Chelsea FC need to change the way they play football in order to accommodate new signing Alvaro Morata.
Spanish striker Alvaro Morata signed for Chelsea FC in the recent transfer window and despite his three goals, his talent is not being fully utilised.
Chelsea FC could reap the benefits from Morata if they change the way they attack. The Spanish attacker is known for his movement and his heading ability after scoring all of his goals with his head so far.
But he’s no Diego Costa. Chelsea used Costa as a target man by using him as the central cog of the front three as a distributer and hold-up player. The other attackers such as Eden Hazard and Willian were able to benefit from Costa’s hold up play by making good runs off of him. While Costa also took opposition defenders attention away from Hazard with his imposing physicality. This allowed Hazard to shine along with Pedro and Willian.
But now, the Blues have a new striker and it’s clear so far that Morata is unable to do the same job that Costa did for Chelsea. Morata has been used a target man this season but it’s clear it’s just not working.
Morata just doesn’t have the physical aspect to his game like Costa did and was evidently bullied off the ball in their recent game against Arsenal. Morata must have fallen down about ten times due to pressure from the Arsenal defenders.
It’s clear Morata benefits more from making runs and using his intelligence and movement off the ball to find space in order to receive a cross or through ball to score.
And while Chelsea FC have increased their crossing attempts this season in order to accommodate Morata, which has worked so far, they don’t have a plan B for when this doesn’t work.
Last season, Morata scored 15 goals from 26 appearances ( 14 starts) and made four assists which is an impressive return. If Chelsea want the Spanish talisman to score even more then they’re going to have to change their style of play.
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Chelsea need to try more through balls and quick one-twos in order to fully utilise Morata’s talent. It’s clear the guy can header, but it’s not clear yet whether Chelsea’s style of play using a target man suits Morata. He is not suited for that role and, worryingly, Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas has been unable to find Morata with a through ball so far.
It’s clear the Blues need to pass the ball a bit quicker in order to make space for Morata to run into so that Fabregas can find him with one of his magical through passes. To be fair, Conte has done well to instruct his players to put more crosses which has worked. Cesar Azpilicueta has noticeably linked up well with his Spanish teammate after making two assists from getting forward and making crosses. ‘
But when that does not work, which was clear in the Arsenal game, they don’t seem to have a plan b and using Morata as a target man just didn’t work, which caused Willian to have a bad game as the Brazilian winger was unable to link up with him while Pedro also had a bad game.
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Chelsea will need to pass the ball quicker among the midfield while also allowing Morata to make his runs beyond the defence rather than running towards them. This is something Diego Costa used to do with much success but this season Antonio Conte is going to have to change the way Chelsea FC play attacking football with more reliance on counter-attacking and fast play rather than possession based football.