Diego Costa

[LAM09 6,784]

Poor performance on the whole from him. I understand he has been out for over three weeks, but that shouldn't affect his holdup play, etc.

[obiwan92 217]

Had exact control he does when I play FIFA. Playing defensively on counter doesn't suit him, should have been Remy.

[Yeboii 1,844]

should have been Remy.

This is what I'm thinking after way too many matches this season. Remy is too good for the bench in my opinion, so is Costa though... Nice headache for Mourinho.

[Jase 43,479]

Not worried about Costa's Champions League goalscoring record. Not yet anyway I guess. Would have been worried if he wasn't getting into goalscoring positions but he has and has just been unlucky so far. The goals will come and I won't be surprised if it is in the return leg against PSG.

[Special Juan 27,439]

He was well marshaled all night and never really had a sniff.

[lionsden 4,689]

If he is unable to use his body to shield his ball then why are young players studying him on that exact thing (shielding the ball with your body)? In an interview our own Patrick Bamford was saying that he, along with his coaches in Middlesborough, are studying how Diego uses his body to shield the ball.

Then young players like bamford are studying the wrong subject. They should be studying players like lewadowski,giroud,drogba,gomis et al instead on how to shield the ball, maintain posession and bring others into play because costa is terrible at it. Young players can study his movement and finishing though.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

I'm the only one who notice the unbelievable amount of times he loses the ball almost every game? so many times he's late with his passing. The one thing I really dislike about him.

[lionsden 4,689]

I'm the only one who notice the unbelievable amount of times he loses the ball almost every game? so many times he's late with his passing. The one thing I really dislike about him.

You are not the only one. I have raised the same concerns numerous times on here before and was condemned for it. Remove his goalls/finishing,is his allround game really that much better than lukaku's?. They have the same shitty aerial ability for one.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

his allround game really that much better than lukaku's?.

I think, yeah. Like I said Costa loses the ball a lot, but he can link up in and around the box very well with our midfielders which is a hugh advantage on Lukaku, who never does it.

[ILoveLamp 270]

The scary thing is I can really see him getting frustrated by this state eventually and does something extremely stupid and get a sending off+ long ban. He is not like Torres, he is more like Suarez who will be doing stupid things when he is pushed to the limit of frustration.

Do you ever make a positive post about anything? I honestly have never read one.

We're going to lose 4-1 to PSG, Costa is to be banned for months and months, etc etc.

BE POSITIVE!

[Barbara 15,149]

I really like Diego and I don't think his link up and hold up is as bad as some make it out to be, but for God's sake, he needs to learn how to win aerial duels. I don't even mean in the box, but his timing, positioning and everything else that should be taken into account when it comes to a header is off. He has the physical tools, he needs to work on the technique.

He'll never be a Drogba or Terry and I'm not demanding that from him, but there's a huge room for improvement and we need him to start winning those if we want to have more counter-attacks in the game. He loses them all, 100% of them and way too easily.

He was off pace yesterday, the attack was nonexistent, at least he'll arrive to Burnley with some minutes on his bag and will probably play very well.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I'm the only one who notice the unbelievable amount of times he loses the ball almost every game? so many times he's late with his passing. The one thing I really dislike about him.

This isn't true, sorry. Loads of people have massive short term memory here. Before his ban, Diego's link up and hold up play was excellent. He's just getting back into the swing of things, give him some time...

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I was more annoyed with the fact that he didn't win a single ball in the air than other aspects of his game

[iseah100 5,612]

Does anyone else get annoyed by how often he drifts off to the wing?

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

You are all moaning about every aspect of his game but you forget than just 2 1/2 months ago you were singing his praises and the team's general counter attacking ability, then when we have even a slightly disappointing run of games immediately he is Torres level. He was really good and when he pulled his hamstring and returned you all moaned at him saying that he's more bothered about bullying CBs than actually playing. Within 2 games he will be fucking slaughtering all teams.

Besides, as a striker, what can you do when you're not getting service? Fabregas HATES playing in the #10, because especially in PSG's 3 DM system he gets completely stifled, along with Willian's lack of vision/end product (*on the wing) putting more pressure on Cesc. The furthest we ever got on the pitch was when Hazard dribbled and Verratti brought him over (and he should have got sent off within 45 mins) and we got the free kick, which from memory we scored from. In fact, it makes me wonder why in big games we don't do the same, with Ake/Mikel, and Matic drawing Cesc's markers off him in his preferred DM role allowing to play. Ramires is ineffective. Cahill was too slow for the system we were playing with all its existing faults anyway. The goal PSG scored Zouma would definitely stopped with his aerial ability, and he would have allowed play to flow more as he is quicker with the ball. Courtois had an amazing game.

Anyway, Diego was probably one of the least worst on the pitch for us, when we played the ball we played like a small, small team, 9 men behind the ball stuff. We weren't quick enough on the break, we had no creativity, no energy, and that responsibility is shared for that between everyone except Courtois, and even he was flapping at crosses sometimes. Like I said, at the end of the day he is a striker, and if you aren't getting fed then there's nothing you can do. Jose imo should seriously be thinking about a 4-3-3, or maybe a 3-4-3 and just officially relieve Ivanovic of his defence duties and put him at wing back, with a back 3 of Azpi/Cahill-Terry-Zouma, adding an element of ball playing to our defence, because clearly for us 4-2-3-1 away without Cesc in the pivot does not work.

Obviously, I'm no football coach, and for all I know that might be a disaster, but

Courtois

Azpi Zouma Terry

Iva Matic Cesc Willian

Cuadrado Costa Hazard

could work.

Courtois

Azpi Terry Zouma Luis

Ake Cesc Matic

Cuadrado Costa Hazard

Is probably a more balanced option, though. Oh, and btw, once again we had £30m worth of full back left on our bench last night, supposedly the best in Europe but being kept on the bench by a false LB who is in turn being kept on the wrong flank by a 30 year old converted CB. £30m could have got us Varane last summer. God.

[Styles 9,790]

Costa scored 8 goals in 9 Champions League games last season.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Costa scored 8 goals in 9 Champions League games last season.

It was extremely over inflated. 3 were against one of the worst Milan side in their history, 1 against us was a pen, 2 against some Austria team, 1 against a shit Zenit, the other couple were against a average Porto team as well.

In fact apart from scoring a couple of time against Madrid, he never actually score that much in all his years there against them. Never scored against Barca too

[BlueLyon 9,359]

The only thing i dislike about him is his jumping. For someone this size he is absolute shit in air. Never NEVER wins aerial duel with another player even if that other guy is 170cm tall...