José Mourinho said Diego Costa must “anticipate things and read the game faster” to return to the goalscoring form that propelled Chelsea’s challenge last season but insisted a line has been drawn under his midweek spat with the striker.
Frustration had boiled over in stoppage time at the end of the first half in the Sammy Ofer Stadium in midweek when Costa, with a tap-in on offer, failed to react to an Eden Hazard pass.
Mourinho made his disappointment clear on the touchline, with his assistant Rui Faria attempting to calm down the manager, only for Costa to respond in kind as the players departed the pitch.
Brushed off
The Spain international brushed off attempts by Oscar and John Terry to intervene.
Mourinho has since attempted to make clear he had reconciled with the forward at half-time, though the underlying issues behind the player’s sluggish displays – Costa has scored only seven goals in 29 club appearances stretching back to mid-January – remain a concern.
“In the game I told him, from a distance, that I was not happy with the movement he did,” Mourinho said. “He told me a few ‘nice words’ from where he was. Nothing happened at half-time.
“Everything is okay, no problem. But he’s not reading the game properly in these actions. That was my opinion. As a striker he must read. You have to play not only when you have the ball but when others have the ball. You have to anticipate things and read the game faster. Everything is an accumulation [of confidence]. You’re not on fire again just because you’ve scored a winning goal against Norwich. It’s all a process.”
Costa, who is over the hamstring issues that dogged him last season, will continue to lead the line at Tottenham because Radamel Falcao is injured. Loic Remy’s wife is due to give birth and he could be withdrawn late from the squad. Terry, who suffered an ankle injury in midweek, will be assessed before a decision is taken on whether he participates but, even so, Mourinho was dismissive of Didier Drogba’s comments in midweek that Chelsea lack leaders, suggesting the assessment had been made more “to sell books”.
Spurs will test the theory that Chelsea, 15th in the table but victors over Norwich and Maccabi Tel Aviv, have turned a corner. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are unbeaten in 13 Premier League games, though Mourinho suggested they had been permitted to progress under no pressure, speaking almost enviously of the expectations placed on Tottenham.
‘Good conditions’
“They are a better team than last year but nobody speaks about them as title contenders,” he said. “They lose a couple of matches and nothing happens. They are in the Europa League, in the group phase, and no one cares about that at this stage. They go smoothly, step by step, building a team, signing new players, giving conditions for the young players to develop. When the club is powerful to decide they don’t sell, and to invest and bring in others, they have good conditions and no pressure to do magnificent work. I imagine, with the stability they are showing, sooner or later – I think sooner – they will be winning trophies or in a Champions League position.
“They need a great manager, which they have. And good players, which they have. And the conditions too. When I was in a team whose objectives were not to be relegated, in December we were third and it was fantastic. You could go into every match after that knowing you can lose. You can bring in young players even if they’re not ready. You play the top teams and if you win you’re a hero. If not, it’s something very natural. I enjoyed it.” Guardian Service
