On last Monday’s show, unsurprisingly much discussion focused on Diego Costa. On the one hand we love his belligerent attitude and knack for scoring frequent and important goals – like the winner against West Ham with time running out. On the other hand he has an equal knack for picking up yellow cards and courting controversy for perceived misdemeanors (or crimes against humanity if you’re Sky Sports or opposition fan).
For me, the aggro is worth it. When he is on his game he is a handful for any team we play against. He is a wind up merchant first class who walks the line. A winner who pushes it as far as he can go. For others, such as Clayton on last Monday’s show, he is a liability – his bookings, suspensions, behaviour and ensuing bad publicity are a circus we can do without and that’s before we talk about the injuries he picks up.
Diego himself seems completely fed up with what he perceives as undue attention from both the media and opposition. Speaking to ESPN Brasil after the game, Costa said, ‘I am targeted here, by the referees, the people – if I do something, it’s totally different than if any other players do [it]. It needs to be seen, that people targeted me’. Having watched Sky Sports News after the game one would have to admit that he has a point, but what are the facts? Is Diego dirty and a filthy fouler?
The folks at oulala.com have revealed that Costa is by no means the worst offender of the Premier League strikers and certainly not public enemy No.1
During the calendar year of 2016 Costa is in fact 16th on the list of Premier League forwards in terms of fouls committed. The list is topped by Shane Long with 30 fouls compared to 20 by Costa. Interestingly, Andy Carroll who made it look like Azpi has literally knocked his block off in the game is third with 27 fouls committed. Andy Carroll dirty? Who knew?
Of course it is worth noting that Costa has only been sent off once in his entire Chelsea career.
It seems that, as many Chelsea supporters have long suspected, the club and Costa in particular have been unfairly singled out by a biased media at worst or a media desperate to over inflate the scope and angle of a story to satiate the appetite of salivating (or is that dribbling) non-Chelsea fans. Let’s face it, it’s more fun to hate Chelsea and build Costa up to be criminal-in-chief than to actually report honestly on the facts. Or as I always say: “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!”
Thanks to Russell Cane and oulala.com for the infogram
