N'golo Kante - We are not worthy!

[driller97]

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

Zouma?! He's our best defender! I'm pretty certain he was rested on Saturday but no journalist was good enough to ask Lampard about it. 

He's better now but dont pretend like he wasnt awful before. He just looked slightly better because of how bad our defence was when Rudiger and Christensen were playing at their worst. I would personally pick Christensen as our best CB (outside of Silva)

 

[Imran_CFC]

This is based on 28 apps for Zouma and 21 apps for Christensen, so the notion that Lampard doesnt trust Zouma or doesnt start him is clearly false. Zouma is clearly the best CB we have currently (Obviouly excluding Thiago). Christensen gets dominated far too often by physical strikers, the display against West Ham by both Christensen and Rudiger was embarassing, Antonio played the lone striker role without any support within 20 yards of him and was able to make them look like absolute amateurs. 

The stat which backs this up is Zouma lost 38 aerial battles and won 106, Christensen has lost 51 aerial battles and won 69 that is very telling considering Christensen had only 21 appearances in comparison to Zouma's 28. If we were to consider other aspects such as ball distribution to determine the better player Zouma makes 74.29 passes per match in comparison to Christensen's 62.24 passes and Zouma made 139 accurate long balls in comparison to 52 for Christensen.

I personally don't think Christensen is even in the same league when it comes to defending as Zouma.

 

[Gol15]

2 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

This is based on 28 apps for Zouma and 21 apps for Christensen, so the notion that Lampard doesnt trust Zouma or doesnt start him is clearly false. Zouma is clearly the best CB we have currently (Obviouly excluding Thiago). Christensen gets dominated far too often by physical strikers, the display against West Ham by both Christensen and Rudiger was embarassing, Antonio played the lone striker role without any support within 20 yards of him and was able to make them look like absolute amateurs. 

The stat which backs this up is Zouma lost 38 aerial battles and won 106, Christensen has lost 51 aerial battles and won 69 that is very telling considering Christensen had only 21 appearances in comparison to Zouma's 28. If we were to consider other aspects such as ball distribution to determine the better player Zouma makes 74.29 passes per match in comparison to Christensen's 62.24 passes and Zouma made 139 accurate long balls in comparison to 52 for Christensen.

I personally don't think Christensen is even in the same league when it comes to defending as Zouma.

 

The only constant in conceding 6 goals in the first 3 games is Christensen and Alonso. Christensen isn't a good defender, he doesn't make anyone else better and he can only manage to hide himself when someone else does a mistake.

He plays on the right side as a CB which was enough for Lampard to put him in the starting lineup with T.Silva that plays on the left side, that in turn denied Rudiger and Zouma a place because both of them play more where T.Silva plays.

But here is my problem, if JT couldn't make Christensen a good defender why does Lampard believe that T.Silva will?
If this partnership is our first choice we are going to suffer this season, and I honestly can't believe that after Christensen got the red card that in turn lost us the game by default is automatically back in the starting lineup while Zouma that scored a goal against Brighton is punished and isn't even on the bench against West Brom! It's a mockery of the system, I prefer to see Zouma on that side where Christensen plays even if he prefers to be where T.Silva plays usually.

[turnyitb]

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The only constant in conceding 6 goals in the first 3 games is Christensen and Alonso. Christensen isn't a good defender, he doesn't make anyone else better and he can only manage to hide himself when someone else does a mistake.

He plays on the right side as a CB which was enough for Lampard to put him in the starting lineup with T.Silva that plays on the left side, that in turn denied Rudiger and Zouma a place because both of them play more where T.Silva plays.

But here is my problem, if JT couldn't make Christensen a good defender why does Lampard believe that T.Silva will?
If this partnership is our first choice we are going to suffer this season, and I honestly can't believe that after Christensen got the red card that in turn lost us the game by default is automatically back in the starting lineup while Zouma that scored a goal against Brighton is punished and isn't even on the bench against West Brom! It's a mockery of the system, I prefer to see Zouma on that side where Christensen plays even if he prefers to be where T.Silva plays usually.

Zouma doesn't prefer to be on the left. Like all of our centre backs they all prefer to be on the right side but both Zouma and Rudiger have been made to play that side.

As far as i'm aware even Silva is more capable and has a preference for the right side of a two but hopefully is classy enough to play there better than the others.

Surprised we have not picked up a left sided centre back as it makes for a more balanced defense  but saying that there aren't to many around.

[Gol15]

2 minutes ago, turnyitb said:

Zouma doesn't prefer to be on the left. Like all of our centre backs they all prefer to be on the right side but both Zouma and Rudiger have been made to play that side.

As far as i'm aware even Silva is more capable and has a preference for the right side of a two but hopefully is classy enough to play there better than the others.

Surprised we have not picked up a left sided centre back as it makes for a more balanced defense  but saying that there aren't to many around.

Well if that's the case I really struggle to see why Zouma isn't even on the bench and why Christensen is playing instead...

[turnyitb]

Just now, Gol15 said:

Well if that's the case I really struggle to see why Zouma isn't even on the bench and why Christensen is playing instead...

now that i agree with!

[bisright1]

21 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Well if that's the case I really struggle to see why Zouma isn't even on the bench and why Christensen is playing instead...

Surely he's picked up a small injury. 

There's not even a sniff about him in any rag. Baffling. 

[Slojo]

9 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Zouma is our best ball playing centre back. He gives the ball away less and can complete a 30 yard pass better than any other player in the team. 

If Zouma is our best ball playing centre back then we seriously are in trouble. 

[bisright1]

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

If Zouma is our best ball playing centre back then we seriously are in trouble. 

How often does he misplace a pass? How often does he make mistakes on the ball? The idea he is just a lumbering oaf and can't play with the ball at his feet is insulting. 

Kante is a much worse ball player than Zouma. 

[Slojo]

24 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

How often does he misplace a pass? How often does he make mistakes on the ball? The idea he is just a lumbering oaf and can't play with the ball at his feet is insulting. 

Kante is a much worse ball player than Zouma. 

How often does he misplace a pass? A lot of the time, did you not watch him in the Brighton game? He f**ked up loads of simple long range balls. 

Zouma isn't a bad defender, but in no way shape or form is he good with the ball to his feet. 

[ashwin]

4 hours ago, bisright1 said:

How often does he misplace a pass? How often does he make mistakes on the ball? The idea he is just a lumbering oaf and can't play with the ball at his feet is insulting. 

Kante is a much worse ball player than Zouma. 

His long range passing isn't terrible. But Zouma is very poor with the ball at his feet, both in terms of close control as well as the ability to play a simple incisive ball through the lines to the midfield. Christensen is so much better at this. As is Thiago Silva of course but even Tomori.

Zouma is a better defender than most on our team, especially if we have to absorb a lot of pressure. So there's a trade-off.

[strider6004]

7 hours ago, ashwin said:

His long range passing isn't terrible. But Zouma is very poor with the ball at his feet, both in terms of close control as well as the ability to play a simple incisive ball through the lines to the midfield. Christensen is so much better at this. As is Thiago Silva of course but even Tomori.

Zouma is a better defender than most on our team, especially if we have to absorb a lot of pressure. So there's a trade-off.

Zouma can look awkward on the ball yet my fear for Christensein is when he is up against a physical attacker he loses the plot.

Zouma is stronger in this regard.

[jack_super_class]

He was really sharp when he came on.

[big blue]

Played with more purpose than anyone else had done in the 60 minutes before. 

Really good display, drove us forward. 

[jack_super_class]

Id honestly like to see a midfield 3 of Kante at DM with Kovacic and Havertz in a 433.

[Munkunku]

I love N’Golo but for the love of f**king God; SHOOOOOOOOOT!

[Scott Harris]

Apart from the tackle that led to Werner's chance, I never seen much good from him. He was trying, but Tottenham were mostly brushing off his attempted tackles.

[strider6004]

Kante's running with the ball was exceptional it was just that he could not play a killing ball.

I thought at one moment he might run into the net or give us a carbon copy of that goal against Liverpool.

[just]

Excellent when he came on. Still our only truly world class midfielder IMO.

[Argo]

7 minutes ago, just said:

Excellent when he came on. Still our only truly world class midfielder IMO.

It's not these type of circumstances he's been questioned on, I think we can all be in agreement that bringing him on to defend a narrow lead is the right move.

The questions come in games that don't play to strengths, like against West Brom when we have like 80% possession he tends to struggle a bit.

[just]

5 minutes ago, Argo said:

It's not these type of circumstances he's been questioned on, I think we can all be in agreement that bringing him on to defend a narrow lead is the right move.

The questions come in games that don't play to strengths, like against West Brom when we have like 80% possession he tends to struggle a bit.

The way I see it Argo, his strengths immeasurably  out-weigh his limitations. Our midfield has issues, IMO, a severe lack of strength, pace and athleticism. Kante is not part of that problem for me.

[rtwelch]

2 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Kante's running with the ball was exceptional it was just that he could not play a killing ball.

I thought at one moment he might run into the net or give us a carbon copy of that goal against Liverpool.

I know exactly the moment you mean and it was the most Kanté move ever. Jinking little flukey run then poo’ed his pants when he got into the box. I laughed I can’t lie. Sometimes they come off though. 

[Slojo]

3 hours ago, just said:

The way I see it Argo, his strengths immeasurably  out-weigh his limitations. Our midfield has issues, IMO, a severe lack of strength, pace and athleticism. Kante is not part of that problem for me.

Yet somehow, we still conceded when he came into the side, we were still 3-0 down to West Brom with him "protecting" the back 4. So what major difference is he making? 

However, Jorginho still gets slagged off and scapegoated even if he has a good game. 

[bluedave]

3 hours ago, Slojo said:

Yet somehow, we still conceded when he came into the side, we were still 3-0 down to West Brom with him "protecting" the back 4. So what major difference is he making? 

However, Jorginho still gets slagged off and scapegoated even if he has a good game. 

Possibly would have conceded more than 1 if he wasn’t playing. It was obvious we improved a lot when he came on.

[Nibs]

He looked back to his absolute best when he came on last night. We know what he can do and how important he can be - it's down to Lamps and the coaching staff work out how to use his abilities to best benefit the team. He's definitely in our best starting 11.