Alvaro
Morata and Michy Batshuayi are both talented young strikers but Antonio
Conte's selection decision has a dramatic effect on Chelsea's style of play,
explains Sky Sports' tactics expert Danny Higginbotham.
Batshuayi got the nod for the 3-2 home defeat to Burnley but the Belgian is
so different to Diego Costa that his presence has repercussions in terms of
the roles of his team-mates.
"Batshuayi and Costa are very different types of centre-forwards," says
Higginbotham "Batshuayi is always looking to run in behind and play on the
shoulder continuously.
"The problem that you have with that is that the players who are playing
behind him, whether that is Willian, Pedro or whoever, they are going to
struggle to get in behind themselves.
"The way that Batshuayi plays, the players that play behind him, their pace
is wasted. Because Batshuayi likes to play on the shoulder, teams who play
against them, they are going to drop and [the full-backs] are going to
become narrow.
"So the problem then is that there is absolutely no space in behind for the
runners - the likes of Eden Hazard and Willian. All they can do really is
dictate from deep."
In contrast, Costa's willingness to move towards the ball as well as run in
behind presented the defence with a decision. "Last season we saw so many
instances where Diego Costa dropped deep and then players would get in
behind," adds Higginbotham.
"The problem [for the opposition] then is that the centre-halves will
squeeze up so the full-backs will have to squeeze up. What happens then is
that the spaces become apparent.
"This is where you are going to look at Morata.
"Morata for me is much more of a Costa style centre-forward. Conte will be
hoping he can have the same effect. It's the style that they are used to
playing and it's the style that Conte wants to play as well.
"That's why when everyone was talking about Romelu Lukaku, I didn't believe
at the time that he would have been the right signing for Chelsea because
the dynamics would have to change completely."
So will it be Morata who gets his first Premier League start against
Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday? "I'm interested to see how Morata does
because for me he is the like-for-like replacement more than Batshuayi,"
says Higginbotham.
"The dynamics change just by changing the centre-forward."
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