Scott Brant, one of Chelsea FanCast’s listeners based in the USA ponders whether Antonio Conte can make Diego Costa a Chelsea Legend, after all he bears a remarkable similarity in behaviour and goal threat to Didier Drogba…
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In fairness, I would have bet my house, and my parents house that the ornery one couldn’t go 8 matches without a yellow card. And to expect him to go another 5 matches without incident is absurd. For crying out loud there was a scrum in the Manchester City match, and he still behaved. Alter boy Diego is far better for the team, but the media and opposing teams seem to prefer ‘Diego the Villain’ though. He seems to be as productive regardless of which he is in a match. Has Conte reeled Diego Costa in a little and taught him restraint or is this an entirely new Diego Costa we’re seeing?
Years ago when Chelsea legend Didier Drogba first arrived at the Bridge, he was accused of diving and other frowned upon behavior on the football pitch. Very
Diego Costa’s fire, seemingly fueled by the fury of a thousand suns, has been extinguished. It appears that Antonio Conte has cooled the fiery forward while not taking anything away from his productivity. The rest of the season will answer if this is merely a blip on Costa’s alter boy radar or if Conte did what Mourinho and Simeone couldn’t. The conclusion that Antonio Conte is doing the unthinkable is drawn from the massive changes we have seen all over the pitch, not just Costa – but the whole squad. He has players like Moses and Pedro in such great form that Willian can’t get many minutes on the pitch at the moment.
And maybe, just maybe, Antonio Conte can turn Diego into Didier – a Chelsea Legend.
By Scott Brant @TheBrant17