8 hours ago, Argo said:

Funny thing is it use to be a pretty popular opinion that he isn't a sitting DM, I'm not really sure why it's now such a taboo to point out a player who likes to use his energy to run up and down the pitch isn't a sitter.

Oh I agree fully with this but Argo. But you know well that I don't believe we need a "sitting DM" who does little else but sits deep and recycles. Especially one who isn't a particularly great defender and who cannot quickly transition defensive situations into attacking ones by either hitting consistent, accurate, early long passes ala Fabregas, or run with the ball at pace ala Kante.

 Maybe Potter doesn't want that either.

On 08/10/2022 at 21:08, Gol15 said:

Rodri and Jorginho didn't need to learn a new role and position 🙂

Did you watch rodri in his 1st season with city? 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Did you watch rodri in his 1st season with city? 

Pep wanted first Jorginho, then he wanted Rodri, meaning 2 real DM players and not a box-to-box player like Kante :)

On 13/04/2022 at 18:06, Nibs said:

Kante has set such incredibly high standards that as soon as he isn't playing like the Kante trio we are used to, there are questions.

Maybe the knocks are catching up with him and at 31 he is now on a downward spiral. The fact he has recently been fasting due to ramadan could also have had an impact - similar to Salah.

Will be down to TT in the end as to whether Kante remains a key player for next season and beyond or whether we see Gallagher as the future or take a punt on Mwepu at Brighton who has looked very impressive the few times I have seen him.

No chance of that now. Thought I hadn't heard much about him of late and hear he has had to retire at 24. Very Sad.

Sky just saying kante has suffered a set back in training 

4 minutes ago, Andy2461 said:

Sky just saying kante has suffered a set back in training 

If true sadly not a surprise and why the club are not looking to offer a long term, big deal to him given his poor injury record.

11 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Pep wanted first Jorginho, then he wanted Rodri, meaning 2 real DM players and not a box-to-box player like Kante 🙂

So you didn't, now it make sense. 

29 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

So you didn't, now it make sense. 

I honestly don't remember but it still doesn't mean that Pep was wrong in wanting to buy a real DM which he was searching for, so even if it took some time for Rodri to adapt to the league or whatever, it still shows that Pep wanted a DM that is like an anchor and not someone like a box-to-box player like Kante and it's very obvious that Pep gets what he wants, he wanted Jorginho first, didn't manage to sign him and for the season afterwards he signed Rodri.

Kante never played that role and by the looks of it, never will.

You feel bad saying it but overall Kante has probably held us back the last several years despite his unquestionable quality. Because we have rather naively counted on him to stay fit and pretended we can depend on him in midfield when we shouldn't have.

The CL run and the occasional top performance is the saving grace of the latter half of his career at this club. Otherwise it's been the story of Kante either being injured or coming back from injury and trying to regain his form.

More 4 wewks off

1 hour ago, Mário César said:

More 4 wewks off

4 weeks more injured? If that is what you mean he will be back just in time for France...

Unfortunately i think it's time to let him go. 

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

4 weeks more injured? If that is what you mean he will be back just in time for France...

Probably won't be match fit though for the wc

His hamstring is a chronic injury. It will always be at risk given the scar tissue. 
 

He’s gone next summer and rightly so. Lucky to have him at his best for 20% of the season. 

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Probably won't be match fit though for the wc

That won’t stop them calling him up and f**king him up for his return. 

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Probably won't be match fit though for the wc

You wish.. even limping on 1 foot, Deschamps will call him up.

crazy thing is they don’t need him. They have Camavinga, Tchouameni, Guendouzi, Rabiot, Kamara & Fofana to cover the middle of the park.

Kante due to see a consultant, as per Potter via Sky sports:

Potter tight-lipped on Kante World Cup fears

As well as Reece James, there are also reports that N'Golo Kante will miss the World Cup with France due to the hamstring injury he suffered playing for Chelsea against Tottenham in August.

But, as with James, Blues boss Graham Potter said he was unable to provide any clarity to the situation.

"He's due to see a consultant at the weekend," Potter said of Kante. "It's a setback so it's not good news, but at this stage I can't give you anything more."

It’s time we start looking for a replacement. Can’t remember the last time he played a string of games for us without getting injured 

37 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

It’s time we start looking for a replacement. 

That was 3 years ago.

I'd argue Kante has had a terrible impact on the squad for most of his time here, absolutely outstanding under Conte and key to our CL win so winning a premier league and a champions league means he's been a great signing.

But we've suffered tremendously in midfield, first through his inability to play in a 3 which led to season long questions under Sarri and Lampard of where his best position actually is followed by constantly trying to shoehorn him into the side and a complete glossing over his flaws in possession and more recently his injury problems where we've left our midfield in Limbo because we've deluded ourselves into thinking Kante can replicate his 5 world class games a season across the full season and brought in loan dross to cover for his injuries rather than targeting the quality we need.

I don't think it's a coincidence we've been much more of a cup team rather than a consistent force in the league while Kante has been one of our key players.

Edited October 14, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

First three seasons over 30 matches last two over 20.

I did say a couple of years ago we should accept offers which was really unpopular at the time yet my ESP technique thought he had underlying injuries. 

 

 

4 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

That was 3 years ago.

I'd argue Kante has had a terrible impact on the squad for most of his time here, absolutely outstanding under Conte and key to our CL win so winning a premier league and a champions league means he's been a great signing.

But we've suffered tremendously in midfield, first through his inability to play in a 3 which led to season long questions under Sarri and Lampard of where his best position actually is followed by constantly trying to shoehorn him into the side and a complete glossing over his flaws in possession and more recently his injury problems where we've left our midfield in Limbo because we've deluded ourselves into thinking Kante can replicate his 5 world class games a season across the full season and brought in loan dross to cover for his injuries rather than targeting the quality we need.

I don't think it's a coincidence we've been much more of a cup team rather than a consistent force in the league while Kante has been one of our key players.

I disagree with Conte's second season and Sarri season, in the former he held a broken midfield single handedly and the latter i thought he was fine all be it not vintage Kante.

I do agree from 19/20 onwards but i blame the managers more than him. It was becoming very clear at that point that he needed his minutes managed (both because of fitness and some matches suiting Kova and Mount's skillet more) yet Lampard kept shoehorning him in every single match despite the fact Jorgi/Kova/Mount and even Jorgi/Ross/Mount was proving more than adequate vs 80% of teams. Then after a promising early months where Tuchel was managing his minutes extremely well which gave us his most productive performances since Conte and kept him completely injury free (coincidence i'm sure!) he then resorted to the same method of pretending it's still 2017 and like magic the injury's and inconsistent displays return.

I still believe we can get top class performances if we manage his minutes well, Azpi is further down the line in terms of father time yet look at his performance vs Wolves after adequate rest time, hopefully Potter takes that approach with Kante and sticks to it.

Edited October 14, 20223 yr by Argo

 

Time to go. Great player on his day, but that day is every few months now, rather than every week.

From Kante and James being back shortly, to them both missing months and the world cup, in a matter of 24 hours of speculation. 

As the biggest fan of kante on here, am curious as to @just thoughts on the situation around his contract and what you feel the club should do Just?

The Kante twins rarely check in anymore. His Hamstrings are f**ked - meaning he will either regularly miss a lot of games due to constant re-injury, or he plays at half pace, always thinking in the back of his mind that that Hamstrings is about to ping again.

At his best, he was genuine world class. But we cannot continue living in hope that he is able to get a regular run of games. We have to replace him.