Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi are the striking pair Chelsea needs
By Eric McCoy
Michy Batshuayi, Diego Costa and Antonio Conte have all had success with two-striker formations. Together at Chelsea FC, they can provide the offensive power Chelsea has been lacking.
In the classic movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris concocted an elaborate set-up with a mannequin to convince his parents he truly was a very sick boy asleep at home. He then spent his day entertaining himself and Chicago, antagonizing his principal in the process.
For much of last season, Chelsea’s 4-2-3-1 formation became a rote exercise in attacking predictability. The Blues’ tactical rigidity led to the Blues’ lone striker becoming an isolated figure. Opposing center backs had nothing to focus their attention on inside their own 18-yard box aside from that singular Chelsea center forward.
The lack of an attacking midfielder making darting runs into the opposition’s penalty area, as France’s Antoine Griezmann did with aplomb throughout most of Euro 2016, compounded the problem. This was Eden Hazard’s signature in 2014/15, but he was a non-factor for most of last season.
Ferris had the mannequin to distract his parents. Diego Costa had no one to distract defenders and open up the requisite space. He was left with nothing more than his angry scowl to terrorize the opposition, which, admittedly, is pretty terrifying.
Costa has still been successful overall at Chelsea. He has scored 37 goals in all competitions for Chelsea in his first two seasons. Contrast that, though, with the 36 goals he scored during Atletico Madrid’s La Liga winning, Champions League runner-up, 2013/14 season alone.
The mere mention of a La Liga striker’s goal statistics is enough to cause some to start spastically blurting out Stoke-on-Trent’s Tuesday evening weather forecast. But 36 goals should make even the most die-hard English football purist raise an eyebrow.
Alongside costa on Atletico Madrid’s roster that season was the diminutive yet dangerous Spanish striker David Villa. Villa troubled opposing defenses with 15 goals of his own that campaign.
Chelsea’s recent signing, Michy Batshuayi, does not yet possess Villa’s notoriety or ability. He is only 22 years old, and had not been tested at the top levels of football beyond Euro 2016. He would, however, have to deliberately conspire to be less productive than the dynamically inept striking duo of Radamel Falcao and Alexandre Pato that Chelsea employed for reasons still unknown last season.
Some managers may have actually preferred the mannequin from Ferris’ bedroom to that particular tandem.
Batshuayi comes to Chelsea from Marseille, where he netted a goal every 173 minutes during his former club’s 2015-16 Ligue 1 season. The Blues purchasing a promising striker from Marseille should give Chelsea supporters a very pleasant case of déjà vu.
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Chelsea supporters should also be smiling about the fact that Batshuayi enjoyed his time playing in a two-striker system at Marseille. Sunderland’s Steven Fletcher joined the French club on loan half way through last season, and Batshuayi immediately found the back of the net in their first start together.
Batshuayi later said this about their partnership:
"When he is there, knowing that he is strong in challenges, especially in the air, he monopolizes the other defenders. Two attackers against four opponents is better. – Mirror"
Throughout his coaching career, new Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has deployed two attacking forwards against opposing back lines. His Juventus teams played with two strikers, as did the Italian team he just managed at Euro 2016. In Batshuayi and Costa, he has two players who have both previously thrived in two striker systems.
Michy Batshuayi is still obviously a raw talent, and the Premier League is a much more difficult league to score goals in than Ligue 1. It’s always an unknown just how a young player will adapt to a newer, tougher league. Batshuayi still needs someone to distract police from his illegally parked Lamborghini, but Costa should help immensely with distratcting Premier League defenders.
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Batshuayi can help Costa by accclimating quickly to his new surroundings, and give Chelsea’s attack a second forward presence that occupies defender’s attentions. A lot can be accomplished while your adversaries are looking the other way.