3 hours ago, Richard P said:

No Kante for 4 months after operation. More game time for others to step up and show they can do a job. Will be interesting to see the main permutations.

Massive blow. But it does make you ask questions about our medical team. Why has it taken so long to decide an operation is required? Were they initially gambling on a low risk non-invasive solution in a bid to minimise his time out because of how important he is?

If they are confident a surgical procedure provides the right outcome happy days, but you would have thought that might have been the sensible option to go for right from the outset.

Bully's just overhauled the medical dept, sacked the doctor in charge - for good reason it seems.

Kante has been mishandled by them for nigh on 3 seasons now, and this is the end price the club must pay. Might get a few games out of him after the WC before he pulls his hammys again. Bye Bye Kante !

1 hour ago, azpi28 said:

it's not our money so i don't care if Chelsea keep on paying him 200k a week

rather have that over running a small risk that he might be great for another team

imagine another club getting another 3 years out of him, even if he only plays 15-20 games a season

Chelsea don't have unlimited funds and him getting more, means we'd have to cut somehing somwhere else.

29 minutes ago, True Blue23 said:

Chelsea don't have unlimited funds and him getting more, means we'd have to cut somehing somwhere else.

I’m not saying he should get more

 couldn’t he get a contract based on performances? A lower base salary with higher appearance fees so he gets paid for playing not for being injured 

Or he will get a certain salary when he plays 60% of the games and a certain salary when he only plays 40% of the games etc 

there are so many options 

Its all about how much worth you attribute to let’s say 20 games of a fit Kanté with the potential of him getting more games 

is it higher or lower than +/- 8 million pounds what his salary might cost us

if we replace kante we will at least have to pay 100k a week for his replacement I figure, so that will be around 5 million pounds a year in salary alone 

is the 3 million a year saved worth it for a replacement of which we realistically know he can’t even come close to 2021 CL kanté?

Edited October 18, 20223 yr by azpi28

10 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

He played.

He just wasn't very good at all under 2 of those managers and was a mixed bag for the other 2.

Conte was the only manager who experienced a world class Kante for a full season and that was the last season we were in a title race.

Kante has a bit of Pulisicitus where people (though not confined to his own countrymen) take his absolute best performances and see it as his general level regardless of how many poor or inconsistent games he has or how regularly unavailable he is.  Having great PR does wonders.

If you actually look at what Kante has given us over the full season over the last 4/5 years i don't think many would argue he's been close to world class for the majority of that time unfortunately.

Will rightly be allowed to go on a free, should have been moved on earlier and should be shipped in January if we can get a nominal fee.

Interesting take for a player that Tuchel said can give you something that no other player in the world can give you

But it kinda tell me that you don't understand what Kante really give you. 

As has been said many times, he's not a good fit as a midfielder for a side that is playing possession football. 

The last time he had a great season for us was under Conte, when we were a counter-attacking team, which suited him perfectly. It's also how Leicester were set up when they won their title.

I think he'll sign for PSG.

 

1 minute ago, Sexyfootball said:

As has been said many times, he's not a good fit as a midfielder for a side that is playing possession football. 

The last time he had a great season for us was under Conte, when we were a counter-attacking team, which suited him perfectly. It's also how Leicester were set up when they won their title.

I think he'll sign for PSG.

 

We won ucl playing tippy tappy with Kante winning 3 motm in a row. 

35 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

We won ucl playing tippy tappy with Kante winning 3 motm in a row. 

Kante started 7 of our 13 CL fixtures in 20/21, and was a sub in the other 6.  Jorginho started 12 of the 13, missing one game due to suspension.

Generally, Tuchel preferred Jorginho/Kovacic as his midfield pivot (for reasons already mentioned). Kovacic however was injured for 10 straight games in April/May, which resulted in the run of CL starts for Kante.

A moot point I suppose, as we would be lucky to have Kante start three halves in a row now, let alone three whole games ... 

Edited October 19, 20223 yr by Sexyfootball

Kante has been absolutely wonderful but I doubt  if he will ever be the same player again. Think this surgery is a good thing in a way in that it will be clear to everyone that he isn't going to be doing much this season. Real Madrid survived losing Ronaldo we can manage without Kante.

It's a shame, but i think he has to move on in the summer. He can't be relied on for more than a few months of a season any more, and we can't have an unbalanced midfield, assuming he'll be fit when he's not, so not strengthening.

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Interesting take for a player that Tuchel said can give you something that no other player in the world can give you

But it kinda tell me that you don't understand what Kante really give you. 

For all Tuchels strengths he had a massive blind spot regarding Kante.

Tommy Calling Kante a key player for us a few months ago terrified me, it was a ridiculous comment akin to the worst comments you see on here.  You simply can't be a key player if you can't reliably called on to actually play.

Perhaps if we'd brought in a world class midfielder instead of bringing in Saul/Zakaria on loan and pretending Kante still was one capable of giving consistent world class performances Tommy would still be here.

2 hours ago, Zeta said:

It's a shame, but i think he has to move on in the summer. He can't be relied on for more than a few months of a season any more, and we can't have an unbalanced midfield, assuming he'll be fit when he's not, so not strengthening.

The 300 odd k a week we'd be saving could definitely be better spent for next season. It's a shame, but we can't have elite wages being spent on someone who can only play 1 in 3 games. 

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

We won ucl playing tippy tappy with Kante winning 3 motm in a row. 

We can thank Sarri for that, despite many stating he ruined Kante. 

Kante's issues lie in the final third, even when he's at his best. 

33 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

The 300 odd k a week we'd be saving could definitely be better spent for next season. It's a shame, but we can't have elite wages being spent on someone who can only play 1 in 3 games. 

you have to buy another player, who can even replace him? it should have been Tchouaméni and we missed the boat

what club is going to offer Kanté 300k a week when he is always injured? maybe PSG? i would offer him 200k a week with some sort of build-in structure that pays based on what percentage of games he is available. it's also a loyalty i have towards Kanté. I don't think we should give up on him yet. I cannot stand to see him flourish at another club. He could play until he is 34, and we might let him go on a free and regret it immensely  

18 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

We can thank Sarri for that, despite many stating he ruined Kante. 

Kante's issues lie in the final third, even when he's at his best. 

Thank Sarri for what? 

Kante issue is not final third. Kante is in the end a defensive player. The issue lies the fact your best defensive player is also your best final third player. That is Kante's issue. 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Kante's issues lie in the final third, even when he's at his best. 

True..... to a point. Still think it is better than many give him credit for, but yes, for sure, he isn't Hoddle, DeBryune or Pirlo in that area of the pitch. Though to be fair neither are Kovacic or J5. And therein lies the real problem.

Can't help but feel Coutinho might have done a job for us in that respect.

16 hours ago, just said:

Massive blow. But it does make you ask questions about our medical team. Why has it taken so long to decide an operation is required? Were they initially gambling on a low risk non-invasive solution in a bid to minimise his time out because of how important he is?

If they are confident a surgical procedure provides the right outcome happy days, but you would have thought that might have been the sensible option to go for right from the outset.

I have been asking questions about our medical team for a while now. Seeing our players break down on the pitch every other game for over a year now is odd. I doubt you will find any club in the world football that has as many players subbed off for injury as us.

21 minutes ago, just said:

True..... to a point. Still think it is better than many give him credit for, but yes, for sure, he isn't Hoddle, DeBryune or Pirlo in that area of the pitch. Though to be fair neither are Kovacic or J5. And therein lies the real problem.

Can't help but feel Coutinho might have done a job for us in that respect.

I was never in favour of going for Coutinho. I compare him to James Rodriguez, at his best he can be really good, but he doesn't maintain it for more than a month or two. Look at him now at Villa, he's getting dropped to the bench because he can't motivate himself to perform every week. 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Thank Sarri for what? 

Kante issue is not final third. Kante is in the end a defensive player. The issue lies the fact your best defensive player is also your best final third player. That is Kante's issue. 

 

Implementing a ball retention game in Kante.

Kante is an unorthodox footballer. He's a #8, ball winning midfielder. You know what you are going to get with him. The issue for me is that Ruben, Kova, and Kante are far too similar with regards to what they can offer on the ball. 

36 minutes ago, just said:

True..... to a point. Still think it is better than many give him credit for, but yes, for sure, he isn't Hoddle, DeBryune or Pirlo in that area of the pitch. Though to be fair neither are Kovacic or J5. And therein lies the real problem.

Can't help but feel Coutinho might have done a job for us in that respect.

Even for you that's shocking.

Ask Villa supporters what they think of Coutinho.

They're pretty much all in agreement his legs have completely gone and he's only playing top flight football now because the manager is his mate.

Very surprised to see you in particularly champion Coutinho given he's now both slower and weaker than your favorite Brazilian/Italian has none of the positional sense and is even worse in the final third now despite solely operating there.

Admittedly the below stat is out of date as he's added another blank against us to continue his rich vein of form.

 

Edited October 19, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

27 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Implementing a ball retention game in Kante.

Kante is an unorthodox footballer. He's a #8, ball winning midfielder. You know what you are going to get with him. The issue for me is that Ruben, Kova, and Kante are far too similar with regards to what they can offer on the ball. 

Kante is still not good at ball retention. Does it matter? No. 

Having too many play who want to play as ball carrier is a problem but you can alway adapt as a player and as a team. 

Imo Kante is not an unorthodox footballer. He is a ball winner. It is actually very easy to use him. 

 

 

 

 

 

19 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Imo Kante is not an unorthodox footballer. 

You reckon? Name me three central midfielders (that's aren't defensive midfielders) who's best attributes are winning the ball.

We should have cashed in on him 1/2 seasons ago - like we did Hazard. Sell him to PSG/Madrid for a big fee before he is finished. 

3 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

Even for you that's shocking.

Ask Villa supporters what they think of Coutinho.

They're pretty much all in agreement his legs have completely gone and he's only playing top flight football now because the manager is his mate.

Very surprised to see you in particularly champion Coutinho given he's now both slower and weaker than your favorite Brazilian/Italian has none of the positional sense and is even worse in the final third now despite solely operating there.

Admittedly the below stat is out of date as he's added another blank against us to continue his rich vein of form.

 

OK. So exactly the same thing  Arsenal fans have said about Aubamayang then. 

Point taken.

10 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You reckon? Name me three central midfielders (that's aren't defensive midfielders) who's best attributes are winning the ball.

Just from top 6 maybe fabinho, henderson, partey, casemiro, Hojberg, Bissouma, skipp. 

I don't put Fred, Mctominay n bentacur because although they are used as ball winner not sure ball winning are their best skill. 

 

 

I think most people who does not fancy Kante tend to prefer slow football or Sarriball which is fine because city has been the best team in the country playing this way for a couple years now (only a couple of years, early  Pep's city played much faster and this season they are actually playing faster because of Haaland.) 

Does Kante really suit slow controlled football? The value of ball winner decrease when you never lose the ball but you need to have a safety aka Fernandinho/walker because it is impossible not to lose the ball at all. If you have walker you probably don't need kante but you can always push walker/Kante higher. 

Of course all of this assume that you insist on playing slow tippy tappy even when you Kante. Or pep guardiola basically ask his team not to cross the ball or play the ball behind when he has Haaland or klopp ask Thiago to be static  and play more like a ball winner.