Diego Costa

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Hmm I think Costa has actually been very calm. He got booked for being goaded by Coleman (Costa hardly did anything) and when Howard grabbed him by his neck, he didn't react. If the ref had actually been competent, Coleman would have been booked and Howard would have been sent off.

Agree, I know he didn't do something that deserved red card so far. But I could see under some referee, that incident after Costa shouting to Coleman, would be another yellow for Costa at least. Undeserved as we may agree, but I could see that happening, tbh.

Hope he could stay calm, every opponent could b****ing all they want, just ignore them. Jose and Terry might have warned him anyway, so let's hope for the best. It would be great if he could finish the season with some trophies and never get any red card.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I dont think the problem is that he will do something wrong (he will probably control himself), but referees see him as bad guy and will give him card for no reason oftenly.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I dont think the problem is that he will do something wrong (he will probably control himself), but referees see him as bad guy and will give him card for no reason oftenly.

If you just ignore the provocation and stay away, and just run here and there when someone grabbing you, there is no reason for referee to give you a card. Diving is another one.

[Special Juan 28,122]

We've been used to a weak minded striker for too long in Torres, we should embrace what he has and that includes his edginess.

It also works in the opposite manner too. Opponents will also think 'Shit, this guys a bit good'

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Costa the Croc

[Special Juan 28,122]

Very good.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

The thing about Diego is that defenders are going to become so occupied by him that he is going to create so much space for the wide players. He's a selfless player but he scores goals as well, that's a rarity amongst strikers. The only other PL striker I've ever seen that falls in that category is a certain Didier Drogba.

[Madmax 9,219]

Costa the Croc

Crocsta

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Costa the hulk

[bababoom 4,478]

Zouma - "Diego Costa is very, very crazy. Sometimes he gives me a slap across the head and tells me: 'Go'."

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

The thing about Diego is that defenders are going to become so occupied by him that he is going to create so much space for the wide players. He's a selfless player but he scores goals as well, that's a rarity amongst strikers. The only other PL striker I've ever seen that falls in that category is a certain Didier Drogba.

You are forgetting the legendary and almighty Emile Heskey

[kellzfresh 7,229]

In one dizzying teatime on Merseyside, Diego Costa turned Roberto Martinez into a little Englander, sent the sainted Tim Howard stark raving bonkers and confirmed Boring, boring Chelsea as the most explosive attacking force in the English game.

Jose Mourinhos £32million signing is not so much a striker as a destructive weather system, altering everything in his wake.

Mario Balotelli, Alexis Sanchez, Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria have all grabbed more headlines during a transfer window in which the Premier League flexed its financial muscle and reversed a trend as worldwide box-office stars flocked to these shores.

Sanchez is a magnificent talent, yet not the one player Arsenal needed. Likewise Falcao and Di Maria at Manchester United. Balotelli, meanwhile, is a striker who creates the wrong kind of mayhem.

Costa is the one - and Mourinho always knew it.

While Chelsea struggled for goals last season, their manager insisted he didnt want to sign just any striker in January as he knew his own agent Jorge Mendes would deliver him THE striker during this summer window.

We wondered why the Blues' boss didnt fancy a proven Premier League goal-scorer in Romelu Lukaku, until we saw the Belgian head to head against Costa on Saturday evening and we understood.

The shrug of Fernando Torres has been replaced by the scowl of Costa a footballer in Mourinhos smouldering image and suddenly Chelsea are complete.

Just three games in and it would appear that, if the Spain international stays fit, the title will head back to Stamford Bridge.

Even after the thrilling 6-3 victory at Everton, Mourinho was building his imaginary castles and inventing fantastical sieges, as is his wont.

He claimed, after a couple of unjust yellow cards, that Costa will not win any personal accolades.

He insisted his striker would continue to be the victim of wind-up merchants when this is clearly a give-as-good-as-he-gets man, rather than a callow new boy craving cotton wool.

Mourinho is as nonsensical in public as he is brilliant in the dressing-room and on the training pitch.

Of course Costa will win personal gongs, should he continue in this vein. The English game loves a raw, street footballer and its referees are more forgiving of them than any on the continent.

The glorious chaos of the Premier League is Costas natural home.

It was not just his two dead-eyed strikes, his excellent link-up play and his appetite for hard labour which marked Costa out as A-list box-office material at Goodison.

It was the way he screamed into the face of Evertons Seamus Coleman when the Irishman netted an own-goal, having earlier earned the Chelsea man a booking by instigating a spot of argy-bargy.

It was puerile, it was spiteful, it was incendiary. It was exactly the sort of thing which makes the Premier League world go round.

During major international tournaments, we are wooed by romantic foreign notions of patient passing football. When the domestic season resumes, it is clear we like it fast, furious and rough.

Heroes are all well and good, but anti-heroes are more fun.

Eric Cantona, Luis Suarez, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. These are the names which will echo down the generations. Costa can join them.

Everton boss Martinez took Mourinhos bait, lecturing Costa on professionalism and the ethics of English football, without explaining how Colemans baiting tactics fitted in to this Little House On The Prairie view of our game.

This after keeper Howard billed as a cross between Lev Yashin and Mother Teresa during a fine World Cup had literally been at Costas throat, somehow escaping a red card for the second time in the match, having already handled outside the box when under intense pressure from Costa.

Martinez is an intelligent manager and Howard an outstanding experienced keeper, yet Costa got under their skins. Many more will suffer the same fate.

This is a man who inspired Atletico Madrid to the unlikeliest of Spanish title triumphs last season.

A man who turned his back on his native Brazil, when the most famous national team on the planet so desperately needed him for a home World Cup.

And a man whose imminent arrival even persuaded Roman Abramovich to discover the virtue of patience.

For the Russian knew full well that a human Molotov would be flying in.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelseas-diego-costa-can-join-4145918

[Dy-lan 142]

Just to add in to the striker discussion, Ronaldo 9 is the best for me...Im not sure if ive every seen a player who made "rounding" the keeper look so effortless.

As for our own Diego, ive been thinking lately that its actually good that he has a fiery personality (so long as he doesnt get sent off) because the other players can feed off of it...he looks to me a player that younger lads can rally behind and follow into "battle"..With Frank gone, DD not a starter for us, Ash gone and Cech no longer a starter, I think its good that we have a fiery leader on the pitch (no knock on JT, its good to have a leader at the back and front).

Zouma - "Diego Costa is very, very crazy. Sometimes he gives me a slap across the head and tells me: 'Go'."

This is hilarious

[DYC. 7,542]

No. I'd say Ronaldo was even below average in the air. And he acknowledges this weakness himself. But besides that he had it all at the highest level. Dribbling, strength, power, speed, pace, finishing, superb with both feet. Even his passing and creativity were very good for a CF. I haven't seen any CF better than him. I can't even imagine how beastly he would have been if he was a monster in the air on top of everything.

He was so good that even when he fucked up his knees several times and lost a lot of pace (akin to what happened to Torres) he still managed to remain as one of the finest strikers in the world. Before his injuries his numbers were better than Messi's at the same age. He led Brazil to a World Cup final at the age of 22. He was one of a kind type of player. Him and Zidane were the best players of that generation.

Zlatan is the most outrageous striker/player though. The things he's done on a football pitch, there will never be a player like him again.

Henry was a force of nature as well.

[iseah100 5,612]

Zlatan is the most outrageous striker/player though. The things he's done on a football pitch, there will never be a player like him again.

Henry was a force of nature as well.

I was thinking Zlatan too. Does it get more complete than him? He can do it all.