Player Focus: Costa Rediscovering his Best Form Under Hiddink
Jose Mourinho’s sacking was met with widespread criticism by the Chelsea faithful, but one can’t deny the results have improved upon the Portuguese manager’s departure. A 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday means the Blues are unbeaten in the 10 games interim manager Guus Hiddink has overseen. Though only four of those were wins - two of which came in the FA Cup - the experienced Dutchman has at least stopped the rot.
The defending champions are now seven points clear of the relegation zone and while they were in no immediate danger of dropping into the Championship given the lacklustre performances of those below them, it was understandably a concerning position for the fans. Here was a Chelsea side that had strolled to the Premier League title, yet were mired in the bottom half of the table, struggling to string any wins together despite the obvious talent in the squad.
Yet, under Hiddink, a number of underperformers have risen from the ashes. Cesc Fabregas looks back to his string-pulling self having endured a miserable 2015, while Oscar has again re-established himself as a first team regular following a number of notable performances with the Dutchman at the Stamford Bridge helm.
However, the biggest turnaround in form comes courtesy of Diego Costa. The Spain international struggled for consistency under Mourinho, with the striker returning to pre-season overweight and failing to shift the excess pounds. The relationship between player and then-manager was strained enough over the months leading up to Mourinho’s sacking, with the overly-publicised ‘bibgate’ perhaps proving to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Under Mourinho, Costa began to leave his mark on games for all the wrong reasons, with the 27-year-old spending far more time riling the opposition than he did in front of goal. Three league goals in 14 appearances was a disappointing return for the former Atletico Madrid star, who netted 20 times in his debut Premier League campaign. As one might expect, his WhoScored rating under Mourinho was a lowly 6.67. With Hiddink at the helm, however, that figure has risen significantly to 7.50. Six goals in seven appearances have unsurprisingly contributed to that.
Rather, however, than simply upping his game for his new manager, Costa is abiding to the demands of Hiddink. With Mourinho at the helm, he would often pull to the flanks rather than remain central to maximise his striking talent. While the chances were still created, there was no striker in the opposition penalty area to put the goalscoring opportunities away. Now, though, Costa is playing the role of lead striker with ruthless efficiency once more.
His number of shots per game has increased significantly under Hiddink (3.7 from 1.9). Furthermore, in the time following Hiddink’s second coming, no player has scored more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities than Costa (5), while his conversion rate has also more than doubled (from 11.1% to 23.1%), despite the rise in the number of shots he is having.
To add to that, Costa is averaging more successful dribbles per game under Hiddink (1.7) than he managed prior to the Dutchman’s return to Stamford Bridge (1.1). With the striker adhering to the positional demands of the manager, he’s in a familiar position of the pitch to run at the opposition defence, rather than out wide where he was either forced out of play or unable to get the better of opposing full-backs, who knew how to deny a striker of his stature.
While he may be linking up with his attacking teammates less, highlighted in that his key passes per game (1 to 0.7) and successful final third passes (10.6 to 8.3) have both dropped now under Hiddink, the club is clearly benefitting from the striker's return to his previous type. Evidently, the Dutchman has demanded Costa play the role of out-and-out striker rather than look to drop deeper and try to force matters. While it’s a style he can play, goals are the order of the day for Chelsea at present as they look to haul themselves up the Premier League table.
With those behind him providing the attacking verve from wide positions, it’s vital they have a frontman more than capable of tucking away the chances presented to him in the 18-yard box, which Costa is again beginning to do. While he struggled in the first half of the campaign having disobeyed the order of his former manager, the Spain international has begun to rediscover the goalscoring form that fired Chelsea to the Premier League title last term.
Diego Costa has been in stunning form under Guus Hiddink, netting six of his nine league goals under the stewardship of the Dutchman. Against a Newcastle side that struggles to deny the opposition on Saturday evening, I'd be looking to buy shares in Costa in the Buabook match market at south of 0.50.
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