Forward thinking: Why Costa is not the man to lead the Chelsea line

For months and months Stamford Bridge has echoed the cries of ‘Diego! Diego!’, whether inspiring or lethargic, kicking or screaming, brawling or celebrating. Saturday’s 1-0 win over Norwich, however, saw these affectionate cries displaced by groans at the eventual realisation that Diego Costa cannot lead Chelsea going forward.

Four games and seven goals into his Chelsea career, I could hardly believe that we had finally found the striker to take us to the next level, and unquestionably it did… for a few months. It is no coincidence that, as Costa’s season was plagued with injury at the turn of the year, changes started to occur elsewhere on the pitch.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what happens to a player when they go through a tough spell of long-term recurring injuries. Physically, you would assume that a top club has the medical facilities and resources to cure the problem; it’s happening right now in Luke Shaw’s situation and it’s not out of the question that the player might return even sharper than before. However, a hint of doubt remains in every fan’s mind that they might never be the same again.

The other side of it is mentally. I’ve always been particularly interested in sports psychology – the minds of the world’s highest paid athletes must be fascinating, and I wonder how much a difficult injury really sets them back; do they think about it every time they go in for a tackle? Do they suddenly feel like they’re over the hill?

Perhaps, as a Chelsea fan, I’m more vulnerable to this cloud of thought. I sat at every home game for three-and-a-half years to watch one of football’s biggest myths, the 50-million-pound-man who was seemingly a shadow of the player he had once been, and it worries me that it’s happening again. I’m aware that it’s very easy to make comparisons when things aren’t going well, and it feels strange to write such a piece after such a significant goal on Saturday, but I don’t think anybody can be fooled into thinking one goal will bring back the Costa of Everton away in 2014/15.

On multiple occasions on Saturday, Hazard – who was back to his pulsating best albeit a poor Norwich side – sent the ball invitingly across the six-yard box to the on-rushing ghost of Frank Lampard. A ridiculous statement, yes, but it seemed Costa was expecting somebody else to do the job for him; one of Europe’s most lethal strikers in recent years no longer contains the hunger or desire to throw himself into goal-scoring positions, instead he throws himself at people. On a different day and with a different forward it could have finished with four or five.

It makes you wonder how poorly Mourinho must rate Loic Remy; how disheartening must it be for a striker to sit on the bench and watch his superior (in the manager’s eyes) under-perform so regularly and still remain in the team? Remy, though he may not solve Chelsea’s problems long-term, offers a lot more as a lone-striker in his 10-minute cameos than Costa tends to offer in 90 minutes.

It’s not always Costa’s physical ability that’s absent, it’s his positioning that fills me with despair. A complete-centre forward should not receive the ball on the wing as frequently as the 27-year-old does. His success last season came from runs in-behind, not from running at defenders. It’s evident in Saturday’s goal; it’s the same run he made against Arsenal last year before lobbing the ball over the keeper. He does not possess the power or speed to run past players at will, and I know that’s not what a striker has to do at all. Too many times this season the opposition back four have had nobody to mark, and that is a huge part of Chelsea’s problems.

It’s convenient to write this in the week that (arguably) Chelsea’s greatest ever striker brings out his autobiography, I just wonder how long the Drogba-gap will remain unfilled.

Chelsea News