Didier Drogba and Loic Remy were both on the scoresheet for Chelsea as they beat Tottenham 3-0 on Wednesday night. Adam Bate was at Stamford Bridge to see the Premier League leaders show that Diego Costa’s absence need not mean trouble for Jose Mourinho’s side…
Thursday 4 December 2014 09:30, UK
The defining moment in Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge came when Eden Hazard played a quick one-two with Didier Drogba to open the scoring. But perhaps the key to Chelsea’s successful season was revealed in Jose Mourinho’s post-match press conference.
Asked about Nemanja Matic’s suspension that will see the as yet ever-present midfielder miss the next game against Newcastle, Mourinho’s interjection was swift. “No problem,” he replied. “Did you remember Diego Costa today? I didn’t.”
Much has been made of Costa’s impact this season and understandably so after scoring 11 goals in 11 Premier League games. His interaction with Cesc Fabregas has certainly highlighted Chelsea’s savvy transfer dealing in the summer.
But more than Mourinho’s tactical nous or his market manoeuvrings there’s his man-management. “We need (Costa) but our mentality is the right mentality,” he told the assembled press. “We don’t cry over it. We give confidence to others and the others respond in the right way.”
Against Spurs, the man with the response was Drogba. While Fernando Torres might have been the sort of character who needed the unquestioning trust that comes with being the main man, Drogba has embraced his status as bit-part player. Just as Mourinho knew he would.
“I knew from a mental point of view he would adapt very well to this role,” said the Chelsea boss. “Not selfish, not vain. A humble guy who plays for the team; fights for the team. When he's on the bench and he comes on to play the last few minutes because we need to hold the ball, because the team needs somebody to defend set-pieces, he does that with the same enthusiasm and spirit as when he starts a game against Tottenham Hotspur.”
Not all of Drogba’s hold-up play was slick in the early stages, but he remains a muscular presence and knows how to test defenders. Even as Spurs started brightly, Federico Fazio and Jan Vertonghen never entirely convinced they would emerge from the ordeal blemish-free and so it proved midway through the first half.
Hazard, who else, used Drogba as a wall – the powerful striker having pinned Fazio – bouncing the ball off him, taking the return pass in his stride and blasting the ball past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at his near post. An assist for Drogba, something Costa has yet to manage in the Premier League.
“The first chance they created they scored,” said Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino. “The second chance is the second goal.” Lloris was complicit this time as he struck his kick low and straight to Hazard. He found Oscar and the Brazilian fed Drogba who shrugged off Vertonghen and timed his strike sweetly to score.
It’s at such moments that it’s easy to be convinced this is the Drogba of old. Only the inability to sustain such formidable forward play has changed. Hobbling off at half time, he cut a tired figure after the break and eventually left the field with a nod of the head as if to acknowledge it was the right decision. But by then the game had been won.
“He did very well,” said Mourinho. “Remy, the same.” The summer signing from Queens Park Rangers has had limited opportunities so far – he’s a different type of striker in a team that is, in Mourinho’s words, “made to play with Costa” – but after replacing Drogba he scored the goal of the night by outwitting Vertonghen before calmly slotting away the chance.
It marked an impressive relay job by the back-up duo that did plenty to allay fears that Chelsea’s hopes could be scuppered by an injury to their star striker. Between them, according to the Premier League tracking data, Drogba and Remy even ran more than two kilometres further than Costa has been doing over 90 minutes so far this season.
More importantly, they contributed one assist, two goals and three points. It’s a convincing message that Chelsea can thrive rather than survive without their key men – one reinforced by Mourinho when reserving praise for Kurt Zouma as he deputised for Gary Cahill in the second half.
It was already clear they had the strongest starting line-up in the Premier League. The concern for Manchester City and the rest is that there’s now a suspicion that even the stand-ins have been underestimated. No Costa? No problem.
