In the closing stages of Chelsea’s scoreless stalemate with Leicester City on Saturday, Alvaro Morata dropped deep to offer himself for a pass. The Spain international received a ball into feet from Cesar Azpilicueta, but his first touch was loose and he was outmuscled by Matty James, who then gave way to allow Harry Maguire to collect possession. Morata, desperately trying to win the ball back, then fouled Maguire, allowing 10-man Leicester to slow the game down and force Chelsea to retreat.
It was a moment which neatly encapsulated the striker’s frustrating afternoon. The Premier League champions were far from their best in a fourth consecutive draw in all competitions, and Leicester were rather unfortunate not to emerge victorious. It is also true that Morata did not receive much in the way of quality service, but the bottom line is that this was a fifth successive match without a goal for the former Real Madrid man.
In fairness to Morata, 13 goals in 29 appearances so far this term is far from a disastrous tally, while it is also worth noting his four assists in the Premier League. A number of glaring misses in the recent 2-2 draw with Arsenal cannot be ignored, though, with Morata’s mentality coming in for criticism in the last few weeks.
Although he netted 20 goals for Madrid last season – at a very impressive rate of one every 89.6 minutes – Morata was often entering the fray as a substitute rather than being on the pitch from the start. This meant he was regularly facing tiring defences or teams who were pushing forward in an attempt to get back into the game, and he was not subjected to the same sort of pressure he is this campaign, when Chelsea are looking to him as their main source of goals.
“I think the problem is for the team, not only for Morata," Conte said on Saturday, defending his £58m centre-forward.
"Compared to last season, we are conceding less and showing great solidity defensively. But, at the same time, we are not showing great quality in our finishing. This is the truth.
"But not only for Morata. Defenders have had chances from corners, and we've not taken those chances to score. We have to try to improve on this aspect. But the problem is not only for Morata or [Michy] Batshuayi when he plays. It's for all the team. We have to try and improve our quality in the finishing in the last third."
Conte is certainly right that other Chelsea players must share the goalscoring burden with Morata, who is going through the type of dry spell that no striker in the world is immune to. At the moment, though, the £58m centre-forward is finding out that being the main man is different to being second in command.
