata's? For all of michy's faults, he scores, like the league cup games, where his overall game looked meh... but he got braces and consistently was in goal scoring position. I dont get what Morata's USP is. He can head... so basically now we need to be an overpriced stoke? His goal scoring positioning and getting at the end of low crosses is average, his 1v1 finishing is dreadful, his link up play is good in 1 out of 15 games. He has looked so average in PL. 

Also NOW, people dont want to gamble on him being no.1 striker for the next season but also dont want him sold. So basically they want the same thing they were arguing against just a day or 2 back. Its a funny world. Is there an etoo-ish striker out there who can come in, do a job as well as coach the sh*t out of morata? 

The Huddersfield game was perfect for Michy to come off the bench because you just know he would score. Like you said he is a goal scorer and comes alive in the box, very useful trait against packed defences.

I pointed out at the beginning of the season that buying 2 target men will lead to no variety in our game play. Most managers want their forwards to have different traits, but as things stand whoever is in charge next season will have a difficult decision to make. The silver lining is Michy is still on our books. Giroud should be coming off the bench, not starting games if we have any aspirations of making top 4 next season. Would i sell Morata? Maybe not; a new manager might bring some fresh impetus to his game. We can’t have 3 forwards on our books, and  I just feel having Giroud/Morata as our options next season is very limiting.

On 10/05/2018 at 06:03, Zeta said:

Most strikers would have had a hard time yesterday. 11 men behind the ball, constantly surrounded. It's the overall team play and inability to break down defensive units which is the problem. How many times did we just pass it back and forth, going nowhere? Or send a high ball in towards the strikers, only for the defenders to head it away every single time, without learning that it's not working? 

No pace, no urgency, no movement into spaces. We just are not a very good attacking side.

100% agree, but it is easier to blame Morata !

On 10/05/2018 at 10:09, Slojo said:

I wouldn't gamble on Morata leading the starting lineup next season, he's really spineless up top. Giroud who is supposed to be a renowned bottler for Le Arse is practically the kid who takes Morata's lunch money at school. 

He just isn't clinical enough, whether or not it's a mental issue I'm not sure, but a lot of players seem to be suffering from it... The person who posted that Sky source earlier, it really doesn't surprise me we are in that position. Our finishing rates are ridiculous, we seem to create a lot of chances and we can't finish them, and Morata is mostly responsible for that, the guy could have had about 20 league goals this season at the very least, he's had chances on a plate. He's definitely got the movement but my god it's like a centreback in front of goal once he gets the ball in that position.

I don't want him sold but I'm really not sure what we do next season, it really depends on what Conte does.  

I remember arguing with you about Morata before and you were fairly patient with him and willing to give him a chance to get better, but if you are ending the season with this assessment, then it is fair enough to say that the Morata experiment in year 1 is a failure. I agree with your assessment - all i will add is that I will not mind selling Morata if we get close to recouping the money. 

 

 

Edited May 11, 20188 yr by brownindian

It's extremely difficult to buy good striker these days, selling Morata and recoup the money is the easy part, but then what? We aren't going to get Cavani or Lewidonski ( spelling), and both are at an age where they got maximum 2-3 years left, hell we couldn't even get Dzeko. It really depends on who's the next manager next year, but a first year write off in EPL is not uncommon for overseas players. The fact that a team that's better than us ( Juventus) wanted him means he's still highly rated, and I don't think he's going to play backup to Higuain if he leaves. Ok, here it is, lets do a swap deal with Juventu's best attacking player, then we have a deal.

Sky Source: Juventus want to re-sign Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata this Summer.

So I guess the question is what will they be willing to pay?

They'll probaboly make the generous offer of taking him on loan.

Just now, Zeta said:

They'll probaboly make the generous offer of taking him on loan.

That’s my worry

I wouldn't mind selling him. Problem is who do we go  for? Icardi is probably the best we can get but would he fit with the managers style next season? 

1 hour ago, Zeta said:

They'll probaboly make the generous offer of taking him on loan.

2 year loan with option to extend for 2 years so they can sign him for free when the loan expires. Chelsea to subsidise 50% of his wages.

But we get Buffon in return who will sign a 6 month contract and then retire in January.

15 minutes ago, sonic90 said:

2 year loan with option to extend for 2 years so they can sign him for free when the loan expires. Chelsea to subsidise 50% of his wages.

But we get Buffon in return who will sign a 6 month contract and then retire in January.

Are there no juve players we could take in exchange to make this happen where we don't end up with another cuadrado situation again....

Morata just doesn't have the mental or physical capacity to be a top striker in the PL, we need someone much better. 

As a second striker behind Giroud I can see him getting through another season reasonably successfully, but these Juve rumours appear to be getting stronger. I hope we don't just end up with another disaffected, 'want-away' player on the bench.

BREAKING: Sky sources: @juventusfc want to re-sign @ChelseaFC striker @AlvaroMorata this summer. #SSN https://t.co/LClCl6VA5V

If he wants to leave, let him leave.

He said at the start of the season which was pretty alarming that he's not getting used to living in London and will probably find himself elsewhere. That right there annoyed me.

Either way, all the people crossing their fingers hoping he leaves, who do you go for now? We are back to where we were in the first place. What if the next striker we sign doesn't have a good first season? Do well sell that player as well and lose out on a profit. 

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Are there no juve players we could take in exchange to make this happen where we don't end up with another cuadrado situation again....

Rugani, Dybala, Bernadeschi, Alex Sandro?, Douglas Costa, De Sciglio.

Deal makes zero sense for all parties; why would he leave Chelsea where he is a guaranteed starter to go & be a sub for Higuain? Why would Juventus pay so much for a sub? And why would Chelsea let him go for a ludicrous deal when there is a shortage of decent forwards around?

Isn’t his signing on Conte or are we blaming this on the board again?

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Rugani, Dybala, Bernadeschi, Alex Sandro?, Douglas Costa, De Sciglio.

Deal makes zero sense for all parties; why would he leave Chelsea where he is a guaranteed starter to go & be a sub for Higuain? Why would Juventus pay so much for a sub? And why would Chelsea let him go for a ludicrous deal when there is a shortage of decent forwards around?

Isn’t his signing on Conte or are we blaming this on the board again?

If Morata wants to go where he knows he'll be a sub then that right there tells the story, he lacks balls and will never make it here. If he rejects Juve and wants to prove himself here I'll at least have some faith in him and give him his chance next season.

But I don't think Morata can be blamed on anyone but Morata, he's been given his chance, it was a logical signing when Costa wanted to leave and Lukaku went to United.  

On 11/05/2018 at 07:33, ducavis said:

The Huddersfield game was perfect for Michy to come off the bench because you just know he would score. Like you said he is a goal scorer and comes alive in the box, very useful trait against packed defences.

I pointed out at the beginning of the season that buying 2 target men will lead to no variety in our game play. Most managers want their forwards to have different traits, but as things stand whoever is in charge next season will have a difficult decision to make. The silver lining is Michy is still on our books. Giroud should be coming off the bench, not starting games if we have any aspirations of making top 4 next season. Would i sell Morata? Maybe not; a new manager might bring some fresh impetus to his game. We can’t have 3 forwards on our books, and  I just feel having Giroud/Morata as our options next season is very limiting.

Why can't we have 3 forwards? I think we definitely should, especially with Europa League most likely coming next season. A lot of the great teams in the past have had 3 or 4 strikers in their squad's.

I agree though that we seem to have 3 second choice strikers on our books now. Morata would be a very good second choice just like he was at Real & Juve but I also think the same of Michy. Could he develop into first choice? 

I think Tammy will have to be sent out on loan for another season as well while we sort out who's going to get the goals.

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Are there no juve players we could take in exchange to make this happen where we don't end up with another cuadrado situation again....

What happened to Sandro? Tom would love him here ...

5 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

What happened to Sandro? Tom would love him here ...

The Juventus fans I saw on reddit a week or so ago were begging us to come in again with big money, so i'm guessing he's not that great at the moment. Anywy, we've got Emerson, we don't need Sandro.

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

If he wants to leave, let him leave.

He said at the start of the season which was pretty alarming that he's not getting used to living in London and will probably find himself elsewhere. That right there annoyed me.

Either way, all the people crossing their fingers hoping he leaves, who do you go for now? We are back to where we were in the first place. What if the next striker we sign doesn't have a good first season? Do well sell that player as well and lose out on a profit. 

He actually said that? 

Call me crazy but I would go for Martial, I think he’s gonna be a star under the right manager. 

1 minute ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

He actually said that? 

Call me crazy but I would go for Martial, I think he’s gonna be a star under the right manager. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/30/alvaro-morata-dont-see-london-long-big-much-stress/

Yep, he said that while he was in good form, I think that's why everyone forgot about it because he was still banging goals in and playing well. That really got under my skin when he said that. Just like Victor Moses when he said it's his dream to play for Barcelona just after he signed for us, I haven't forgotten that. 

I think Martial is brilliant but Conte would alienate him just like Mourinho has. 

Just now, Slojo said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/10/30/alvaro-morata-dont-see-london-long-big-much-stress/

Yep, he said that while he was in good form, I think that's why everyone forgot about it because he was still banging goals in and playing well. That really got under my skin when he said that. Just like Victor Moses when he said it's his dream to play for Barcelona just after he signed for us, I haven't forgotten that. 

I think Martial is brilliant but Conte would alienate him just like Mourinho has. 

Jesus can’t believe he said that. 

Well I don’t think Conte is gonna be here next season anyway.

We need to get rid of him asap, just because we can't think of an alternative to replace him, doesn't mean we should hold onto him. He's not happy, he's going to miss the WC, go back to Spain for the summer, and then when it comes round to the new season, do you really think he will be happy to come back and face another season over here ?

I'd be happy with Giroud, Zaha and Michy next season, all three have goals in them. Zaha is worth a gamble, proven in this league and he's definitely a decent striker of the ball, unless the club have sourced better and are prepared to pay big money.