Álvaro Morata

[manpe 10,861]

1 hour ago, Special said:

Will join Oscar soon.

 

 

 

That was so frustarting to see when that happened. Why would he attempt to cut to his weaker left foot when the defender was still quite far away and De Gea was showing him all of his near post, basically inviting him to shoot there. The moment he started cutting was the moment a striker must shoot. Awful....

[Beigl 1,387]

People can post gifs of Moratas misses all day long- I still prefer him to Lukaku, who is having another absolute shocker against City right now..

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, Beigl said:

People can post gifs of Moratas misses all day long- I still prefer him to Lukaku, who is having another absolute shocker against City right now..

Puts Morata's struggles into perspective, doesn't it? Main issues with Morata now is sorting out his feet when it comes to finishing and not falling over upon the slightest of contacts. Otherwise, he's been great and yet, people have made him like the second coming of Torres. His movement is good, he's intelligent, his link up play is solid - some of the combination plays we have seen this season have been smooth, clean and delightful, something we haven't always seen with the previous strikers - and more importantly, he has shown that he can score goals. He's scored 10 in his first 21 games in all competitions (9 in league) despite this being his first season in English football and to put that into some sort of perspective - Drogba got 9 goals (6 in league) in his first 21 games, Anelka 2 in 21 (1 in league) and Costa 12 in 21 (all 12 in league).

His record isn't bad at all when you compare to some of our more prominent strikers of the past and at least, he's getting into goalscoring positions. Would be more concerned if he wasn't getting into them, like a certain a Spaniard we once had. As mentioned above, Morata has some flaws at the moment and fair enough if he gets criticized objectively but going OTT on him is just plain silly, like some have here and elsewhere. Those flaws can be ironed out over time and I would like to believe that will be the case because he has all the tools to be a top notch striker. He may not have been a permanent starter at Real Madrid and Juventus but there was a reason why he played for both clubs for a number of years and was trusted in some of the biggest games (e.g. Juventus' CL run to the final a few seasons ago), rather than just got tossed aside.

[cfcs most wanted 657]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Puts Morata's struggles into perspective, doesn't it? Main issues with Morata now is sorting out his feet when it comes to finishing and not falling over upon the slightest of contacts. Otherwise, he's been great and yet, people have made him like the second coming of Torres. His movement is good, he's intelligent, his link up play is solid - some of the combination plays we have seen this season have been smooth, clean and delightful, something we haven't always seen with the previous strikers - and more importantly, he has shown that he can score goals. He's scored 10 in his first 21 games in all competitions (9 in league) despite this being his first season in English football and to put that into some sort of perspective - Drogba got 9 goals (6 in league) in his first 21 games, Anelka 2 in 21 (1 in league) and Costa 12 in 21 (all 12 in league).

His record isn't bad at all when you compare to some of our more prominent strikers of the past and at least, he's getting into goalscoring positions. Would be more concerned if he wasn't getting into them, like a certain a Spaniard we once had. As mentioned above, Morata has some flaws at the moment and fair enough if he gets criticized objectively but going OTT on him is just plain silly, like some have here and elsewhere. Those flaws can be ironed out over time and I would like to believe that will be the case because he has all the tools to be a top notch striker. He may not have been a permanent starter at Real Madrid and Juventus but there was a reason why he played for both clubs for a number of years and was trusted in some of the biggest games (e.g. Juventus' CL run to the final a few seasons ago), rather than just got tossed aside.

I think sorting out of feet while shooting is a basic quality you look for in a striker. And his record isn't bad because he has been heading the ball well, got nothing to do with his skills on the ball. And as for his diving, it's just outright frustrating to see, be a man get on with it. 

[Jase 43,479]

12 minutes ago, cfcs most wanted said:

I think sorting out of feet while shooting is a basic quality you look for in a striker.

You are right and it needs improvement but it's not entirely a disaster, is it? Remember the goals he scored at Stoke?

And heading is also important because it gives the team another option to deliver the service. If it's all just onto the feet, then it becomes predictable, no?

12 minutes ago, cfcs most wanted said:

And his record isn't bad because he has been heading the ball well, got nothing to do with his skills on the ball.

Are we seriously gonna start nitpicking how he scores the goals? Goals are goals.

[cfcs most wanted 657]

19 minutes ago, Jason said:

You are right and it needs improvement but it's not entirely a disaster, is it? Remember the goals he scored at Stoke?

And heading is also important because it gives the team another option to deliver the service. If it's all just onto the feet, then it becomes predictable, no?

Are we seriously gonna start nitpicking how he scores the goals? Goals are goals.

I'm not saying that heading goals shouldn't be counted it's a great quality to have, but it's really problematic if your main striker is missing sitters due to his inability to sort his feet out and this fact shouldn't hide behind his ability to score headers

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, cfcs most wanted said:

I'm not saying that heading goals shouldn't be counted it's a great quality to have, but it's really problematic if your main striker is missing sitters due to his inability to sort his feet out and this fact shouldn't hide behind his ability to score headers

Don't think anyone is using it to hide anything. Merely gave some sort of perspective.

[Miguelito 459]

6 hours ago, Special said:

Will join Oscar soon.

 

 

 

Didn't notice this until now, but that is some terrible goalkeeping by De Gea.  What kind of positioning is that?  He's still currently the best keeper in the league on form, but things like this are the reason he makes spectacular looking saves. Poor positioning and feet at times.

[manpe 10,861]

6 minutes ago, Miguelito said:

Didn't notice this until now, but that is some terrible goalkeeping by De Gea.  What kind of positioning is that?  He's still currently the best keeper in the league on form, but things like this are the reason he makes spectacular looking saves. Poor positioning and feet at times.

Yup, as I mentioned, he showed too much of his near post. It's like he was expecting Morata to cut inside, but I doubt it. Only thing that saved De Gea there was Morata being a headless chicken, a top striker would have buried a simple near-post shot with DDG getting nowhere near it.

[Miguelito 459]

1 minute ago, manpe said:

Yup, as I mentioned, he showed too much of his near post. It's like he was expecting Morata to cut inside, but I doubt it. Only thing that saved De Gea there was Morata being a headless chicken, a top striker would have buried a simple near-post shot with DDG getting nowhere near it.

Ah yes, i now see your post mentioning that.  Very weird decision to stand there from DDG.  

I can forgive Morata for missing that chance with the game he had that day.

[The Skipper 20,593]

8 hours ago, Special said:

Will join Oscar soon.

 

The only bad one is the last gif. First one you had to go to his Juventus days to bring up (lol), 2nd gif is great goalkeeping. 

I agree that Alvaro has finishing problems (just look through this thread) but those are poor examples. 

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

Like someone already said, our best players are allowed to have bad games (I don't think he was that bad against West Ham anyway) once in a while. People need to relax. This guy is doing great.

[Special 59]

4 hours ago, The Skipper said:

The only bad one is the last gif. First one you had to go to his Juventus days to bring up (lol), 2nd gif is great goalkeeping. 

I agree that Alvaro has finishing problems (just look through this thread) but those are poor examples. 

Great goalkeeping?! Hazard was behind him and he could easily pass to him. Hazard got mad at him after what he did. And there was another scene in that match that he ruined the opportunity and Luiz shouted at him.

These gifs were just some examples. Almost every match he is making big mistakes. Against Liverpool we were 3 against 2 on counter attack and Fabregas had a great space but he passed to Hazard and ruined the chance and both Hazard and Fabregas got mad.

How many times did Costa score from Fabregas long passes? Now when Fabregas sends long passes for Morata, either he doesn't move or the ball hits his back. Costa could score, Morata can't. So as I said before, Fabregas is not the best but he is still useful and is still sending great long passes. But the problem is we have a striker who can't find the ball.

===================

And those who say Morata scored goals, I know a player who scored goals for Chelsea, beautiful goals actually. But was weak and made us weak. And now he is enjoying the Chinese Super League.

 

[yuvala 2,167]

I think Morata is a good striker. He'll just never be one of the best in the world, IMO.

We need to accept this.. some things we can expect from him, others we can't.

[The Skipper 20,593]

8 hours ago, Special said:

Great goalkeeping?! Hazard was behind him and he could easily pass to him. Hazard got mad at him after what he did. And there was another scene in that match that he ruined the opportunity and Luiz shouted at him.

Hazard isn’t in the 2nd gif. The one that Hazard was in is the one I said was bad. 

His finishing is something he needs to work on. I’ve said this before. Including his balance/athleticism. I’ve said before if he works on these two things, and masters them, he’d be an elite striker. 

I also said that I won’t be judging/concluding my thoughts on him this season because I knew it’d take him awhile to understand and adapt to the game in England. He’s done better than I expected overall so far. 

[Special Juan 27,424]

20 hours ago, Beigl said:

People can post gifs of Moratas misses all day long- I still prefer him to Lukaku, who is having another absolute shocker against City right now..

I can tell which is worse out of the two right now.

[Jase 43,479]

3 hours ago, yuvala said:

I think Morata is a good striker. He'll just never be one of the best in the world, IMO.

We need to accept this.. some things we can expect from him, others we can't.

Quite scary how football fans these days like to pass judgment after only first few months at a new club.

[DDA 9,690]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Quite scary how football fans these days like to pass judgment after only first few months at a new club.

Almost as frustrating as Roman sacking managers after not winning the league. Maybe that's where this kind of mentality stems from.