---
title: "Mourinho needs Costa more than Costa needs him says Merson"
canonical: "https://readchelsea.com/2015/12/02/mourinho-needs-costa-more-than-costa-needs-him-says-merson/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ste Hoare"
section: "Chelsea News"
published: "2015-12-02T13:43:04Z"
modified: "2015-12-02T16:38:14Z"
---

# Mourinho needs Costa more than Costa needs him says Merson

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson thinks that Jose Mourinho will regret dropping striker Diego Costa.

In his column on [Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/15205/10085806/jose-mourinho-may-regret-dropping-chelsea-striker-diego-costa-says-paul-merson), Merson said:

> Mourinho needs Costa more than Costa needs Mourinho, especially with no other strikers scoring goals at the club right now.

Costa was dropped to the substitute’s bench for the 0-0 game at Tottenham and he showed his apparent anger and frustration at the decision by taking off his bib and throwing it at his manager.

Mourinho tried to downplay the event, but Merson thinks that there is obviously a tension between the manager and the Spanish forward.

> You don’t throw your bib at somebody if you like them and there’s clearly a problem there.

![Ian Walton/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readchelsea.com/readchelsea/2015/12/4986265841.jpg)

The former Arsenal and Aston Villa midfielder thinks that Mourinho made a mistake in dropping Costa after his goal against Norwich and thinks that Chelsea are easier to play against without the forward, even though he hasn’t been in good form.

> Costa’s goal against Norwich was a huge one and Mourinho’s left himself in a tough situation by dropping him after that. Don’t get me wrong, Costa hasn’t been great and they did well at Tottenham without him, but you can’t play like that all season, teams will find a way to stop them.

Chelsea host Bournemouth on Saturday evening in a must-win game and Merson believes that Mourinho will put his differences aside and recall the 27-year-old to his starting line-up.

> Bournemouth is a nice game to bring him back for and certainly not the sort of game which you’d go into without a big striker.