Should Mourinho play both Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao together up front next season?

Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa have re-united at Chelsea after their time together at Atletico Madrid

In a summer where headlines have been dominated by the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Raheem Sterling, the English champions Chelsea have conducted some oddly fuss-free transfer business. Rather ironic, considering they have signed Radamel Falcao.

For the season, at the very least.

Falcao arrives with an impressive CV, but thoroughly unimpressive form over the past 18 months. He is reunited at the top of the Chelsea attack with Diego Costa, a man who he played alongside, almost literally, at Atletico Madrid – two maverick centre forwards with big personalities and an even larger appetite for goals. The question is: Can they play together?

The overwhelming feeling to that question is, simply, no. There is much that can go wrong and any potential upside isn’t something Chelsea can’t achieve themselves anyway.

One of the several philosophies in squad building is to have two top drawer players for each position. Expecting to practice such a policy to the letter, however, is unrealistic but there is no denying Chelsea have acquired a talented forward in Radamel Falcao. While some eyebrows may have been raised at this news, given the player’s disappointing 2014/15 campaign at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho had the following to say:

“If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it. It hurts me people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at United.”

Injury and eventual dip in form

Radamel Falcao’s time at Manchester United was a largely forgettable one

Falcao endured a tough time at Manchester United, certainly, by his own high standards. After failing to recover from a serious knee injury in time for the World Cup, he joined Manchester United on loan in the summer of 2014, with the Red Devils seeking that extra attacking edge to fire them back into the Champions League.

Falcao, who had displayed superb form over the past several years, then hit a wall. Colombia performed admirably without him at the World Cup while he struggled with injury and poor form at Old Trafford, finishing the season with 4 goals in 29 appearances – at slightly worse than a goal every seven games.

At Atletico a few years prior, however, he was unstoppable. He had coincided with ‘new’ team mate Diego Costa in the Spanish capital and quickly forged a reputation as one of Europe’s deadliest hitmen.

Falcao’s anticipation, strength and balance allowed him, true to his nickname, to pounce on errors and openings like a tiger on helpless prey. El Tigre could score from all kinds of situations, and his status as a multi-faceted striker meant a lot of the team’s attacking endeavours were centred around him.

Falcao was often the lone striker of choice in the ‘big’ games, playing up front by himself with a packed midfield behind him, such as the 2012 Super Cup (where he bagged a hat trick) and the 2012 Europa League Final (where he scored two goals; the top scorer of the tournament, in fact).

On other occasions, he was joined up front by Diego Costa, playing off Falcao rather than alongside, as they aggressively punched through the opposing defence in search of goals.

However, this is 2015, and a few thousand miles away from Madrid, and at this point it seems unwise to tamper with a winning formula. Costa appears to enjoy playing the role of the main man, and shoehorning an out-of-form Falcao alongside him in the line-up would simply disrupt a delicate team balance.

At best, Falcao should hope to play instead of Costa, rather than alongside him, should the latter find himself sidelined for some reason.

Why rock the boat

While Falcao had difficulty finiding form at United Costa hit the ground running at Chelsea

Is the policy itself a sustainable one, though? Certainly, if trailing in a game or even over a few games against specific opponents, Chelsea can find utility in a pairing of Costa and Falcao, but it appears extremely unlikely in the longer term - say over the entire season.

Chelsea, for all their strengths, do not possess enormous depth in the striking department – certainly not enough to play with two strikers on a regular basis. A good rule to follow in case of a two striker system is to maintain four dependable forwards in the squad to compensate for injury and/or loss of form at any point in the season.

Both Falcao and Costa don’t exactly have stellar fitness records, and given that it is unlikely, Patrick Bamford will be thrown a first team lifeline anytime soon, one suspects Mourinho is content to let things remain the way they are.

Successful implementation of a dual striker formation would require acquisition of at least another striker, something that is entirely unnecessary at this point in time. It appears likely that Costa, Falcao and Loic Remy will be the triumvirate at the apex of the Chelsea train heading into the new season, barring any surprises.

One final point is that, to put it rather bluntly, Jose Mourinho simply won’t change. He largely prefers one multi talented striker to lead the line, and not two. Didier Drogba was the main man first time round at Chelsea, and to some extent, Diego Milito fulfilled this criteria at Inter Milan. Diego Costa has claimed the throne this time and is unlikely to be deposed in a hurry.

Being adventurous in a tense situation isn’t Mourinho’s usual style and for a man who is all about control, an extra striker would entail sacrificing a member of the midfield to boost numbers upfront.

Mourinho the man to revive Falcao

Mourinho doesn’t like dropping points to anyone, and he certainly wouldn’t cede ownership of the most important third of the field for what he may or may not achieve with a streak of boldness. Some might call it stupidity.

So Radamel Falcao arrives in London, having achieved what several players could only hope to achieve, to join a team with whom he could achieve even more. Scoring 70 goals in 91 appearances for Atletico is certainly a commendable feat and while he has slowed down considerably since 2013, there is no reason why he cannot pick up the pieces and start again, especially as Mourinho has a gift for making the most of the players at his disposal.

Eden Hazard and Costa will be expected to shoulder much of the creative and goal scoring burden this time, leaving Falcao in the slightly unfamiliar position of ‘alternative’, but should Chelsea have to call upon him sometime, they will have a very useful player stepping up to take centre stage.