Diego Costa

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He was telling him to shut up and stop debating whether it was a corner. What's there to get?

The verb I forgot to write in that sentence is "like". I really don't like the gesture he did....

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Haven't scored a single goal in CL yet despite having countless opportunities, not good enough

[Jase 43,479]

[The Chels 2,502]

Very good in the second half, especially in contrast with the first where he was dire to put it lightly. In the first 20 minutes he seemed to just stand in place. Didn't press or make runs. Weird.

I don't think it was anythng particular to this game - his defensive workload has decreased a lot this season. It's probably good for him but I really liked watching him press defenders and act as the first line of defence for Atleti. Here though we often see him just press half-heartedly or stand still (City away a prime example) which suggests his relative passivity in defence is a tactical instruction.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I don't care how his style of play now, as long as he is scoring for fun. This dude is born to scores.

[iseah100 5,612]

If he meant this looking at me, I would never dare even to move in front of him

I would never speak again..

[LAM09 6,744]

Great to have a goal scorer this season!

[jeronimo 130]

Top goal scorer this season with all goals coming from open play. Not too bad.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

This guy knows where to be in the 18box. Looks on course for 25-30 goals. The last time we had a player score above 20 we won the league. This guy is massively important to our title charge

[Daniel1980 1,425]

He was very good in the second half, but

in contrast with the first where he was dire to put it lightly. In the first 20 minutes he seemed to just stand in place. Didn't press or make runs. Weird.

And that's not the first time.

At the beginning of the season he seemed to make a lot more effort off the ball than he does now. He's not as intimidating now.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I don't think it was anythng particular to this game - his defensive workload has decreased a lot this season. It's probably good for him but I really liked watching him press defenders and act as the first line of defence for Atleti. Here though we often see him just press half-heartedly or stand still (City away a prime example) which suggests his relative passivity in defence is a tactical instruction.

He was very good in the second half, but

And that's not the first time.

At the beginning of the season he seemed to make a lot more effort off the ball than he does now. He's not as intimidating now.

I think maybe it is a sign that his fitness levels are still not back to 100% and he is thus asked to save his energy for attack rather than pressing and defense?

[Daniel1980 1,425]

I think maybe it is a sign that his fitness levels are still not back to 100% and he is thus asked to save his energy for attack rather than pressing and defense?

I'm not sure about that. Wasn't he playing "slightly injured" from the beginning of the season? I seem to remember Jose saying in November that Costa was fully fit now. If it's true, he was more intimidating when he was injured.

I don't know, maybe it's the fatigue, though Costa has played less minutes than most of our first team players this season.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He is a proper striker.

At times he makes even Drogba look like horse shite (that is not meant as an offensive comment, Drogba is my second-favourite Chelsea player of all time and I have his name on more shirts than anyone else) - what I mean by that is his ability to finish, which is the bread and butter of a forward, is better than any other Chelsea striker I've ever seen.

Power, surprising amount of poise, and equal parts precision. The man is a beast and will finish with at least 25 in the league alone this season, possibly pushing 30 in all competitions. It's still a concern (well, sort of) to me that he hasn't scored in Europe yet.

[Jase 43,479]

Costa is only 4 Premier League goals away from equaling the total tally of Torres, Ba and Eto'o combined last season (19).

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'm not sure about that. Wasn't he playing "slightly injured" from the beginning of the season? I seem to remember Jose saying in November that Costa was fully fit now. If it's true, he was more intimidating when he was injured.

I don't know, maybe it's the fatigue, though Costa has played less minutes than most of our first team players this season.

Yeah, that's kind of what I meant. Maybe he was asked to save his energy and work a bit less in games because he kept re-injuring his hamstring. I think what Jose meant back then was that he was no longer feeling pain. Doesn't mean the muscle itself is back to 100% fitness.

At least I hope that is the case, because otherwise that was just lazy work from Diego in the opening 20 minutes yesterday.

[Nero 1,838]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUlK6T2w96Q

[Rom2013 446]

He is here to score between 20 and 30 goals in the League and he will do it. He also works a lot and that's really great.

An increadible buy, 32M£ really well spent.

[Barbara 15,149]

(says the amazing English speaker, Oscar, LOL)