7 hours ago, Orpington_Blue said:

Don't think this season will be the end of problems with this guy. We either continue to play him and get sub-par performances or we bench him and he starts to throw tantrums.

Bringing him in as the marquee striker might have been a big mistake. Conte should not have been so quick to push Batshuayi down as a clear backup.

If we can some how get 40 mil for him, we must take the money and run, this league is to tough for him. His character is just not right for this. The premier league is big boys football and this guy just hasn't got it. If we persist with him next season then it will be another long hard season. A shame as I was hopeful for him.

2 hours ago, chi blue said:

If we can some how get 40 mil for him, we must take the money and run, this league is to tough for him. His character is just not right for this. The premier league is big boys football and this guy just hasn't got it. If we persist with him next season then it will be another long hard season. A shame as I was hopeful for him.

Unfortunately, I think you are right.

Shame, as I had big hopes for him and he started well enough. Sure Joey Barton won't like being reminded that back in August / September he went on record as saying Morata was better than Harry Kane!!

2 hours ago, chi blue said:

If we can some how get 40 mil for him, we must take the money and run, this league is to tough for him. His character is just not right for this. The premier league is big boys football and this guy just hasn't got it. If we persist with him next season then it will be another long hard season. A shame as I was hopeful for him.

Completely agree. He can be a fine player in a dominant team without pressure but that is not how Chelsea squads are built most of the time. We need a Costa like fighter upfront. Its no surprise that the likes of Drogba and Costa (strong characters) did well while those like Torres and Morata struggle.

2 hours ago, chi blue said:

If we can some how get 40 mil for him, we must take the money and run, this league is to tough for him. His character is just not right for this. The premier league is big boys football and this guy just hasn't got it. If we persist with him next season then it will be another long hard season. A shame as I was hopeful for him.

I get your point, but I feel it"s a bit too early to throw in the towel already. We know he can score, but perhaps he"s not a smart player in the sense that he doesn't realise (yet) he"s better off knuckling down when things are not going his way instead of sulking, whining and tripping over his bootlaces. It"s a slow penny to drop, but hopefully it will.

“Don’t forget, for Morata, this is the first full season in his career,” Conte said. “With Real Madrid and Juventus he was on the bench, the first substitution if the striker was injured. So, for this reason, we must have great patience. You are talking about an important striker. He has a really important prospect for Chelsea, for the present and the future. I’ve seen great focus and great will to try to fight for a place here.”

 

Is it just me or is it crazy that we dropped £60m on a player that was yet to prove capable of being first choice? 

35 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

“Don’t forget, for Morata, this is the first full season in his career,” Conte said. “With Real Madrid and Juventus he was on the bench, the first substitution if the striker was injured. So, for this reason, we must have great patience. You are talking about an important striker. He has a really important prospect for Chelsea, for the present and the future. I’ve seen great focus and great will to try to fight for a place here.”

 

Is it just me or is it crazy that we dropped £60m on a player that was yet to prove capable of being first choice? 

I think whoever we signed would have been a risk. £60m for a striker unproven as first choice (Morata). £70m for a striker that was unproven at a top club (Lukaku). £80m for a striker that had only done it for one season in Italy (Belotti).

 

I think anyone we were looking at would have been a risk of a signing. Then again, Morata has been unbelievably sh*t. 

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I think whoever we signed would have been a risk. £60m for a striker unproven as first choice (Morata). £70m for a striker that was unproven at a top club (Lukaku). £80m for a striker that had only done it for one season in Italy (Belotti).

 

I think anyone we were looking at would have been a risk of a signing. Then again, Morata has been unbelievably sh*t. 

I think Lukaku was the lowest risk but was massively expensive once you threw on the agent fees. 

When you think the Rooney transfer on a free was probably a part of the deal too you're looking at something like over £100m valuation of his transfer... We were never going to get anywhere near to paying what it eventually took to sign him. 

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing I know but looking at Morata and the fact he's never been first choice despite playing for Real Madrid and Juventus it's frustrating we dropped such a huge sum on a player that was essentially a risk, given he was replacing a proven goal scorer in Costa. 

Throw on top we sold experience in midfield and also gambled on Bakayoko adapting too it wasn't great transfer business by the club.... 

If we'd had a second choice striker that we were able to fall back on (seeing as Conte clearly never really wanted/rated Michy B) it might have been different but we put all our goal scoring hopes in a player that's never scored 20 league goals in a season. 

 

Balotelli is out of contract in the summer is all I'm saying.... 

I think people are still being incredibly harsh in this thread. 

Just now, Slojo said:

I think people are still being incredibly harsh in this thread. 

Agreed. I think the best time to judge him is next season when Conte is gone and we have a new manager.

Just now, JMaher94 said:

Agreed. I think the best time to judge him is next season when Conte is gone and we have a new manager.

Wanting him sold already for f**k sake, and they're the same people that complained when we sold Salah, De Bruyne, Lukaku etc. 

7 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I think people are still being incredibly harsh in this thread. 

It's not hard to be harsh to him, in fact it's the only enjoyment i take from the £70m the club wasted on him.

All he has to do is to not address the officials, stay on his feet, leave his whining RM face at home before the match, and put on the tough warrior face who shows no pain.

Then at least if he doesn't score he will still be admired as a man of worth, and not a petulant spoiled child who gives up after one attempt.

It's too early too want Morata sold. He had a good first half of the season, its only the second half of the season that he hasn't looked good. And to be fair, the team in general hasn't been playing that well in the second half and Morata has hasn't been as regular compared to the first half

3 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I think Lukaku was the lowest risk but was massively expensive once you threw on the agent fees. 

When you think the Rooney transfer on a free was probably a part of the deal too you're looking at something like over £100m valuation of his transfer... We were never going to get anywhere near to paying what it eventually took to sign him. 

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing I know but looking at Morata and the fact he's never been first choice despite playing for Real Madrid and Juventus it's frustrating we dropped such a huge sum on a player that was essentially a risk, given he was replacing a proven goal scorer in Costa. 

Throw on top we sold experience in midfield and also gambled on Bakayoko adapting too it wasn't great transfer business by the club.... 

If we'd had a second choice striker that we were able to fall back on (seeing as Conte clearly never really wanted/rated Michy B) it might have been different but we put all our goal scoring hopes in a player that's never scored 20 league goals in a season. 

 

Balotelli is out of contract in the summer is all I'm saying.... 

I was very vocal of wanting Lukaku in the summer. At least he is showing fight for Utd now. I think had we worked quicker we could have got the deal done much sooner in the summer, before transfer fees started blowing up. Lukaku seemed to have his heart set on us so could have pushed it through sooner. Seem to remember @pacquiao speaking about Morata being the second coming of Jesus and Lukaku being sh*te, safe to say he's very quiet on this forum now. 

4 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Wanting him sold already for f**k sake, and they're the same people that complained when we sold Salah, De Bruyne, Lukaku etc. 

I'd give him another season to prove himself. If he picks up more yellows than he scores goals and keeps doing things like hitting the lineman flag and clapping the ref when he's on a booking then he can happily be sold and we'll count our losses. It would be a lot more difficult if he was actually likeable and was putting in lots of effort but at the moment he just comes across as a spoilt brat that kicks out when things don't go his way. You'd think he would have learned something after being in the prem for almost a ful season but the same stupid things keep happening. 

I'd be happy for Morata to be sold but only if we can replace with Harry Kane or Luis Suarez. Given the unlikelihood of that happening however I'm happy to reserve judgement until next season (post World Cup and a full preseason), petulance aside we could do a lot worse.

Edited March 14, 20188 yr by the special one

Useless !!!

Didn’t get himself booked, so that’s progress I suppose.

Man do we have a lot of useless players.

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Didn’t get himself booked, so that’s progress I suppose.

yay !!

9 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Didn’t get himself booked, so that’s progress I suppose.

A couple of outlets are now reporting he made an 'obscene gesture' to the Barca fans at the end of the game so don't be hugely surprised if he gets a retrospective ban...

1 hour ago, Luca Vialli said:

A couple of outlets are now reporting he made an 'obscene gesture' to the Barca fans at the end of the game so don't be hugely surprised if he gets a retrospective ban...

http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/14/alvaro-morata-made-obscene-gesture-barcelona-fans-chelseas-defeat-camp-nou-7388323/amp/?ito=amp-more-item-3

He can’t help himself can he.

This feels like the 12/13 season, when we had no reliable goal scorer leading the line. 

Giroud does the basics well enough, but he isn't good enough in all honesty. 

Not sure what is going to happen with morata, he needs to score goals to get his confidence back up, so we can see the morata that was impressive at the start of the season, but he isn't going to do that coming off the bench. 

At the same time we can't afford any slip ups, so at least you know what your getting from giroud. Although giroud at his best, isn't as good as morata as his. 

William and Hazard are doing there best, both scored 6 or 7 since morata's drought started, but we are desperate for regular goal scorers. 

He's a petulant baby, who can't handle the pressure.

£70m and you did well if you noticed he was on the pitch.

I would not even waste a bench seat on him.

Yes Alvaro that's where your balls are. Try using them.