Sheva.

Every striker goes through these periods. That was not the real Diego Costa in the past 3 games (plus friendly before WC) he usually doesn't need so many touches to get a shot off.

If he starts tomorrow, him vs Medel in the air or even on the ground will be funny

It has something to do with it because Russia won't park bus like Algeria, so he can have more chances to impact the game.

I only want him to stay so we can have a decent 2nd choice - since I don't think Mou will get another striker after Costa. If he leaves we'll be stuck with Torres. And he will play a lot because Costa is 100% likely to be banned by the FA for something.

He needs to be more aggressive. A lot of games he acts so relaxed and keeps passing the ball to others, when everyone is expecting him to create something lol.

Lol Torres please gtfo.

Lol why would you pick the worst striker possible? The point is Benzema is a good and very inconsistent player, definitely not underrated. There are some games where he misses a lot, and then against weak teams like Honduras, he can score a lot also.

Sooo?

3 goals against Honduras is certainly no easy task

It's too easy to pin it on 1 player. Barcelona have no defence, Xavi is on massive decline, and even Messi has been injured the past 2 seasons. Fabregas actually contributes to their attack, even if they claim it's only against the weak teams (all la liga teams except like 4 are weak anyway) you still have to beat those.

I'm not worried about the performance. 2 things that did bother me though were; the headbutt. As already mentioned, he does that shit too often. Also, he got a great pass earlier in the game, and he didn't even get a shot off. It shows a lack of confidence imo, and there's nothing worse than having a striker like that. But all it takes is 1 goal to get back in the groove.

what the fuck? i thought this was done long time ago lol.

Meh. He's always good when i watch him for Brazil, and no doubt he will have a good tourney. But that doesn't mean anything for Chelsea, he still needs to improve when it comes to playing against defensive teams.

The type of player you need to maximize the chances Costa has of succeeding here. Schurrle also will benefit hugely, like he does with Kroos for Germany.

Massive signing. Hope he does well.

Hardly anyone ever comes back from loan to start here. Might be the beginning of the end of his Chelsea career.

Wow, 300 quid for some random person posting a picture. Seems very unfair to me, but the law is the law.

Dat long pass.

Lol

So some paper managed to interview Mou, they asked about Fabregas, but nothing about Costa's impending signing?

Ramires-Matic; Fabregas. If Fabregas is signed, i'm very sure we'll see this in the big games away from home. Fabregas will have the same role Lamps had, but he's going to be much better at delivering those passes in behind the defense for the front 3.

Lol what if indeed. Just like you would have thought Matic dominating everywhere will ease some of the burden on Ramires and make him play better. But nothing is ever so simple, Oscar clearly has some problems when so many defenders are standing at the edge of their area. Eto'o and Schurrle are no Messi, but they have good movement and combined well with Hazard, but not Oscar.

By your logic shouldn't playing with a top DM like Matic make Ramires better? If you put Messi in front of Oscar, he will still have the same problems he does against defensive teams.

The strikers are pathetic but they aren't the only problem. Costa won't magically make Ramires a better player, won't make Oscar create more chances, won't make Ivanovic deliver better crosses etc etc. Chelsea could have won the league with a proper striker, but said striker will still have many games where they have close to no supply.

Blaming the strikers is the easy way of Mou passing the blame and not taking any responsibility for his system not working. You cannot have 9 defensive minded players out there (minus Hazard and the striker) and expect to create many chances, and score many goals. Costa will help, but a lot of times, he'll still be feeding off scraps and stupid long balls from Ramires that fly into the stands. It isn't going to kill anyone if we had a more creative team for certain games, and Mourinho can play his defensive football with Ramires and co when necessary.