I suspect this person is trolling 

Trouble is with Diego, he can look crap all game, then BANG, in the net. You're never quite sure if taking him off is the right thing to do or not.

When he has the ball under control in the last third he can be very dangerous because he guards the ball so well, almost as well as Hazard. But he's not usually brilliant with his first touch, so it limits the amount of times he has the ball under control in the final third.

I'd be happy if we went 60/30 with Diego and then Batshuayi. Michy needs more minutes, it's really stupid to expect him to develop with just a few minutes here and there, 30 mins is a decent chunk of time to get settled in and then we can seriously start looking at him and debating if he is good enough or not.

44 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Which of the current Premier League top scorers consistently plays well they're not scoring? 

Mane & Sanchez do, the latter even has more goals than Diego, but we aren't discussing goals. Don't disregard the fact that the Premier League has never had worse strikers. Pretty much every top team is playing an over-the-hill forward. Aguero, Ibra, Diego, Giroud, these are players who've already played their best seasons, so to use them as a measure of 'well, who IS playing consistently?' is not a good perspective.

Now let's consider the other leagues too because I want to avoid hyperbole here;

Aspas, Suarez, Ben Yedder & more are all among the top scorers in Spain this season, and all of them have great games even when they don't score. 

In Italy? Mertens, Icardi, Immobile.

In Germany? Modeste, Lewandowski, Werner. 

In France? Lacazette, Gomis, Plea.

All players, this season, amongst if not the top scorers, who are consistently good regardless of goals, bringing lots to the team even when their form is drying up, still collecting MOTM awards.

I know you asked for Premier League, but I see no reason to restrict our vision to just our own backyard when we generally buy overseas players. But, i did account for them too.

:)

Edited February 13, 20179 yr by Katyusha

29 minutes ago, Brutos said:

I suspect this person is trolling 

You're adding a lot to the conversation. Your quality cannot be understated.

50 minutes ago, Katyusha said:

Because when you take away his goals, which has now happened, he offers the movement, build-up-play ability, hustle & drive that Torres had here. A reliable player has other qualities they can offer when they aren't banging in goals or performing to their usual standard, yet Diego doesn't even offer a target-man presence which he should, like Drogba could do on a goal-drought, often leading to him still being the best player on the pitch.

Ha ha, what an unbelievably ridiculous post, anyone who compares him to Torres has to either be on a wind up or blind. Or both. Even on Diego`s worst games he is constantly on the move, working the defenders, hassling them when they have the ball and basically being a right pain. something Torres never did. and to say he doesnt even offer a target man presence is just mind blowing. 

5 minutes ago, dkw said:

Ha ha, what an unbelievably ridiculous post, anyone who compares him to Torres has to either be on a wind up or blind. Or both. Even on Diego`s worst games he is constantly on the move, working the defenders, hassling them when they have the ball and basically being a right pain. something Torres never did. and to say he doesnt even offer a target man presence is just mind blowing. 

Agree to disagree. Costa is the worst target man I've ever seen for someone with his height & strength. The parallels between Torres & Costa are also valid; but I'm not Costa is anywhere near the same degraded level Torres performed at. I didn't say that, but you're suggesting so. So drop it before going further. I highlight that they share the same weaknesses, and there are plenty of people complaining about Diego - why? - because he lacks certain qualities, the same qualities Torres lacked. Who WOULDN'T compare their current striker to their past main striker? I'm not comparing him to Heskey or Dzeko.

Edited February 13, 20179 yr by Katyusha

1 minute ago, Katyusha said:

Agree to disagree. Costa is the worst target man I've ever seen for someone with his height & strength. The parallels between Torres & Costa are also valid; but I'm not saying they're anywhere near the same degraded level Torres performed at. I didn't say that, but you're suggesting so. So drop it before going further.

"he offers the movement, build-up-play ability, hustle & drive that Torres had here. "

So, what exactly did you mean by that, if not the that they performed the same?

"Costa is the worst target man I've ever seen for someone with his height & strength"

Bullsh*t hyperbole, meaningless drivel.

I'm here to discuss perspectives on players, not to spread opinions on fellow supporters and their knowledge or lack of, of football. Did I join the wrong forum?

So what did you mean then?

36 minutes ago, Katyusha said:

Mane & Sanchez do, the latter even has more goals than Diego, but we aren't discussing goals. Don't disregard the fact that the Premier League has never had worse strikers. Pretty much every top team is playing an over-the-hill forward. Aguero, Ibra, Diego, Giroud, these are players who've already played their best seasons, so to use them as a measure of 'well, who IS playing consistently?' is not a good perspective.

Now let's consider the other leagues too because I want to avoid hyperbole here;

Aspas, Suarez, Ben Yedder & more are all among the top scorers in Spain this season, and all of them have great games even when they don't score. 

In Italy? Mertens, Icardi, Immobile.

In Germany? Modeste, Lewandowski, Werner. 

In France? Lacazette, Gomis, Plea.

All players, this season, amongst if not the top scorers, who are consistently good regardless of goals, bringing lots to the team even when their form is drying up, still collecting MOTM awards.

I know you asked for Premier League, but I see no reason to restrict our vision to just our own backyard when we generally buy overseas players. But, i did account for them too.

:)

You would have to watch a lot of football to know if all these players are playing well or not even when they don't score. You would literally have to watch every minute of every game to see there contribution.

Like i said this person is trolling 

So much for wanting to discuss things then....

I dont think costa has been that bad personally. I dont think hazard has been either though tbh. 

We have had a tough stretch of games since Tottenham. 

Its in a part of the season which is always tough after the xmas period, yet we have extended our lead at the top of the table. 

We have 5 winnable games 3 of which are at home before we play city, and i expect perfomances will improve again with the end in sight as this is a squad that knows how to win a title. 

I sense the lack of faith the forum and fans have about the players due to last season, but we have turned a corner under conte, and even in poor perfomances we have showed togetherness and professionalism which i think will see us over line. 

 

3 hours ago, Katyusha said:

Mane & Sanchez do, the latter even has more goals than Diego, but we aren't discussing goals. Don't disregard the fact that the Premier League has never had worse strikers. Pretty much every top team is playing an over-the-hill forward. Aguero, Ibra, Diego, Giroud, these are players who've already played their best seasons, so to use them as a measure of 'well, who IS playing consistently?' is not a good perspective.

Now let's consider the other leagues too because I want to avoid hyperbole here;

Aspas, Suarez, Ben Yedder & more are all among the top scorers in Spain this season, and all of them have great games even when they don't score. 

In Italy? Mertens, Icardi, Immobile.

In Germany? Modeste, Lewandowski, Werner. 

In France? Lacazette, Gomis, Plea.

All players, this season, amongst if not the top scorers, who are consistently good regardless of goals, bringing lots to the team even when their form is drying up, still collecting MOTM awards.

I know you asked for Premier League, but I see no reason to restrict our vision to just our own backyard when we generally buy overseas players. But, i did account for them too.

:)

You are just stating names without actually watching them play. Gomis is scoring for fun but look how bad he was at Swansea. They flogged him. Plea is not consistent. He is a young striker with good potential but he is not even a prolific goalscorer. He works hard and so on but you can't watch him every week to tell me he is consistent.

Sanchez does not consistently play well. He is definitely not more consistent than Costa. I can tell you numerous amount of games where he has been anonymous. Against us for a start. In almost every big game for Arsenal he has not contributed anything apart from their game with us at the Emirates. When they played Spurs at home and United away he was poor. When they lost to City 2-1, he made a good assist for Walcott then was invisible. I remember when they played Everton, he scored one lucky goal then did f**k all and they lost the game. Mane is having a good season but let's not act like he has been consistent every single game because that also is not true. It probably helps their cause because we are top of the league but there is a reason Hazard and Costa are the bookies favourites for PFA player of the year.

As good as Icardi has been this season he has not been consistent all season. When he does not score, he is so below average and you don't notice him on the pitch. I watch quite a few Inter games so I know this.

Is Conte really troubled or the press is just sensationalising everything?

 

http://www.espnfc.com/club/chelsea/363/blog/post/3059744/diego-costa-goal-drought-is-concerning-for-chelsea-and-antonio-conte

12 minutes ago, STATS said:

You are just stating names without actually watching them play. Gomis is scoring for fun but look how bad he was at Swansea. They flogged him. Plea is not consistent. He is a young striker with good potential but he is not even a prolific goalscorer. He works hard and so on but you can't watch him every week to tell me he is consistent.

Sanchez does not consistently play well. He is definitely not more consistent than Costa. I can tell you numerous amount of games where he has been anonymous. Against us for a start. In almost every big game for Arsenal he has not contributed anything apart from their game with us at the Emirates. When they played Spurs at home and United away he was poor. When they lost to City 2-1, he made a good assist for Walcott then was invisible. I remember when they played Everton, he scored one lucky goal then did f**k all and they lost the game. Mane is having a good season but let's not act like he has been consistent every single game because that also is not true. It probably helps their cause because we are top of the league but there is a reason Hazard and Costa are the bookies favourites for PFA player of the year.

As good as Icardi has been this season he has not been consistent all season. When he does not score, he is so below average and you don't notice him on the pitch. I watch quite a few Inter games so I know this.

 

I agree with you on Gomis but as for Sanchez, there's a lot of things he can do when he's not scoring. But of course, I'd still put Costa above him.

57 minutes ago, Tibbers said:

I agree with you on Gomis but as for Sanchez, there's a lot of things he can do when he's not scoring. But of course, I'd still put Costa above him.

I agree about Sanchez but he has had quite a few games this season where he has not contributed much. I think he is an excellent player but there is not much players who are consistently good for every game.

13 hours ago, youlots said:

Too right ploks. Perhaps the 'assist' category should be twofold: 'assists' proper & 'assysts' being for, among things, imaginative use of the woodwork ala Costa.

 

Problem is, you need clear definitions to make stats. If the events you're counting are not well described then it's a waste of time, the results will be flawed.

2 hours ago, undertow said:

 

Problem is, you need clear definitions to make stats. If the events you're counting are not well described then it's a waste of time, the results will be flawed.

The only stat that counts for anything is the last column on the right. Pts.

 

16 hours ago, Katyusha said:

Mane & Sanchez do, the latter even has more goals than Diego, but we aren't discussing goals. Don't disregard the fact that the Premier League has never had worse strikers. Pretty much every top team is playing an over-the-hill forward. Aguero, Ibra, Diego, Giroud, these are players who've already played their best seasons, so to use them as a measure of 'well, who IS playing consistently?' is not a good perspective.

Now let's consider the other leagues too because I want to avoid hyperbole here;

Aspas, Suarez, Ben Yedder & more are all among the top scorers in Spain this season, and all of them have great games even when they don't score. 

In Italy? Mertens, Icardi, Immobile.

In Germany? Modeste, Lewandowski, Werner. 

In France? Lacazette, Gomis, Plea.

All players, this season, amongst if not the top scorers, who are consistently good regardless of goals, bringing lots to the team even when their form is drying up, still collecting MOTM awards.

I know you asked for Premier League, but I see no reason to restrict our vision to just our own backyard when we generally buy overseas players. But, i did account for them too.

:)

Lets be honest here, there's absolutely no chance you watch all these teams and all these individual players to know if they are playing well even when they're not scoring. Likely you've just looked at who's got a few in forms on football and chucked their name into the equation. 

According to The Sun, Diego is set to sign a new 5 year contract which will see him earn £220k a week plus bonuses...

4 hours ago, doctorblue said:

According to The Sun, Diego is set to sign a new 5 year contract which will see him earn £220k a week plus bonuses...

That seems too long to be real. 

Garbage he's 28 no way the club would offer him a 5 year extension my 3 max

Phew!