Chelsea fell to a tough defeat tonight as 10 Chelsea players gave their all while striker Diego Costa continued his own personal crusade against opposing defenders.
In a coruscating first half from Chelsea`s point of view we saw a Willian or a Hazard or a Pedro break up either touchline and put in what should have been killer balls only to find no Costa running to ‘Striker`s Position A` or ‘Position B` at the near or far post.
Costa himself confessed he was out of shape when he reported for the start of the season, but instead of fighting to gain back the yard or so of speed he has clearly lost, Costa is just, well, fighting.
His lack of conditioning has already led to more hamstring issues; and then there was the tussle where he broke ribs and had to go to hospital.
Who knows the extent to which all these bangs and scrapes have contributed to a player who we wish was even a shadow of his former self.
Sadly, whatever chance there was of that, whatever little energy Costa may have to burn, is being burned in pursuit of personal vendetta`s against whoever is this week`s alpha dog among the opposing defence.
As we sit watching our beloved team play, more often than not in the company of our young children, do we really want to see the kind of display that Costa put on in the Arsenal game as he bitch-slapped Koscielny for some sleight or other and then proceeded to niggle young Gabriel until the youngster cracked and was red-carded?
Is that really our strategy for winning games?
Or would we prefer our cutting edge to look like, for example, a Sergio Aguerro? So single-mindedly focused on putting the ball in the net that he doesn’t even seem to acknowledge the existence of opposing defenders?
Yes we all support Chelsea in good times and bad.
But we can’t expect to support people – whoever they are – who are actively pursuing their very own personal agenda at the expense of the team.
You can love or hate José Mourinho but whatever he does, however wrongheaded it may appear, he does it for team success, not to settle personal scores.
After Wednesday`s terrific spirit against Kiev, everything was set fair for our continued comeback today at the Britannia.
Allelujah: Mourinho finally even seemed over his indulgence of Fabregas and, with only a slight wobble for the first five minutes, Chelsea looked like champions for the first half.
We dominated possession, Hazard looking lethal as the extra man, Willian the usual handful, Pedro sniping, Baba pushing forward, Terry majestic.
Without the dead zone that Fabregas has become, Chelsea pinged the ball about, and showed great movement back and forth, one for all and all for one.
Well, nearly all.
Even allowing for the home fans over-reaction to all things Costa, the Brazilian born Spaniard`s eyes were always firmly fixed either on any available niggle or sleight he could perpetrate against his opposite number or anything that might be coming at him.
Nobody – nobody! – can play a great game with that attitude, with that lack of focus on the real job at hand – a job, by the way, that Costa`s teammates were busting a gut to do brilliantly.
Upshot? Zero cutting edge.
It has come to the point that Chelsea absolutely need an unsung player to pop up and score or a free kick for Willian or else we have no chance of scoring.
There was one brief flash toward the end of the first half when Costa did suddenly, briefly mimic the Costa of old with a weaving run to the left edge of the six yard box.
Needless to say the final product was all whimper and no bang where early last season the net would have bulged 9 times out of 10.
Unless Mr Abramovich is in a bad mood and just wants to punish someone for the sake of punishment, José Mourinho won’t be fired.
And in the January transfer window he will be allowed to bring in the players he wanted to bring in this summer past.
With one slight alteration: first in the list will be a top striker to occupy the empty space once filled by Diego Costa.
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