WHY MORATA’S FALLING FLAT
Towards the end of another spirit- sapping outing for Chelsea, alvaro Morata’s frustration came to the surface.
Crowded out and shrugged off the ball for the umpteenth time, he took a cynical slash at Matty James’s ankle and was booked. It was the impatient action of a player who is out of sorts.
Morata barely surfaced in this game. at times we wondered whether Harry Maguire was marking him more out of habit than anything else. after six goals in Morata’s first seven Chelsea games, it is now five in his last 22.
Leicester, it should be said, were superb; expansive and creative in possession and diligent in containing Chelsea. Claude Puel’s side should have won the game.
Yet why did Chelsea not foresee this Morata malaise? Morata had not started five consecutive first- team matches before signing for Chelsea.
Take into account that in five seasons at real Madrid and Juventus, Morata featured for 60 minutes or more in three consecutive games on only one occasion. Then reflect on the fact Morata has played 1,522 Premier League minutes — more than he played in his three previous seasons at real and Juventus.
Morata was signed as the anti-Costa, with boyish features and less disturbing tendencies, but also expected to replicate his predecessor’s endurance. This was improbable and it is hardly surprising, therefore, that the 25-year-old is experiencing a setback as the spotlight shines on Chelsea’s only striker of note.
antonio Conte, who signed Morata when at Juventus, must have known that the spain striker is a deep thinker who analyses his game in microscopic detail. some feel he does so excessively.
In a Sportsmail interview, Morata spoke of a crisis of confidence during a goalless run at Juventus. ‘It goes through your head constantly, “I need a goal”. The more you think, the harder it gets. I think a lot, maybe too much, about chances I’ve missed. at Juve, during that spell, I changed my car, my haircut, my boots, everything to try to end the duck.’ Morata remains a player of outstanding potential but the fear is that confidence continues to drain from the striker.
Chelsea have two options: hope an increasingly irritable Conte is capable of coaxing Morata back to form, or dive into the transfer market and sign a striker to share the burden.
Conte did not aid Morata’s cause in this game, removing key supply lines in Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard in a clumsy double change that bewildered many at stamford Bridge.