Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has suggested that the club are struggling as they are missing Diego Costa‘s nasty streak.
Costa helped the Blues to win the Premier League title in two of his three seasons in London but is back training with Atletico Madrid ahead of officially rejoining the Spanish side in January.
Alvaro Morata has replaced Costa as Chelsea’s first-choice striker but Cascarino claimed that the former Real Madrid player is too “honest”, which was in evidence during the 3-0 defeat to Roma in the Champions League last night.
Cascarino told The Times: “Alvaro Morata is a big talent but I wonder if Chelsea are missing the nastiness of Diego Costa up front.
“Morata is such an honest player: [against Roma] he literally picked up Federico Fazio when the Roma defender fell to the floor.
“I can just imagine Costa shoving Fazio aside if he had been in the same position.
“Morata scores plenty of goals and is a fine all-round player but Costa was always on the edge; bullying people, fouling or being fouled.
“Perhaps Chelsea as a whole have become nicer to play against.
“I remember I would pick up opponents in the early part of my career but, by the end, I certainly didn’t.
“I learned that no centre back would do the same for me.”
Morata has scored seven goals in 14 games for Chelsea across all competitions since joining in the summer but the 25-year-old is certainly a very different type of player to Costa in terms of both playing style and personality.
Chelsea have made an inconsistent start to their defence of the Premier League title and are currently in fourth place, nine points adrift of leaders Manchester City, while they are in second place in their Champions League group, one point behind Roma.
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