Should Chelsea Consider Dropping Striker Diego Costa?
If Chelsea are going to turn their season around, Jose Mourinho needs to count on a few things—his ability as a manager and coach for starters.
Mourinho hasn't exactly showered himself in glory this season, and that needs to change. The Chelsea boss must show more conviction with his selections, adapting his tactics to suit his team more against opponents who have capitalised on the predictable aspects of their set-up.
Then come the players, the key ones—those who create the magic.
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Eden Hazard is probably at the top of that list, but Diego Costa runs him a close second.
It's why Mourinho shouldn't be turning his back on the Spanish international anytime soon. There isn't a better goalscorer at Stamford Bridge than Costa right now. Indeed, there isn't a better striker, either.
Goalscoring and being a frontman are two different traits completely. In one sense, they go hand in hand, yet they shouldn't be considered as one and the same.
In terms of being a predator, Sergio Aguero is superior to Costa. But as a striker? Not a chance.
Costa can be many things for Chelsea: a battering ram, the pantomime villain, the finisher. He comes as the complete package, and Chelsea will win more games this season with him than without. We saw last term just how much the Blues struggled when he was sidelined through injury or suspension.
Of course, the claim now is that those struggles have continued with him featuring more regularly in 2015/16.
That may be so, but there are plenty more factors contributing to Costa's poor form than the player himself. Firstly, the entire Chelsea team is struggling for form right now. There's a lack of confidence in Mourinho's squad which has sapped any creativity.
That's meant a less potent goal threat and Costa being starved of the sort of service that he relished last term.
The fact that he's allowed his focus to be shifted elsewhere—during his many playground scraps with defenders, for example—has acted to amplify the situation.
We're talking more about those flashes of anger than we are Costa's prowess these days. It's Mourinho's duty to change that and ensure that his star man gets back to what he does best.
It's interesting that this sort of discussion comes at a time when Didier Drogba's autobiography has made headlines in the national press.
Serialised on MailOnline this week, Drogba's book, Commitment, has reminded us of how close he came to leaving Chelsea just two seasons after joining the club from Marseille.
Much like Costa now, Drogba was Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of football fans and the media. The Ivorian was being criticised for a perceived intent on diving and his general gamesmanship. He was far from becoming the statesman we know today or even the player who would win Chelsea the UEFA Champions League in 2012.
It took a text message from Frank Lampard to convince Drogba to remain at Stamford Bridge.
"The guy who single-handedly convinced me to stay was Frank Lampard," Drogba reveals, adding that Chelsea's record goalscorer had a simple request in his message.
"Hi DD, I hope that you're staying, because we have to win the league together, and we have to win the Champions League together!" read Lampard's text.
Drogba listened and Chelsea would eventually go on to realise Lampard's ambitions with more domestic success before he bookended his Chelsea career with that Champions League victory in Munich.
Costa seems to be at a similar crossroads in his Chelsea career now.
He remains a firm favourite at Stamford Bridge, although he does have the ability to divide opinion in the same way Drogba did. While there are some who will adore Costa for simply wearing Chelsea's famous royal blue, others are growing frustrated with his lack of form and the darker side of his game.
Above all else, Chelsea fans want to see him scoring goals, and right now he's not doing it.
Back in 2006, Drogba wasn't doing that, either.
Chelsea's £24 million investment had yielded just 33 goals over those two seasons. As respectable as that tally may have been, it didn't hint at the Drogba Mourinho thought he was signing.
Whether it was his heart-to-heart with Lampard or other factors, something clicked in Drogba.
In 2006/07, he became Europe's deadliest striker. He scored 36 goals that season, including 20 in the Premier League. He was phenomenal as Chelsea went on to lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley, making history as the first club to do so.
It became the making of Drogba, transforming him into the player Chelsea fans would later label as their greatest.
The Ivorian's time has long since passed in west London, and it's Costa who is the heir apparent to take his throne and live up to the expectation.
He showed last season that he has the ability to do it, but just like Drogba, he needs the support of the manager and club to help him achieve it.
Drogba's form in those first two seasons was about a player adapting to English football and understanding the culture that drives it. Once he did, he became a legend.
After 18 months, Costa must show that same intent. If he does, Chelsea and English football will gain plenty.
Now's not the time for Mourinho to be dropping Costa. Now's the time to unleash him.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.
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