How Jose Mourinho Will Get the Best out of Radamel Falcao in 2015/16

Invent a time machine? Get him a new body? Pray?

There are likely to be all forms of comical answers to the question above in the comments section, largely because a healthy portion of football fans have decided that Radamel Falcao is past it already.

The Colombian’s underwhelming 2014/15 on loan at Manchester United will be the key reason why, of course, with long-term injuries also hindering the progress of a man who scored 142 goals between 2009 and 2013 wearing the colours of Porto and Atletico Madrid.

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Contrast that to his four—yes, four—strikes in 29 appearances in all competitions for United, which saw him hit the net against Everton, Aston Villa, Stoke City and Leicester City, with the latter coming back in January. Seventeen goalless appearances for club and country have come since.

And yet he now finds himself three places higher up the Premier League table, donning the No. 9 shirt for champions Chelsea amid much discussion as to why.

That is for another day, though—and will include plenty of mentions of Jorge Mendes’ name—but now Jose Mourinho has got his hands on Falcao the key question is, just what does he do with him?

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With important goals against Manchester City, Hull City and Stoke in the second half of Chelsea’s ultimately successful title chase last season, Loic Remy proved just how important it is to have good striking backup around. If he was Chelsea’s “No. 3” forward, then has he been promoted to “No. 2” following the departure of Didier Drogba? If he has, the decision to sign Falcao makes a little more sense.

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Mourinho will, of course, be hoping Diego Costa remains fit enough to start every game for Chelsea, but the forward’s style of play means it is somewhat inevitable he’s going to pick up injuries or suspensions.

With Remy’s injury record also patchy, Mourinho has three forwards who are more than acquainted with the treatment table, but he also has three forwards he can juggle and even field two of the three at the same time.

Remy deserves more starts at Chelsea, and he has to remain as the first backup to Costa, but as Sam Tighe reminded us on Tuesday, Falcao and Costa played together at Atletico during the 2012/13 season—the Colombian’s last truly prolific campaign.

With Costa playing wider and drawing defenders to him thanks to his brute strength, his pace and his ability to be the irritating centre of opponents’ attention, Falcao was able to exploit some added space and scored 34 goals in all competitions that campaign.

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Providing that Costa is willing to perform a similar role—and it should be remembered that he is an excellent team player—then it would be possible to imagine Chelsea switching to this approach in the final 20-30 minutes of matches as they try to hunt a goal. Eden Hazard would also be heavily involved, with Cesc Fabregas and Oscar around to ensure that the Blues were attacking from all angles.

Similarly, Remy’s pace means he could also perform Costa’s role were the Spain international unavailable. Falcao would take up a role in the middle and look to make the most of any chances that would surely be created.

But the key to all this is that it all remains as a Plan B for Mourinho and Chelsea, for whom striking options were limited on occasion in recent seasons. This was most notable in goalless draws at Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium in 2013 and then 2015, when Andre Schurrle and Hazard respectively played as false nines.

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In Falcao, Mourinho now has a true No. 9 who has been displaying some false form, but there is every reason to believe he is an upgrade on last season’s Drogba if he is used both sparingly and correctly.

That means getting as many players close to him as possible, removing the isolation factor he sometimes experienced at Manchester United and giving him the opportunity to become something of a super-sub.

Such is their quality that Chelsea often win games long before the end, but keeping Falcao in reserve for whenever they need a goal isn’t a bad option, and it's one that they might just find can get the best out of their new arrival.

All stats via Soccerbase