Long and possibly pointless post coming.

Okay, someone made a post yesterday wondering if Lescott would be able to muscle Costa about in the same way Skrtel and Dunne did to good effect recently and it got me to thinking how much Costa relies on his strength to bully the opposition. Costa is 6ft 2” around 85kg. He’s a big guy. Most of the CB’s I’ve looked at are a similar size and build if a bit lighter, around 6ft 2” 82kg.

Looking at the Liverpool game, Costa and Skrtel had a hard fought physical battle. Skrtel is slightly taller at 6ft 3” but a bit lighter at 81kg. He did reasonably well against Costa, Costa’s goal coming from a deflected cross into his path had little to do with physicality and more to do with Costa’s predatory instincts.

Costa was kept noticeably quiet against QPR, where it was also noted that Richard Dunne ‘did a job on him’. Richard Dunne is again 6ft 2” but intriguingly a bit stockier than Costa and quite a bit heavier than Skrtel at 88kg. It seems there could be an argument made that Costa played right into his hands if he was trying to outmuscle Richard Dunne.

Looking further back in the weeks where Costa really came to the fore bagging a brace and then a hat trick, it is interesting to see that in both these games, the CB’s were significantly smaller and lighter than Costa. I looked at the goals, and while most were from fluid play, great passing and finishing from Fabregas and Costa, there was a case in each game of Costa shrugging off the CB to power home a header.

Jordi Amat is 6ft 78Kg replaced by Fernandez, 6ft 2” 81kg in the game where Costa bagged a hat trick. Jagielka is also 6ft , 83kg up against Costa where he bags a brace.

In short, it seems kinda obvious. Big Striker does well against small Centre Backs from set piece situations. Stop the presses! 😆 And in truth I haven’t done much research on this, as there are a lot of other external factors. The quality of the CB’s, the fact that Costa scores plenty from open play etc. but I think it is worth noting especially when considering putting the armband on him that Costa’s physicality was a factor in each of the times he scored a big haul and could well be a factor again.

And for reference, West Broms CB paring is Lescott 6ft 2” 82kg, Dawson 6ft 2” 85kg. All height and weight I just googled so don’t shoot me if I’m wrong 😀

Just flicked back a few pages and read Bsloebadgers post about Costa vs fatter CB's which I thought was excellent and exactly the sort of thing that makes FFS the home of FFSers. (http://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/2014/11/19/kpi-analysis-defenders-last-four-gameweeks/?hc_page=7#hc_comment_8853540).

To build on that priceless and mathematically-apt piece of analysis it I decided to look at how heavy around the waist CB's are in games coming up after WBA as well. Also, for any yanks out there be reminded that your system of measurement is ridiculous, and I've used meters purposefully to confuse you 😀

WBA:
Lescott 1.89m 82kg
Dawson 1.88m 85kg

SUN:
O'Shea 1.91m 75kg
Brown 1.85m 77kg

TOT:
Kaboul: 1.90m 87kg
Vertonghen 1.89m 79kg
Fazio 1.90m 90kg

NEW:
Coloccini 1.84m 84kg
Taylor: 1.86m 91kg
Williamson 1.94m 94kg

HUL:
Dawson 1.89m 79kg
Davies 1.88m 76kg
Chester : 1.77m 75kg

Looking at those numbers, I'd say Sunderland and Hull's nutritionist has done the best job of keeping his clients slim and ready to be pushed around by Costa. That being the case, hopefully he gets that 5th YC vs WBA 😉

Manchester City’s David Silva hopeful of being fit for Bayern Munich

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/19/davod-silva-manchester-city-bayern-munich-champions-league?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Players from countries which will take a part in African Cup of Nations (17th January-8th February).

Algeria: Nabil Bentaleb, Riyad Mahrez

Cameroon: Samuel Eto'o, Alex Song

DR Congo: Youssuf Mulumbu

Ghana: Christian Atsu, Jeffrey Schlupp

Ivory Coast: Wilfried Bony, Guy Demel, Didier Drogba, Arouna Kone, Yannick Sagbo, Cheick Tiote, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Lacina Traore

Mali: Modibo Maiga

Senegal: Papiss Cisse, Mohamed Diame, Mame Biram Diouf, Cheikhou Kouyate, Sadio Mane, Diafra Sakho, Armand Traore