Diego Costa

[Pacquiao 1,834]

"as well as guiding Atletico to the CL final scoring 8 goals again something Aguero could only dream of doing."

costa taking ATM to CL final was given as one of the reasons for him being as good as aguero or something aguero could only "dream of". hence city's performances in the CL came into question mark. ATM as a team went to CL final and almost won it, costa was an important cog (even though atm beat barca over 2 legs without costa) but not the main cog.

what has diego's injury got to do with him world class or not. we know he is a fighter (infact, sometimes, i forget he is a footballer). him coming off a massive injury is a testament to his character and will, not to him being world class. maybe i am biased. but if someone says hazard is better than messi, i ll be biased in that case too. simply cos its far from the truth.

I think that its fair to say Aguero would dream of taking City or any team to the CL final, it wasn't even an insult its what I believe is true.

[Fulham Broadway 16,392]

Yesterday on TV we had slo mo replays and sanctimonious commentating (only of Costas actions, not what Gabriel and Koscielny did beforehand).

Thank fuck we didnt have the internet and slo mo replays in the 60s, 70s. All those condemning Diego would have wanted Chopper Harris, Dave Webb and Rougvie sacked or lynched. As it is they are Chelsea legends.

[Fulham Broadway 16,392]

i will support costa. i dont need your permission for that.

but a certain poster on here, put in some dubious stats to compare aguero and costa. i am simply clearing his misbeliefs.

also, give me a sentence where i have been "pining" for aguero.

or wait, now if someone says that messi/CR are better than hazard, they dont support chelsea and hazard and are pining for messi/CR?

No but you seem to be giving Aguero a lot of attention. Good player, would love him at SW6 and Messi and probably the bullnecked Madeiran. As it is they are all foes on the horizon.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Love Diego, has to tone it back a notch but he knows what he's doing. And it works

[didierforever 7,349]

No but you seem to be giving Aguero a lot of attention. Good player, would love him at SW6 and Messi and probably the bullnecked Madeiran. As it is they are all foes on the horizon.

yes, they are players from different team or "foes", but u can give players their due, call a spade a spade, tell it exactly how it is and still support your team.

[Laylabelle 9,296]

Decision tomorrow apparently.be surprised if is let off without a ban

[bababoom 4,478]

He does need to tone it down, one can argue he's always in control and knows what he's doing but he could have easily been sent of many times over the past two seasons just by being silly. I'm all for him riling up defenders but it simply goes overboard once he starts scratching, pushing, swinging his arms etc...

[Essien19 1,415]

the first argument can be given for messi too.

the second one would make suarez look stupid a year ago cos pool was not even in the CL.

that does not change the fact that suarez was a world class player even before joining barca and winning the CL. aguero has done anything in CL cos city have underperformed massively. pelegrini played 4-4-2 against barca, while trying to attack fire with fire, what did you think is going to happen in that case.

none of these makes aguero not a world class player.

In my point of view, Messi isn't that bad for Argentina anymore.

During the World Cup 2014 he scored some crucial goals and made some good assists too.

The Copa America wasn't bad either, nowadays he steps up and takes responsibility, even if he gets the shit kicked out of him.

Aguero doesn't deliver in these tournaments, he looks like a fraud and a joke of a player.

As you said about Fabregas: Mr.No-Balls for me.

Luis Suarez is playing well for club and country.

Here do we have the first difference, performing well for your country.

The game against England in the World Cup 2014 was something else.

Nowadays he participates in the Champions-League and look at the games against PSG.

You are right, the strategy and set up is really important for the team, but year after year Aguero goes missing.

It's not just the game against Barcelona, it has become a phenomenon over all those years.

Yes, some of his companions do it too, is that enough for making an excuse?

I don't think so.

A World-Class player doesn't take no for an answer, he leads and puts himself out there.

I take a look at the whole package.

On his day, Aguero is good striker, Chelsea can sing a song about it.

But his refusal to man up under huge pressure in the international stage and his injury record which limits him a lot doesn't make him a better player than Costa, that's just my two cents worth.

[Essien19 1,415]

koke was a vital cog in ATM system when they won the league, went to CL final.

and no he is not a world class player.

so costa's acheivements have been impressive but it does not make him a world class player. filipe luis is not a world class player too, by the way and he has achieved as much as costa, and infact it was him and koke down the left which was ATM's main weapon. the loss of filipe hurt atm more than anything last season. costa got the goals, but in terms of importance, he was as important as those 2 or a 32 year old villa (who was not world class by then).

Simeone did moan a lot about the loss of Diego Costa, with all due respect to Filipe Luis, having a a good striker is something else.

Even though he wasn't fully fit, Simeone brought him into the Champions-League final, that shows you his value.

[didierforever 7,349]

In my point of view, Messi isn't that bad for Argentina anymore.

During the World Cup 2014 he scored some crucial goals and made some good assists too.

The Copa America wasn't bad either, nowadays he steps up and takes responsibility, even if he gets the shit kicked out of him.

Aguero doesn't deliver in these tournaments, he looks like a fraud and a joke of a player.

As you said about Fabregas: Mr.No-Balls for me.

Luis Suarez is playing well for club and country.

Here do we have the first difference, performing well for your country.

The game against England in the World Cup 2014 was something else.

Nowadays he participates in the Champions-League and look at the games against PSG.

You are right, the strategy and set up is really important for the team, but year after year Aguero goes missing.

It's not just the game against Barcelona, it has become a phenomenon over all those years.

Yes, some of his companions do it too, is that enough for making an excuse?

I don't think so.

A World-Class player doesn't take no for an answer, he leads and puts himself out there.

I take a look at the whole package.

On his day, Aguero is good striker, Chelsea can sing a song about it.

But his refusal to man up under huge pressure in the international stage and his injury record which limits him a lot doesn't make him a better player than Costa, that's just my two cents worth.

i agree with a lot of points that you have made, but strongly disagree with some.

lets start with messi. he was poor all throughout the knockout stages. cant remember a thing he did in the final. or against belgium or against switzerland. giving him the man of the tournament was one of the biggest farce i have seen ever. aguero played as a winger in the world cup just so messi could be slotted in the center. hardly a thing i would judge him on.

a question here, do u think suarez is world class? if yes, would suarez make a difference for city. if you swap aguero and suarez right now, would it make a difference. instead of "MSN" shit that goes on, people would be going crazy over "MAN", while man city would still be underperforming in CL. most of the matches in CL, city get their midfield get dominated. forget barca, if you have seen the cska moscow games, hell, their midfield got over run in those matches. the way city approach these games, i honestly doubt anyone except for messi would be able to make a change in place of aguero. so again, i cant judge him on that.

yes, he has not performed in the "biggest of tournaments" but he has a tremendous goal scoring record against us, against spurs, has scored against united or arsenal number of times. so i dont think he "chokes" under pressure or under performs under pressure or in big games, if that is what you were trying to say.

at the end of the day, i feel he is going to end up in RM next year or so. nothing would make me happier to see him gone. and then would be the proper time to judge him in the biggest tournaments.

[Cosmin 2,484]

I don't understand why people say that what Costa does WORKS. How exactly does it work?

[didierforever 7,349]

Simeone did moan a lot about the loss of Diego Costa, with all due respect to Filipe Luis, having a a good striker is something else.

Even though he wasn't fully fit, Simeone brought him into the Champions-League final, that shows you his value.

i honestly think, costa would have killed simeone or something if he was not played in the CL final. i mean this is a guy who wanted to play against WBA or some team after we had won the league and he was not completely fit. what would this guy do to be a part of the CL final. anyways, fair point about his importance for ATM, and no denying that he was important. he was someone who defined ATM - bullish, fighters, massive character and will.

but i still think, koke-luis partnership was ATM's main focal point and X-factor that season.

[Unionjack 7,531]

Diegos not a refined float like a flutterby player hes a down and dirty and win at all cost lad and I love him for it.

Yes hes a wind up merchant and he will push a player to his limits to wind the fuck up out of them but at the same time EVERY other player/manager/supporter sees the target on his back and they know he has the possibility to go over the top so he gets kicked/pulled/punched/poked till he blows up.

Every defender now it seems has got into the habit of holding strikers,putting their arms round them and practicing judo/MMA holds on them. Costa yesterday threw his hands back trying to push Kos off him. Just give and take like normal games. Then Kos threw himself on the floor after a little belly bump trying to get Dean to give Costa a red.

After all that palaver Gab stuck his oar in but Dean (who isn't our biggest supporter) wasn't having owt to do with it and because of their old tangles he flicked his foot at him. And Dean saw it.

The only thing that I didn't like and its one of my pet hates is he whined to Dean about it and so did alot of our other lads.

I know EVERY club does it but it doesn't make it right. I know they're just trying to win the game and it gets under the opponents skin but it just looks like a bunch of whining girlies whoever does it and because it happens so often it takes away from the times that it truely needs to be done.

I hope Diego yesterday put some bite into the rest of the lads and this has started to turn the season around.

Wasn't it fuckin great to be able to take the piss out of those north Londoners all the way to the tube!! God I hate them.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

football is getting more namby pampy by the day. i like characters like costa because it beckons back to the old school, a time where you could actually tackle, where the game was about football not stuupid pantomines and drama between managers. even a fucking handshake is a talking point these days

[Pacquiao 1,834]

i honestly think, costa would have killed simeone or something if he was not played in the CL final. i mean this is a guy who wanted to play against WBA or some team after we had won the league and he was not completely fit. what would this guy do to be a part of the CL final. anyways, fair point about his importance for ATM, and no denying that he was important. he was someone who defined ATM - bullish, fighters, massive character and will.

but i still think, koke-luis partnership was ATM's main focal point and X-factor that season.

and yet barely any of his goals that season came from this Koke-Luis partnership, a lot of his goals came from good work on the right.

[didierforever 7,349]

and yet barely any of his goals that season came from this Koke-Luis partnership, a lot of his goals came from good work on the right.

go and watch any of their matches against barce. watch how dominant koke-luis was. and that trend continued through out the season. the way they dominated alves against barca time and again and how tactically important those 2 were.

[Kendrick 339]

Obviously as a Chelsea fan I can't hate what Costa is doing to opponents, and yesterday he basically won us the match with that red card.

But I think sometimes he does that too much. Yesterday he got into too many 'incidents' after the red card (which already put him on a yellow).

First of all he needs to be careful not to get sent off (red card or after in FA court) because in that case it will begin to affect our results in a bad way and that is unacceptable.

And second, and I might be on my own on this one- I think he should pick his targets better. I actually felt sorry for Ox for taking that hit from Costa at the end there. He's a good kid.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

FFS we could've signed Martial this summer and sold Costa for a profit next season.