Gianfranco Zola calls on Álvaro Morata to improve tactically | OneFootball

Chelsea assistant manager Gianfranco Zola has spoken to the press ahead of their FA Cup match about misfiring striker Álvaro Morata.

The 26-year-old forward returned to Maurizio Sarri’s starting lineup for Wednesday’s Premier League match but was unable to find the back of the net in the score-less draw against Southampton.

Morata, who joined the Blues from Real Madrid for a whopping transfer fee of €67m, has only scored seven goals in all competitions this season

Zola, who spent seven seasons as a forward for Chelsea, believes that Morata is a talented player but that the Spaniard needs to improve on the mental aspects of his game.

“Technically Morata – and this is the reason we invested a lot in him this year – we thought he was the perfect number nine for us. Maurizio has always said that. Technically without doubt he is one of the best in this position.”

“I think he has to improve a little bit tactically because nowadays with the type of football, football is so organised you need to get better tactically, your ability is not enough.”

“In my opinion he needs to improve on this. He’s been working on that, he has a good attitude. He feels that he doesn’t score enough and he feels a lot of responsibilities for that.”

“But he has to learn to put everything behind him because these are only burdens that you take on the pitch and they don’t help you to perform better.”

Zola turned a question about feeling sorry for his player into a matter of inspiration. “It should be a motivational thing,” he said. “You are at Chelsea, you are not playing for Southampton or Brighton with all due respect to those clubs.”

“People expect a lot from the number nine at Chelsea. They expect a lot of goals and good performances. This is normal, he has to get used to it.”

At Chelsea, a player like Morata cannot hide from the expectations but Zola appeared confident his forward can pull through.

“If he goes to another big club it’ll be the same – there is no way you can avoid your responsibilities.”

“It’s part of your job and if you can handle that then the better you’re going to be.”