Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata gets criticised a lot but he showed with his goals against Crystal Palace what he can do when he gets the right service.
I have heard a lot of people say that this Chelsea team is missing a top-class striker, but they have one in the 26-year-old Spain international – they just need to use him in the right way.
The way they play would make it difficult for any centre-forward to be prolific, so I don’t think it is fair to say that the reason Morata has struggled for goals since his move from Real Madrid in 2017 is all his fault.
As we saw in Sunday’s win over palace, Morata comes alive when the ball comes into the box and, to get the best out of him, you need to put crosses in.
And if you give Morata that service he will do well – we saw that at Juventus and Real and, even at Chelsea, he scored more headers in the Premier League last season than any other player despite having a difficult season.
But, under Maurizio Sarri, Chelsea don’t seem to want to attack that way.
Yes, the statistics show they have made plenty of crosses this season but when you watch them you can see that their first intention is always to attack through the middle.
Their wide attackers – Eden Hazard, Willian or Pedro – like to dribble inside and hold on to the ball, and Morata does not know where to go. There is no space left for him.
Maurizio Sarri believes Alvaro Morata has “great potential” after he scored twice in Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Morata struggled for form at the start of the season but his two goals against Palace means he has scored four in his last four Premier League matches.
Asked about the striker, Chelsea boss Sarri said: “He improves in confidence, in personality, in playing with the team, so now I am very happy.