FanPost

How Costa Scores

By the highly scientific methodology of "watching the video posted on the front page of this site", the sources of our new man's goals last season were the following:

Set Piece 4

Penalty 6

Cross 8

Through Ball 10

Self-Created 6

Short Pass 3

That's quite a few penalties, so really only 30 goals last season (still not unimpressive). A lot of those goals came from through balls against high lines, and I would question how likely those situations are to occur for us; but then I would expect teams to approach Atletico the same way they approach Chelsea, given our similar strengths. Not many came from intricate passing play around the box, but that's as much a consequence of Atleti's style as anything. That "self-made" number looks really good, compared to what the likes of OPTA put out for top strikers, but I don't know how my assessment differs from theirs; I suspect I'm more generous in including things like the 30-yard lob and the overhead kick. The shot was taken directly from a pass, but theres no way you would expect the striker to turn that possession into a goal routinely.

What does this mean for Chelsea? I'm not entirely sure. While Costa is a powerful spearhead who fits a Mourinesque counter-attacking stlye, I'm not sure he's the man to break down the bus or link with our attacking midfielders. On the other hand, with Fabregas coming in we should see a much more reliable source of excellent through balls, and the signings make sense together. And as I've said for some time, we really could stand to cross more often, an ofensively capable fullback has to be a priority this summer.

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any sort of approval process. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions held by the editors of this site.

In This FanPost

Teams