🇪🇸 Diego Costa

[Styles 9,790]

We scored the first goal because Costa finally got the ball back to Hazard on a one two.

9/10 moves break down because of Costa's shit touch, lack of vision and technique.

For every goal he scores I wonder how many we miss out on because of him.

[Bernard N Y Burgesson 139]

i think if we want to get more from him the 3-5-2 formation would work but it means we would drop pedro and have matic kante and fabregas as our midfield which would be very sad. Pedro is such a direct player and is good for the team.

[Leif 6,006]

Throughout his Atletico career, his loans, and the bulk of his time here, he enjoyed his successes while playing as a lone striker, with few players around him; as in, he's been isolated up top, and made the most of it by being hardly marked, while wingers in those teams occupied the defence. In the 4-2-3-1 we used to use, he was quite ahead of that '3', and that is exactly what we did. Now, he's part of a 3; he's expected to link-up with, provide for, and work with those players around him, instead of solely feeding off the whole team (which you can see clearly is his preference.)

This doesn't play to his strengths. He isn't a player who elevates those around him. So, we won't ever see him go up to that 'next level', unless we change formation again (not worth it for this 1 player), or he rejoins a slightly lower club and prowls around up top for them. There is nowhere but a downward spiral to go, if we wait for him to add anything more to his game in this system.

And I'm glad more of us are agreeing now; he breaks down our build-up play. 1 out of 10 exchanges between him and Hazard aren't ridiculous. But it's not his fault. We bought him, somehow expecting him to be the key for the likes of Hazard to become even better, as-if he has a track record of this sexy style of football we wanted for 5 years. It's like if Barcelona wanted to cement & return to their 99% possession tactics, so seek out Ramires.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

2 hours ago, the wes said:

Diego Costa, he has now scored in 42 goals in 78 Premier League games. That’s a scoring rate of 54%, which is a higher proportion than any other player to play 20+ games in the competition.

I think they meant that costa has scored in 42 matches out of 78 games played. Which is the highest ratio

[manpe 10,861]

This man is an enigma. Sometimes everything he tries comes off, the other times he's like a wall the ball bounces off from. Performance-wise he hasn't had a decent game since January, but it's encouraging that despite that he's still getting on the scoresheet.

[Jase 43,479]

20 minutes ago, manpe said:

This man is an enigma. Sometimes everything he tries comes off, the other times he's like a wall the ball bounces off from. Performance-wise he hasn't had a decent game since January, but it's encouraging that despite that he's still getting on the scoresheet.

Head's turned by the interest from China.

[Pizy 19,276]

Wonderful finisher and predator in and around the box where he can just use his instincts but so frustrating when he tries to dribble or has too much time on the ball to create something. He also doesn't know when to give the ball up at times and just holds it for bloody ever.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

5 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

2017 Diego Costa?  Not impressive at all.

2017 Chelsea fans support? Not impressive at all...

Not pointing at you, but some shit you read on this forum even after team wins 3:1 is a disgrace.

[Blue Armour 4,718]

Regardless of what he does when he tries to 'dribble' or his stray first touch, you can't deny how much his hold-up play and attacking runs help the two attackers behind him. Its stuff like this that mostly goes unnoticed

To me the performance put in by strikers like Costa and Drogba is satisfactory. Virtually 'anonymous' for periods of the game in terms of output, but can make the difference when it matters.

[Blue Armour 4,718]

 

[Blue Armour 4,718]

6 hours ago, Styles said:

We scored the first goal because Costa finally got the ball back to Hazard on a one two.

9/10 moves break down because of Costa's shit touch, lack of vision and technique.

For every goal he scores I wonder how many we miss out on because of him.

Even if it was largely due to Hazard's outrageous bit of skill, not many players would have had the presence of mind or the ability to pull off that on-touch finish like Costa did.

Its because of things like this, that I think he's entitled to exceptions.

And for your last statement, we could easily turn it around and ask how many chances we create simply because of his off-the ball movement.

 

[Styles 9,790]

5 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

Even if it was largely due to Hazard's outrageous bit of skill, not many players would have had the presence of mind or the ability to pull off that on-touch finish like Costa did.

Its because of things like this, that I think he's entitled to exceptions.

And for your last statement, we could easily turn it around and ask how many chances we create simply because of his off-the ball movement.

 

It was the same against Wolves too: we scored our first goal when Costa was finally able to hold the ball up and bring his teammates into play. He was absolute rubbish before that point and constantly killed momentum.

I get that he scores goals but how many moves does break down at his feet? If the ball is passed to him it's almost a guaranteed loss of possession. It is infuriating to watch so I can't imagine what his teammates must think.

[LondonsFinest 692]

🚨#Tianjin has been told by @ChelseaFC to come back in summer with a 150M€ offer to sign @diegocosta ! The chinese club intend to do so.

 

Apparently? 

[communicate 2,703]

16 minutes ago, LondonsFinest said:

🚨#Tianjin has been told by @ChelseaFC to come back in summer with a 150M€ offer to sign @diegocosta ! The chinese club intend to do so.

 

Apparently? 

If that is true then it is fine. 150 m euro is a lot, we can sign lukaku and get better wingback

[Polo7 3,496]

16 hours ago, the wes said:

Diego Costa, he has now scored in 42 goals in 78 Premier League games. That’s a scoring rate of 54%, which is a higher proportion than any other player to play 20+ games in the competition.

Yea but....he is crap. Only once he is gone will we truly see how good he was for us.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,126]

14 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

I think they meant that costa has scored in 42 matches out of 78 games played. Which is the highest ratio

Ah, that makes it clearer. Thank you.

[Muzchap 8,966]

I see that we have now found our Ivanovic replacement for constant criticism ...

All those mentioning Lukaku - fuck me his first touch is worse - he is lazier than Diego -,who is a born winner and sets the tempo accordingly from the front. Lukaku isn't as natural a finisher as Cosa. 

Genuinely - some of you are proper deluded - just because we are trying 1-2's doesn't mean they will come off - and yes his link up play can be erratic - but that's a small price to pay. You need to look at the collective attributes not the individual attributes- a team wins things, don't let the media and bullshit marketing convince you otherwise. Without every other single player putting a shift in - we could have Messi and Renaldo and still lose every game....

[Leif 6,006]

1 hour ago, Muzchap said:

I see that we have now found our Ivanovic replacement for constant criticism ...

 

Are you implying Ivanovic's critisism was undue? That would be proper deluded. One day we're going to see posts like 'it doesn't matter he scored 3 own goals; it's a team game, and if the team didn't go out and score 4, this player isn't entirely responsible.' Take the blue specs off.

There's a reason the players we can't stop bickering about - Ivanovic, Mikel, Oscar - have the door held open for them by the board. I wonder why. Maybe, the management see what 'we' do too; the faults in these players - and they're not so bad at their job to keep expecting 'good enough' while ignoring the reality that that mentality cannot nurture winners. As spectators, we're armchair-managers, but all managers, armchair or in the dugout, must share the common understanding that there's an upper echelon of class in football, and without ensuring you're part of that class you're allowing your rivals to adopt a more fierce squad & mentality.

If Madrid fans never jeered and only ever graciously kept their mouths shut whenever Ramos scored an own goal, he & they wouldn't be half of what they are today. They demanded better - thus, everyone became better. If they were so passive like I'm seeing people on here being, you today being one, they'd never give a contest to Barcelona again. They'd be an Arsenal instead of a Manchester United - beacuse the difference boils down to mentality; a difference which determines whether or not you'll be winning league titles. If Barcelona 'supported' their manager this season, they'd be stuck with him for another year and run the risk of not even getting in the Champions League. Bayern? Ruthless. Juventus? Ruthless. Chelsea? Toothless, if we take this proposed road of wrapping professionals in cotton wool while they don't do their job properly for 3 months.

[the wes 7,212]

[Leif 6,006]

There's a reason the board have no intention of allowing Luiz, Hazard, Kante, Fabregas, Pedro, Terry, Azpilicueta & co. to go, at all, but are more than happy to entertain in press conferences via Conte that Oscar, Costa, and more could leave. Those aren't indispensable players, clearly the manager believes that too; but we have a handful of players who are. And those are the players who by some shred of compromise within myself, deserve this 'halo effect' Costa gets for doing fuck all for 3 months but scoring 3 tap ins.

There are so many strikers we could buy with a Costa sale & league win (with money left over) that'd genuinely raise the level of the players around them, fit our system more, give more as an individual, and score at least 85% as many goals (and no doubt assisting more) (there better not be any replies to this like 'do u really think we cld get him? :S'; yes boob, we have over a hundred million to splash next season) - Lewandowski, a damn run down Aguero who'd make us better than Costa does, Dybala, Sanchez in theory, Griezmann, even Morata & Mbappe if he plays how he played vs. City week in week out. Then there's the miriad of players who simply don't have the marketing agencies behind them, on a great level for the level of coaches & players they work with; but there's no point listing names hardly any of us recognise. They're out there, though; we usually buy them for 40m+ once they've joined a club slightly below our own.

Next player we need out is Matic. And no, he won't be a 'scapegoat now that Costa and Oscar and Ivanovic are gone', , he's been rightly under scrutiny for 2 years now and we'll resume the campaign to have him out as soon as other priorities are taken care of. Though i'd sooner purge ourselves of Cahill so we don't have to experience the '8 games without an own goal or defensive calamity? he must've been a good player all along!' malarky again.