I personally can't see him in that two in midfield. If it's Kante and Jorginho in the middle and if I were opposition's manager I would simply put the guy on Jorginho and let Kante dictate our play and he isn't really good at that. 

The only way I see him playing is if we switch to a more counter based football or a 4-3-3 formation were we could have two more midfielders to help with the ball distribution. 

Edited February 5, 20215 yr by mm24

2 hours ago, just said:

Form is temporary, class is permanent. 

Torres, Essien, Bale, Kaka, Sheva, Sanchez and Rooney say hi!

Edited February 5, 20215 yr by Argo

I have to agree with a few on here. We all know Kante's strengths but its his weaknesses that I'm worried about. They can be exposed in this 343 or 3421/3214. One play summed it up for me against spurs, we beat the initial press of the front players and the ball was played into kante in space. He fumbled his touch got pressed and was forced to make a foul.

One feature of this midfield 2 is that they are both press resistant and excellent at ball distribution. Kante is not a world class passer of the ball that's fine he is world class at other midfield attributes. But in this system it is so important the midfielders are comfortable on the ball, receiving it in our own half. Sadly this is not where he excels so I struggle to see him working in this system.

Needless to say Thomas is a smart man and I'm sure he sees this limitation. Ngolo is a key member of this squad and should be able to flourish in this team regardless of the formation due to tactical tweaks but I do wonder.

At some point Tuchel is probably going to change to a 4-4-2 and there Kante will have a big role to play. 

But currently with the back 3 formation we look solid in defense and we have the players capable of keeping possession so in this system Kante doesn't offer much.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Torres, Essien, Bale, Kaka, Sheva, Sanchez and Rooney say hi!

And sadly, very soon, Eden Hazard. 

Excellent cameo tonight, the circumstances of the game called for his skillset and done a really good job helping defend the game while setting us up on the break with his fresh legs.

Hopefully Tuchel carries on using him in a Conte/Cesc type of way as that's the best way to utilize him these days.

6 hours ago, Argo said:

Excellent cameo tonight, the circumstances of the game called for his skillset and done a really good job helping defend the game while setting us up on the break with his fresh legs.

Hopefully Tuchel carries on using him in a Conte/Cesc type of way as that's the best way to utilize him these days.

Agree he looked a lot better this game, he was absolutely dreadful against Spurs. 

Not sure where he fits into all this though. I personally prefer the Jorginho-Kovacic partnership for the time being, it's not ideal but it's good enough. But I will be surprised if Kante isn't playing in the Atletico game. 

Blues TV got it right - Kante definitely didn't come on for Jorginho but instead of Kovacic or someone else in the last few games now.

I wonder if Tuchel is going to change the formation for Newcastle and use Kante more in a 4-4-2 for example, we have been winning these last games but we need an extra tactical option because the big tests against Atletico and Man United are coming and they could just prepare against our 3-4-2-1.

Really positive cameo from Kanté last night - very intelligent (and direct) in possession. Enjoyed his overlaps with James on the right.

Still a square peg in a round hole for a possession-side. It's sad because he's barely been a shadow of the player he once was for a long period of time now.

 

Much better when the formation changed in the second half. Played a big part in the build up to the goal.

Never thought I’d say this but might end up being best for both parties to move him on in summer.

5 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Never thought I’d say this but might end up being best for both parties to move him on in summer.

I think its a complicated one he won the league in this system yet it feels like as the comment said before yours he's not the right fit. Realistically he remains the only world class player at the club atm not to say others aren't close.

We've reached a cross roads would I take £60m for him perhaps, can I see him being valuable to the team's cause and helping us win another league title and perhaps big ears only time will tell. Like mentioned earlier with a switch in formation he did look a lot better so its a really tough one, and who could possibly replace him if we did sell?

7 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

only world class player

world class by reputation, that's it. He hasn't played consistently well since Conte left for me. Poor last season, poor this season although he did have a positive start in the DM role. 

I was never keen on his role under Sarri. So this world class tag people keep bringing up constantly is useless I think. 

Edited February 13, 20215 yr by Slojo

51 minutes ago, Slojo said:

world class by reputation, that's it. He hasn't played consistently well since Conte left for me. Poor last season, poor this season although he did have a positive start in the DM role. 

I was never keen on his role under Sarri. So this world class tag people keep bringing up constantly is useless I think. 

I agree with you, I love the bloke and always said to people he was our only world class player but when was he last consistently good for us? Like you say when Conte was manager. If someone came in with a big bid for him I honestly think we would be mad to turn it down and I’ve had a few Chelsea fans say the same to me.

Edited February 13, 20215 yr by Ernie_blue

17 hours ago, Slojo said:

world class by reputation, that's it. He hasn't played consistently well since Conte left for me. Poor last season, poor this season although he did have a positive start in the DM role. 

I was never keen on his role under Sarri. So this world class tag people keep bringing up constantly is useless I think. 

It’s almost like people are afraid to admit Kante is not the same player. He’s had quite a few injuries the last couple of years which may have lead to a decline in his performances. He’s not the same player that dominated the midfield at Leichester city and under Conte. 

If you still call Kante world-class then surely you have to think Kovacic is the best midfielder in the world?

Because Kovacic is a much better midfielder at this point.

Let's go of the basis form is temporary and class is permanent. I don't think Lamps got the best out of Kante he is not a dm, his passing range isn't great and he's not a dictator of play and in modern football that is what the dm does they don't have to be amazing at passing but they do tend to be better than Ngolo.

He won the league twice playing in this double 6 Tuchel has spoken about yet we haven't seen him used in it for nearly 3 years til now so he may need time to adjust back.

I still think he is good in a midfield trio given the right players. Kova, Jorgehh and Kante can work as a 3 Sarri used it and for the most part it got us to a top 3 finish and won us the Europa. He also won the world cup in a midfield 3.

Our biggest issue when these 3 play is no creativity from midfield, were Kova to show us the form he is currently on then perhaps it could work playing them both as 6s with Jorgehh sat behind.

11 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Let's go of the basis form is temporary and class is permanent. I don't think Lamps got the best out of Kante he is not a dm, his passing range isn't great and he's not a dictator of play and in modern football that is what the dm does they don't have to be amazing at passing but they do tend to be better than Ngolo.

He won the league twice playing in this double 6 Tuchel has spoken about yet we haven't seen him used in it for nearly 3 years til now so he may need time to adjust back.

I still think he is good in a midfield trio given the right players. Kova, Jorgehh and Kante can work as a 3 Sarri used it and for the most part it got us to a top 3 finish and won us the Europa. He also won the world cup in a midfield 3.

Our biggest issue when these 3 play is no creativity from midfield, were Kova to show us the form he is currently on then perhaps it could work playing them both as 6s with Jorgehh sat behind.

Many people were unhappy with Kante over the previous 3 seasons. Their focus was mainly on the managers though - there was a strong view about how Kante shouldn't play as a box-to-box player for Sarri and then under Lampard he was used as much as possible when he wasn't injured which many thought disrupted our team since he was often rushed back and used to the max till he got injured again.

Tuchel might get the best of him once again when he switches to a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation but the only player that could in theory be his midfield partner is Jorginho since we don't really have any other DM that has the positional awareness needed for Kante to have a more free role in which he once was the best in the league.

 

6 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Tuchel might get the best of him once again when he switches to a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation but the only player that could in theory be his midfield partner is Jorginho since we don't really have any other DM that has the positional awareness needed for Kante to have a more free role in which he once was the best in the league.

 

Or the bloke on loan in Turkey ...

3 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Or the bloke on loan in Turkey ...

Or a training dummy?

So now we've seen that Kante with Gilmour doesn't work (Barnsley) and Kante with Kovacic doesn't work (Southampton), are we now back to Kante with Jorginho for TT's next experiment at shoe-horning Kante into the midfield ? 🙂

26 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

So now we've seen that Kante with Gilmour doesn't work (Barnsley) and Kante with Kovacic doesn't work (Southampton), are we now back to Kante with Jorginho for TT's next experiment at shoe-horning Kante into the midfield ? 🙂

You may have seen that. I certainly haven't. And I hazard a guess that a significant proportion of other posters on here haven't either.

But don't let the stop you.

PS: I wouldn't judge anyone on the Barnsley game. Have you ever played on a surface like that? Even Messi would have struggled to look good on that.

On 14/02/2021 at 08:03, Gol15 said:

Many people were unhappy with Kante over the previous 3 seasons. Their focus was mainly on the managers though - there was a strong view about how Kante shouldn't play as a box-to-box player for Sarri and then under Lampard he was used as much as possible when he wasn't injured which many thought disrupted our team since he was often rushed back and used to the max till he got injured again.

Tuchel might get the best of him once again when he switches to a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation but the only player that could in theory be his midfield partner is Jorginho since we don't really have any other DM that has the positional awareness needed for Kante to have a more free role in which he once was the best in the league.

 

Many people are unhappy about Kante. Yet he keep starting for us under conte, sarri, lamp.  

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

So now we've seen that Kante with Gilmour doesn't work (Barnsley) and Kante with Kovacic doesn't work (Southampton), are we now back to Kante with Jorginho for TT's next experiment at shoe-horning Kante into the midfield ? 🙂

Or we can sell kante. You will probably have long list of suitor.