Cape Town - Spanish forward Alvaro Morata insists his back injury is to blame for his opening season at Chelsea proving to be an underwhelming one.
Chelsea splashed out a club record £70million to land Morata from Real Madrid during the summer and he started his career at Stamford Bridge with a bang after netting seven goals in his first eight games.
But since he began to be plagued by a back problem in December, the Spanish international has netted just twice.
Morata initially decided to play through the pain, but that failed to cure the problem and he admits that he should have spent a longer time on the treatment table.
“Everything was good until I had the problems with my back,” said Morata.
“I played with a lot of pain and it probably would have been better if I'd stopped.
“But I wanted to play with my team-mates, for the club and the fans. Now it's in the past.
“My first year could have been better, but there are still more games to go and we have a chance to win the FA Cup.”