Alfredo Morelos

[Bill 13,717]

I keep asking myself the question .........

 

Is Alfredo not scoring goals like he used to because he's been asked to play a different role or has he been asked to play a different role because he's a valuable asset who's no longer scoring goals?

 

Just where are we with respect to Alfredo and where are we going with him? Because, much as we like him, it's beginning to look like we have better options in either role.

[stewarty 1,876]

It looks to me like we have challenged him to develop his game and he has adapted reasonably well, just that he hasn't found the goal touch.  Some of his performances in the EL have particularly been good, but he's lost a bit of confidence and the luck you can carry when you are playing well.

 

I also think he's the kind of player who thrives on being the focal point of a team.  He carried us for large parts of the past couple of seasons but this season particularly we have made a step change in terms of the overall quality and depth of the squad, to the point where the manager simply has more options and he isnt as critical to our ability to win games.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by stewarty

[Rousseau 9,373]

I think the team is no longer built around him. 

 

So, while he's perhaps not quite in form, in terms of goal-scoring, I don't think he's getting the chances he once did.

 

However, I think his all-round game is contributing to our performances; hold-up play, running in behind, being a focus for defenders and drawing them away from our other attackers etc.

 

He needs to be more clinical, though. He always missed quite a lot of chances. If he wants to be the main goalscorer, he'll need to be more clinical within the limits of this team's style.  

 

I don't think it's an issue, as long as he chips in and continues with his all-round game. 

[Bluedell 5,329]

He's being asked to play in a totally different role this season, particularly against teams that like to sit in against us. He goes deeper, pulls defenders with him and creates space for others to score. That's a large part of why we haven't struggled to break down the low block as we had in Gerrard's previous 2 years. The movement of Morelos is integral to that.

 

Itten did well last night but he was performing a different role than a normal league game. He was more of a focal point and he was playing with 2 players who don't have the same level of pace as Kent and Roofe do and therefore he couldn't play as deep as Morelos has been doing recently.

 

I still believe that Morelos should be a first choice and will probably be back in the team on Sunday.

[26th of foot 5,835]

Our first goal on Sunday against Ross County, scored by Roofe, highlights the new role played by Morelos. He came deep, dragging the County centre back with him, Davis plays the ball inside the left back and Tavenier hits the bye-line. The resulting cross sees Roofe get across the other centre back to the near post first. If Morelos had not came deep, his following centre half would have blocked Tav's cross ball.

[craig 5,199]

14 minutes ago, Bluedell said:

He's being asked to play in a totally different role this season, particularly against teams that like to sit in against us. He goes deeper, pulls defenders with him and creates space for others to score. That's a large part of why we haven't struggled to break down the low block as we had in Gerrard's previous 2 years. The movement of Morelos is integral to that.

 

Itten did well last night but he was performing a different role than a normal league game. He was more of a focal point and he was playing with 2 players who don't have the same level of pace as Kent and Roofe do and therefore he couldn't play as deep as Morelos has been doing recently.

 

I still believe that Morelos should be a first choice and will probably be back in the team on Sunday.

Couldnt agree more.

 

LIstening to Boyd and Foster at the weekend was so infuriating, talking as if Morelos was out of form.

 

He isnt being asked to score goals as much this season, if he does then great - his role this season is one of creating space for others.  By coming deep he pulls defenders with him, which in turn creates space for others to find the net.  And there have been a number of beneficiaries to that - Roofe, Tav, Arfield to name but 3.  They get more space because Morelos creates it by dragging defenders all over the place.

 

The team has scored far more goals at this stage than they had last season at the same stage, despite opponents still playing the same low block.  There is a player in Itten but if he were asked to play the Morelos role, would opposing defenders bother tracking him ?

 

73 goals in 26 games, at an average of just a tick under 3 a game suggests to me that Morelos not scoring isnt an issue - he is being asked to be a link rather than the focal point - and it is working incredibly well to this point.  Long may it, and long may Alfie's form, continue.  If he also starts popping up with goals someone, more than one team, is going to get a Hamilton-style doing 

[craig 5,199]

3 minutes ago, 26th of foot said:

Our first goal on Sunday against Ross County, scored by Roofe, highlights the new role played by Morelos. He came deep, dragging the County centre back with him, Davis plays the ball inside the left back and Tavenier hits the bye-line. The resulting cross sees Roofe get across the other centre back to the near post first. If Morelos had not came deep, his following centre half would have blocked Tav's cross ball.

So simple, but so effective, and so frustrating that ex-pros cant even see it.

[DMAA 3,603]

Frankly, I think we are playing him because he is an asset and we need to get his value back up. He isn’t a better option than Defoe or Itten in my eyes, especially in the new role involving dropping deeper.
 

I have said for a very long time I just don’t see what others seem in him though and people don’t like it when I say it. The number of times people said he was our best player “by a mile”, he never was and people have finally noticed we have a team full of very good players and not a couple of forwards (Kent too) who are miles ahead of the rest. 

[compo 6,140]

There used to be a centre forward at Manchester United an aberdonian Alex Dawson strong player  I once heard Busby describing him as the ideal player to rumble up the opposition defenders,  that's what Morelos is doing dont worry the goals will return and what better a game than Sunday's against that horrid lot at Dundee. 

[the gunslinger 3,366]

It's a good question. I believe his game has been changed to increase our number of goals to break down those parked buses.  

 

I don't think we have anyone else who can do what he does now as well as him. I think we have players who might score more but we could end up back where we were last year. 

 

Certainly be good if he scored a bit more and i a sure that will come.