Opinion: Should Jose Mourinho Drop This 20-goal Forward From Chelsea’s Starting 11?

It always is a worry when someone comes up with a stat like this, games played 10, goals scored 2 and only 18 shots on goal. That is a horrible stat for a striker, that too of the calibre of Diego Costa. The Spaniard was firing on all cylinders last season; he started on fire and was banging goals in for fun. Something seems to have changed at the start of the season, Costa has been involved in more fights than goals for Chelsea and there has to be a line which Mourinho should draw.

The raging bull

For all his ability in front of goal, Diego Costa has been well below bar this season and we are not even talking about the pointless arguments and flare-ups he has been a part of. The Chelsea frontman was expected to take his goal tally to greater heights this season, after betting in incredibly for Chelsea last season but all he has done so far is stepped on toes, gotten people sent off, started needless fights and gone missing in front of goal.

The partnership of Cesc and Costa has also been affected this season, he scored 21 goals in all competitions last season but hardly looks like someone who can score more than 10 goals this season. He did state earlier that he returned to training at the start of the season overweight, which did affect his ability on the pitch.

While he can be forgiven for that, he was injured before the season started and that is when he picked up the additional weight, he still does possess the fire in his belly to get things done, unfortunately his contributions to the team are not positive in nature. Costa so far this season has picked needless shoving matches against Gabriel, Mertesacker, Skrtel, Shawcross, amongst many others.

At one time, this was a ploy used to unsettle defenders but the Premier League does have some smart players and most have understood how to deal with the wily Spaniard and beat him in his own game. Costa isn’t getting the change from defenders as he would have expected and that has only brought out the inner animal in him, which again isn’t helping Chelsea. Costa isn’t getting into the right places and only a few glimpses of his former, aggressive, hard-running player can be seen in the current games.

The problem with Chelsea is that they don’t really have a lot of quality up front. Loic Remy couldn’t really get much done against Stoke and Radamel Falcao still seems a shadow of the player who was terrorising defences a few years ago. Jose Mourinho though has to take a call, sooner or later; Diego Costa’s antics will cost Chelsea.

The Spaniard has taken his aggressiveness to higher levels this season and referees will clamp down on this fairly soon. It is up to the Chelsea manager to either rein in the mad horse or put him in the stable for a couple of games until he calms down. Costa is the lead striker for Chelsea, there are no two ways about it but even the top players need to be dropped to ensure they work hard and prove the doubters wrong.