Jose
Mourinho says he is “happy” with the impact made so far by new signing
Radamel Falcao.
The 29-year-old completed a season-long loan move to Chelsea from Monaco
last month and made his first appearance for the club as a second-half
substitute in their pre-season penalty shoot-out victory over Barcelona in
the International Champions Cup last Wednesday.
Falcao spent a largely unsuccessful spell on loan at Manchester United last
season, where he managed to score just four goals in 29 appearances, failing
to earn himself a permanent deal at Old Trafford.
Ahead of his second season in England, the former Atletico Madrid striker
was given an extended summer break by Mourinho to fully recover from his
exploits with Colombia at the Copa America.
He returned to score a penalty in the 4-2 shoot-out win over the European
Champions in Washington and Mourinho said he is satisfied with the effort of
his new recruit.
“I’m very happy with his first week. I like him a lot as a player" Mourinho
said. "The team play very well with a striker of his quality. He’s not just
a guy that can score a goal, he can also contribute a lot to the quality of
the game.
“I was not expecting him to come here, play 20 minutes against Barcelona and
score three goals.
“I was waiting for his determination to work, to help the team and to
understand the way we play football. For the moment we are happy.”
Mourinho also hinted he could change his side’s formation this season to
accommodate an extra forward, having regularly deployed Diego Costa as a
lone striker.
“In the last 20 minutes against Barcelona we played with Loic Remy and
Falcao,” Mourinho added.
“They did very well not just to bring the team forward but also with one
less player in midfield they closed the spaces in front of the midfield
line. We can play with two.
“We were losing against Barcelona and I took Eden Hazard off because I was
not worried about the result otherwise he would have played the whole game.
“Falcao came on and suddenly the team was direct and objective. They closed
the lines and played in the opposition half. Falcao held the ball up very
well.”
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