After a full summer taking serious heat, Alvaro Morata has finally begun the process of coming good on his move to Chelsea.
The Spaniard has four goals in his last four games, including a pair last time out in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace. With Chelsea fans still missing the production of Diego Costa and Didier Drogba, Morata has faced brutal comparisons through the first year-plus of his tenure at Stamford Bridge, but Cesar Azpilicueta believes those are ridiculous.
“I don’t like comparisons,” Azpilicueta told the Evening Standard. “Everyone has to work his own path. [Drogba and Costa] had different qualities and personalities. It’s unfair to talk about those two big players and Álvaro. Álvaro walks his own path. He came to a new country and I’m sure, with the way that he is working, he will get the reward.”
“The goals help a lot because we know strikers — they live for goals,” Azpilicueta said. “We know that gives him more confidence, he has been playing well, finding opportunities. Sometimes the ball does not go in, but I’m happy with his work, his progress. We know that last season was a tough one for him, but he is a very important player for us.”
Meanwhile, Morata’s attacking partner Pedro echoed Azpilicueta’s sentiment that ultimately strikers like Morata will be judged by the goals they score, and therefore Morata’s double is big for his future.
“He’s in good condition and he had a very good performance,” Pedro told the official Chelsea website. “He has the mentality to score goals and help the team, that’s the best way for him. We are happy because he’s a very good striker. He runs a lot and scores goals, now he’s in a very good moment so this is the way for him. Scoring goals is very important for him and the team.”
Finally, the striker himself wants a no-nonsense approach to the rest of the season. “In football, physical condition is very important, but the head is the most important thing,” Morata said after the Crystal Palace match Sunday. “If you don’t have the head, if the mentality is not good, then you are in trouble. I had a period where everything – if it is raining, I’m angry because it’s raining. If I miss, it’s because the pitch is too wet. It was only excuses. It is not good. Everyone can have a bad period in their life, but we are famous, we have a lot of things. Sometimes people think we are not human, with no feelings, with no problems.”
The Spaniard knows he needs to continue to improve his mentality, as manager Maurizio Sarri honestly said Morata is “is a little bit fragile from the mental point of view.”
