Chelsea must stick with Diego Costa

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has no choice but to keep playing Diego Costa up top

Chelsea striker Diego Costa hasn’t forgotten how to play world-class football in one season. He may be off to a horrible start this season, but his prodigious talent and the club’s lack of other options means he must continue to be in the lineup.

Costa’s manager, Jose Mourinho seems to understand that he must keep faith in Costa. He claims to be “bemused” by rumors of Costa’s departure from the club even though his conflicts with the Spanish striker are the source of most of them. His most recent decision to remove Costa from the lineup in Chelsea’s match at Tottenham only fueled the rumors that had Costa headed elsewhere in Europe. Of course, Costa’s decision to throw a bib at him during the match didn’t help either.

The truth is that both Mourinho and Costa need one another. They aren’t put together in a marriage of convenience they’re in a marriage of necessity at this point. If either of them is to succeed at Chelsea, the other will have to play a key role.

Costa, at just 27-years-old, hasn’t somehow lost of his football talent in one-off season. The same player who was arguably the Premier League’s most dominant striker for Chelsea’s title-winning season has not inexplicably lost all of his ability now. The talent is somewhere inside of him and Mourinho needs to draw it out. He may not ever experience the same run of form that he had last year, but he’ll certainly do better than his current run of three goals in 11 Premier League starts.

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For Costa’s career, he must bounce back at Chelsea. Otherwise, his reputation will be irreparably damaged. Yes, he’s had great success at Atletico Madrid and during his first year at Chelsea, but he won’t be perceived as a great player if he can’t prolong his career playing at his peak level. Just ask yourself how you’d think of Costa if he never became successful at Chelsea again. You’d brand him as somewhat of a flash-in-the-pan even if he were able to resurrect his career outside the Premier League. That may not be entirely fair, but it’s how most fans would come to view the bullying striker.

Mourinho’s legacy is certainly safer than Costa’s, but it would still take a significant hit if he can’t get the Chelsea ship righted. If he is forced out of Chelsea as a failure, he will still be seen as a great manager, but it will remain a black mark on his record. Not only would people criticize his ability to remain at a club for longer than three years, they’d also criticize that he lost the ability to handle star players at one of his last stops. Mourinho’s ego will want to preserve his legacy in a more polished state than a Chelsea failure would allow.

The simple truth is that Mourinho must play Costa if Chelsea is going to bounce back in the standings. They don’t have any other credible options. Playing Eden Hazard as a false nine certainly isn’t the long-term answer. Otherwise Mourinho would be forced to select Falcao or Loic Remy. Not sure if you’ve seen either of them play this season but they’ve made Costa look like Messi out on the pitch.

Sure, Chelsea could splash the cash in January and bring in a replacement, but that’s always risky. Just see how Falcao’s career has spiraled downwards after moving to the Premier League. That’s an extreme example of how such a move can fail, but it does prove that bringing in an outside striker isn’t an exact science. Chelsea would be wise to try to rehabilitate the striker they know as opposed to purchasing the striker they don’t.

In the end, Chelsea and Jose Mourinho must stick with Diego Costa through this abysmal run of form. They’ve seen how good he can be for them up top and they really don’t have any decent alternatives. It’s great for us fans. We get to watch the soap opera marriage of Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho continue right before our very eyes.

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