Diego Costa Must Be Sorted Out!

AT A time when confidence is so fragile, when the world seems to be against you, when the debate is still raging about whether your troop have turned the corner, the last thing a general needs is an enemy within, or in the case of Diego Costa a churlish petulant soldier.

Costa had a little skirmish with his manager in the 4-0 bashing of Maccabi in Israel. Mou came out to douse the tension in his post-match by claiming he and the striker had embraced and kissed over the spat.

But fastforward to Sunday, and Costa was consigned to the sub bench by the manager. Of course, Mou was within his rights to select his team and any professional player would gracefully accept the manager’s choice irrespective of his personal feelings. There is always plenty of room behind the scene to clear air on matters.

Costa sat bemused on the bench. But I could understand Mou’s decision, the unabashed pragmatist went safety first at the Lane and it worked.

Of course, Costa didn’t see this or simply failed to recognize his manager’s tactics. And when the striker was asked to warm up with about 15 minutes left, the Brazil-born Spanish international would be excused to assume his time to play was imminent.

But astute tacticians will readily tell you that sending Costa to warm up that late in a match that hung on a knife edge was another psychological hand Mou played on his opposite number Mauricio Pochetino.

The Blues forward was eventually asked to go back to the bench at the dearth and that must have irked him on end so much that he threw his bib at the manager, albeit while pretending to be looking in the opposite direction.

Alright it’s always a good sign when players are not happy if they are not playing. But hello, do you have to publicly undermine your boss by throwing your bib at him, and just a couple of days after another spat with the same boss? Does Costa want out of the Blues or who does he think he is?

To his credit, Mou did everything to keep a lid on it post-match when he said he had no issue with the striker. “If he (Costa) watched the game with some attention from the bench he will know what is needed from him,” was Mou’s court response to the query about his hitman’s petulant behaviour.

I’m sure we’ve not heard the last of this. Costa certainly needs to be sorted, and I’d like to think Mou is more than capable of doing that, sure!