If ever there was a self-destruct button for a football player, it seems that Diego Costa has found it. The Spaniard might have been disappointed at not start the derby against Tottenham – given that he is the only fit striker that Chelsea had – but the antics or the lack of them he put up at White Hart Lane would certainly not be taken lightly by the Chelsea management.
Diego Costa’s tumultuous season continued with news of a bit of a scrap with Jose Mourinho in their European win over Maccabi Tel Aviv which was later made up with “kisses and hugs” according to the Portuguese manager but Costa’s lack of goals would have been a big issue for Chelsea to take up and his madness at the lane could well have spelled the end of his career.
Go Diego Go!
The Spaniard – who scored 21 goals in his debut season for Chelsea – seems to have forgotten where the back of the net is. He only has four goals in 16 appearances this season, which isn’t a great return for any top striker. He was brought in to provide Chelsea with a bit of toughness up front, but he isn’t the kind of toughness that Drogba possessed, instead Costa is more or less a street thug who tries to bully people.
We know how he played in Spain and his season with Atletico Madrid were filled with goals and a lot of issues with defenders, this season it seems that the Premier League defenders have caught up to his antics, all except Gabriel Paulista have been able to neutralise the Spaniard.
Costa isn’t providing much to his teammates also and often seems to behind play or slow to react. When he was asked to warm up against Tottenham we saw – what best could be called – a lethargic and almost sorry excuse for a warm up. Certainly, I would have done a better warm up and I haven’t played football in almost six years.
If that wouldn’t have riled up a manager, we all remember Roberto Mancini’s bust up with Carlos Tevez regarding the latter’s refusal to warm up for a Champions League game, Costa then did something which could have easily spelled the end of his playing time for Chelsea at that moment.
The striker made his way back to the bench and chucked his pink training bib over his head, just missing Mourinho. This wasn’t a mistake, we all know what kind of player Costa is and it seems his madness has finally gotten the better of him. This is a sad thing to happen though, Costa is a fine striker on his day, and his strength and finishing are right up there when he is in form, but this over the edge style of play seems to have taken over his footballing skills.
Jose Mourinho said that Costa should feel privileged for not being dropped sooner since most of the Chelsea senior squad have been dropped at one point or another. It is pretty certain that Costa is not the player he once was and it is time to ship him out, Jose Mourinho has to get rid of the bad seed before it affects the entire team and unless Costa does score in his next games, which we doubt due to the bib throwing incident, he will be looking for a new club but who would want to buy him?