11 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

The bit about Costa's dribbling is so true, it's the worst part of his game.

Dribbling and Headers.

But all the rest aspects are quite good. My point of sharing was simply to show that people sometimes under-rate lukaku. Every player has his strengths and his weaknesses. For lukaku, his weakness is his back to the goal play. If he improves that, he is as good as Costa.

25 minutes ago, robdog said:

He was poor last night, and has been since January.

Gave the ball away far too many times, and probably should have taken another two chances. 

I love him as a player and want nothing more than him to stay and play as well as he did for the first six months of the season, but despite the goals if you still think he's playing at that level now you're very wrong.

Costa is playing well keep it up driving us forward

4 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Costa is playing well keep it up driving us forward

He' scoring and that's all important but he's not playing well tbh.

He's clumsy, his control is terrible and the movement isn't great.

That being said if he scores every game then the above are not really an issue.

He's definitely clumsy with the ball, but i wouldn't criticize his movement. He provides a good outlet of the ball and is good at chasing them down when fab boots it long...it's what he does with the ball that frustrates me sometimes. He's a 20 goal a season striker though, that's not easy to replace no matter how poor his dribbling is at times. He leads our line well with aggression and strength like only a handful of strikers (like Suarez) can IMO 

5 hours ago, Batshuayi said:

He was poor last night, and has been since January.

Gave the ball away far too many times, and probably should have taken another two chances. 

I love him as a player and want nothing more than him to stay and play as well as he did for the first six months of the season, but despite the goals if you still think he's playing at that level now you're very wrong.

3 goals in his last three games. 

If he continues like that I don't mind. 

To be playing "poorly" but still delivering your primary objective is still good going. 

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

3 goals in his last three games. 

If he continues like that I don't mind. 

To be playing "poorly" but still delivering your primary objective is still good going. 

Fair point. But he could easily go his next three at the same level of poor performance and score 0 goals.

You get with some strikers, Tevez springs to mind, who will work hard and still offer the team positives even when the goals are drying up, I feel we wouldn't get that with Diego, he can be very frustrating to watch when he's not taking chances. Personally I think during his January slump/argument he should have been dropped for Michy, but he's bagged a couple of goals and all is forgiven.

Maybe I'm just being too picky... After all we're 10 points clear in March I don't have much else to moan about!

58 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

3 goals in his last three games. 

If he continues like that I don't mind. 

To be playing "poorly" but still delivering your primary objective is still good going. 

But that was against Wolves, Swansea & West Ham. I know the old cliche of you can only play who's put in front of you but there's no getting away from the fact that Costa has looked poor of late and sure he's got 3 goals but at times he has been a hindrance.

Don't get me wrong, I love Costa and when he is in form and up for it, wouldn't think of swapping him for another striker. But since the January window rumours, he hasn't quite looked like the same player to me and if this continues we it could be an issue against stronger opponents.

We need him back to his best ASAP.

 

If his first touch was more reliable he would have three times as much of the ball, once he has it under control he is probably our 2nd best player at guarding it. It's just that bloody first touch.

the chase for the EPL Golden Boot

50 minutes ago, Batshuayi said:

Fair point. But he could easily go his next three at the same level of poor performance and score 0 goals.

You get with some strikers, Tevez springs to mind, who will work hard and still offer the team positives even when the goals are drying up, I feel we wouldn't get that with Diego, he can be very frustrating to watch when he's not taking chances. Personally I think during his January slump/argument he should have been dropped for Michy, but he's bagged a couple of goals and all is forgiven.

Maybe I'm just being too picky... After all we're 10 points clear in March I don't have much else to moan about!

I'm not sure I follow your argument. A play that has scored 3 goals in his last three games despite not playing his best could "easily" go the next three games without scoring? 

In 25 league games this season he has 17 goals, that's roughly a goal every 1.5 games. 

The Tevez thing, again I'm not sure I follow. Diego offers a lot to the team minus his goals too. His link up play with Hazard in particular this year has been very good and he's weighed in with 5 assists too (bringing his total contribution to goals to 22, almost one a game) which is more than Kane, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic (four apiece) and Aguero (zero) only Sanchez of the league top scorers betters him with nine assists. 

As for not taking his chances, Diego scores roughly a goal to every 4 shots he takes. This is similar to Lukaku and Kane and much better than Aguero and Ibrahimovic. 

Finally, being dropped for Michy in January. Not sure why you would want to drop your leading goal scorer, surely it's better to ensure he stays match fit and plays back into form because there are no guarantees that Michy would perform any better, especially as Conte would appear to have little faith in him carrying out his instructions.  

44 minutes ago, Nibs said:

But that was against Wolves, Swansea & West Ham. I know the old cliche of you can only play who's put in front of you but there's no getting away from the fact that Costa has looked poor of late and sure he's got 3 goals but at times he has been a hindrance.

Don't get me wrong, I love Costa and when he is in form and up for it, wouldn't think of swapping him for another striker. But since the January window rumours, he hasn't quite looked like the same player to me and if this continues we it could be an issue against stronger opponents.

We need him back to his best ASAP.

 

Well someone had to score the goals for us to win against those teams so who better than your leading goal scorer? Not sure how much of a hindrance your striker can be viewed as if he's scoring you goals and winning you games?

As said earlier, yes his overall performances have dipped from the very high standard he set at the start of the season but if he's scoring goals there can't be too much to complain about. If he played "badly" against United and City but scored in both games I don't think I would grumble. 

 

 

 

Anyway, I'm extremely biased about Diego and I'll admit I'm a bit one eyed when it comes to his performances because I rate him so much. He's the best goalscorer I have ever seen play for Chelsea in my years supporting the club. 

People were losing their minds when it was thought he would leave in January now it seems he's easily replaceable

if he keeps scoring when he is playing a bit crap lets just hope he gets it together for the big games to come !!

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/776234/Chelsea-news-Diego-Costa-Antonio-Conte/amp

He is not the same player from the start of the season since the China links, however he keeps converting his chances and i guess in the end it is all that matters. I am not that interested what happens in the summer as even if he does go we will have enough time to get a suitable replacement. 

41 minutes ago, TrueBlueBIH said:

I am not that interested what happens in the summer as even if he does go we will have enough time to get a suitable replacement. 

I think you underestimate how difficult it is to find players who are as good at scoring goals as Diego is. 

The bloke is a phenomena, a goal scoring machine a la the drog, guddy and JFH

Hes got 17 on the season, team's top scorer, team is top of the league and cruising towards the title

to those who doubt him - exactingly high standards are wonderful and if you personally maintain them in your chosen profession then

perhaps feel free to offer critique of a world class player, if not.......................

 

 

17 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I think you underestimate how difficult it is to find players who are as good at scoring goals as Diego is. 

I am certain that it will be very difficult mate, his scoring ratio is second to none. However if he isn't happy or he wants to leave i would rather not keep unhappy players.

On 07/03/2017 at 18:18, Brutos said:

People were losing their minds when it was thought he would leave in January now it seems he's easily replaceable

Exactly, He's not easily replaceable  and that's the issue. I can't say I'm confident he's going to stay so who do we get? I'd have said Lukaku but he looks like he's on the verge of a new Everton contract.

Morata.

All strikers have dips in form, but the best ones still manage to keep scoring, which is what Costa is doing now. Players like kane and lukaku are only ahead of him in the charts because they have scored a hatful against weak opposition like West Brom and bournemouth...costa has been far more consistent than them though, as he has scored in far more league games than them. 

47 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

Exactly, He's not easily replaceable  and that's the issue. I can't say I'm confident he's going to stay so who do we get? I'd have said Lukaku but he looks like he's on the verge of a new Everton contract.

There will be a catch in that contract I am sure. He said he wants to play in the UCL so that deal would only make sense imo if there is some sort of release clause that if a CL club comes in for him, Everton have to accept it and Romelu accept it. I am sure this will come out. Only way I see Lukaku signing that new contract.

Love him but my God is his first touch and dribling annoying sometimes.

Read a stat the other day that he's been eighter dispossessed or lost the ball to a bad touch 150 times this season. Or around 6 times a game on average.

Massive room for improvement still. 

He doesn't play good, but every player has a bad period in the season. He didn't forget to score goals, don't worry. We all should focus on this season because we have to win that title!