N'golo Kante - We are not worthy!

[dkw]

I said this in that other thread, but anyone who thinks we should sell Kante is a f**king idiot.

[jack_super_class]

10 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

I know I've been saying this every week since he made his out-of-position Premier League debut under Ranieri, but the guy is a phenomenon.

Absolute, inescapable, pure brilliance. He has everything.

He is much better on the ball too than people give him credit for. The amount of times he is in a tight position on the pitch with nowhere to go or pass too he gets him self out of it. 

[icecoolguy22]

His ability on the ball is under rated, and his getting smarter with his movement into the box. With 3 in the midfield, he's more confident in making those runs knowing someone is behind him. The problem with the 3 midfielders has bugged us for more than a season now, one way to change it is Kante keep making those runs into the box and scores some goals at the end of it.

[Deino]

Can't believe he's still improving as a player. His attacking positioning keeps getting better and better.

[Munkunku]

On 11/12/2019 at 08:19, dkw said:

I said this in that other thread, but anyone who thinks we should sell Kante is a f**king idiot.

Hey! I’m a f**king idiot but I‘d never say that. Stop making us f**king idiots out to be odious buffoons! 

[Ballack & Blu]

The papers full of 'Kante plotting summer move', sh*t stirring f*cktards, regardless as to having a contract till 2023, will cost at least 120 mill, and Lamps won't be keen to let his General leave.😡

[Guest Sindre]

Controversial opinion but againt the so called "weaker" teams he should not be playing. Breaking up the Jorginho-Kovacic combo that dominated teams have proven to be a very costly mistake.
Kante is not a good fit for a midfield base with our current style of play and we have suffered from Frank forcing him into the team. Thought he was very poor again yesterday, the same againt Everton and West Ham before that.

Yesterday he struggled to link up with Jorginho as the passmap at the bottom shows. When Jorginho and Kovacic play together it's common that the connection between them is as big as the one you see between Zouma and Rudiger yesterday. They were controllng games between them and had the opposition tire from running between them and they were suited to eachother like hand in glove.
 

For me it makes the most sense to go back to what had us going on a winning-run. Especially now that we've quite clearly seen that changing it up has made it much worse.
Also worth nothing that both Jorginho and Kovacic are contenders for POTY for us so far this season. That's how good they were together.

 

[Scott Harris]

6 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Controversial opinion but againt the so called "weaker" teams he should not be playing. Breaking up the Jorginho-Kovacic combo that dominated teams have proven to be a very costly mistake.
Kante is not a good fit for a midfield base with our current style of play and we have suffered from Frank forcing him into the team. Thought he was very poor again yesterday, the same againt Everton and West Ham before that.

Yesterday he struggled to link up with Jorginho as the passmap at the bottom shows. When Jorginho and Kovacic play together it's common that the connection between them is as big as the one you see between Zouma and Rudiger yesterday. They were controllng games between them and had the opposition tire from running between them and they were suited to eachother like hand in glove.
 

For me it makes the most sense to go back to what had us going on a winning-run. Especially now that we've quite clearly seen that changing it up has made it much worse.
Also worth nothing that both Jorginho and Kovacic are contenders for POTY for us so far this season. That's how good they were together.

 

It sounds crazy because it's Kante we are talking about here, but I agree. Since Kante returned, we have been poor against the lower teams and he has been really poor in those games too. He's struggling against them for sure, really struggling in fact. It's the less physical sides and teams that give us a bit of space that he is shining against. His best performances of the season were against the top teams because they gave us a bit more room to play. We also played a bit of counter attacking football which is one of Kante's greatest strengths.

[Argo]

He seems to be a bit off form in general.

Thankgod we have decent alternatives, could you imagine if this happened in 17/18 or even Conte's title season?

[Scott Harris]

6 minutes ago, Argo said:

He seems to be a bit off form in general.

Thankgod we have decent alternatives, could you imagine if this happened in 17/18 or even Conte's title season?

Nah, Bakayoko and Drinkwater just needed a bit of time, they were destined to be our next Ballack and Essien 😐

[just]

Absolutely agree Kante must be dropped. The one true, undisputed, most consistent world class player we have.

Been off form my arse! 

[loz]

Absolutely agree Kante must be dropped. The one true, undisputed, most consistent world class player we have.
Been off form my arse! 

What did Kante, or the Romans, ever do for us?

Utterly f**king ridiculous isn't it. We don't have a single player we can rely on more than Kante. Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount and RLC when fit, are all contending to be in the team with Kante.

[just]

Just now, loz said:

What did Kante, or the Romans, ever do for us?

Utterly f**king ridiculous isn't it. We don't have a single player we can rely on more than Kante. Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount and RLC when fit, are all contending to be in the team with Kante.

The bit that makes me laugh the most Loz, is the assertion that he has supposedly been off form for a while now? Hello!!! Did they not watch the Lille game?

[loz]

The bit that makes me laugh the most Loz, is the assertion that he has supposedly been off form for a while now? Hello!!! Did they not watch the Lille game?

Nuts isn't it. There are umpteen players in our squad whose form has oscillated wildly and disappeared for extended periods of time. Yes Kante isn't MOTM week in week out, his game will never lend itself to that, but the number of times you can genuinely say he has had a poor day at the office is on a par with the number of days you can say Liam loved JFH. First name on my team sheet every time.

[Guest Sindre]

10 hours ago, loz said:

Utterly f**king ridiculous isn't it. We don't have a single player we can rely on more than Kante. Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount and RLC when fit, are all contending to be in the team with Kante.

Kovacic have proven to be better and far more important to us then Kante this season. Of that there can be little doubt.

[Dean]

I have sympathy with both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, Kante is absolutely without a doubt world class in his role. he is our best all round player. No argument from me there.

On the other hand, the reality of life and certainly high-end professional football is everyone has a price. If we could sell Kante and use the money to make our team/squad stronger and, importantly, better balanced (say a couple of top players that complement the rest of the team really well and address our key weaknesses), then why rule that out? If we can’t put the money to better use, then no - we shouldn’t sell.

But another important  consideration is he probably does want to leave - let’s be realistic. he wants to make that move to one of the giants. If he’s going to leave anyway, is there not a rationale for selling him earlier and getting a better price? 

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Dean said:

I have sympathy with both sides of the argument.

On the one hand, Kante is absolutely without a doubt world class in his role. he is our best all round player. No argument from me there.

On the other hand, the reality of life and certainly high-end professional football is everyone has a price. If we could sell Kante and use the money to make our team/squad stronger and, importantly, better balanced (say a couple of top players that complement the rest of the team really well and address our key weaknesses), then why rule that out? If we can’t put the money to better use, then no - we shouldn’t sell.

But another important  consideration is he probably does want to leave - let’s be realistic. he wants to make that move to one of the giants. If he’s going to leave anyway, is there not a rationale for selling him earlier and getting a better price? 

We certainly are not in a position of needing to sell to buy though, getting rid of one of our best player to fund a squad is absolutely not a necessity. Keeping our best players is.

[Argo]

15 hours ago, just said:

Absolutely agree Kante must be dropped. The one true, undisputed, most consistent world class player we have.

Been off form my arse! 

We were winning games and playing very well with the Jorginho, Kova and Mount midfield. You don't disturb things while they're working so well, even for Kante.

Isn't that what the England national team is constantly critisised for? Ie picking the names first and fixing a team shape around them.

Eventually Kante would have found his way back in due to volume of games and/or the form changing but in my opinion that trio got broken up a bit too soon, it was working and we were winning.

[strider6004]

24 minutes ago, Argo said:

We were winning games and playing very well with the Jorginho, Kova and Mount midfield. You don't disturb things while they're working so well, even for Kante.

Isn't that what the England national team is constantly critisised for? Ie picking the names first and fixing a team shape around them.

Eventually Kante would have found his way back in due to volume of games and/or the form changing but in my opinion that trio got broken up a bit too soon, it was working and we were winning.

We brought Kante back in the City game, I wasn't sure as like you say we were winning yet thought this was Frank changing because of the opposition yet we lost.

Next game up is Spurs away on Sunday for which I think Frank will change things again with being up against JM.

Personally would like us to get back to Jorginho and Kovacic to see if that would work again, realise that will upset the Kante fan club.

[forbzy]

In the recent home defeats we have noticeably lacked the ability to unlock an organized defense. I think that has been more down to poor returns from our creative midfielders than anything. Pulisic and Mount have been off-form the last few weeks and that hasn't helped. Against Spurs I think we should bring Kova in to start instead of Mount, and CHO for Pulisic. Kante would still be the first midfielder on the team sheet for me though. Especially in big games.

[Scott Harris]

15 hours ago, just said:

Absolutely agree Kante must be dropped. The one true, undisputed, most consistent world class player we have.

Been off form my arse! 

He has been off form though and he's not been consistent this season. He's been good against the top teams and in Europe, but it's a fact that he has been poor against lower league teams this season. Kante, as much as we all love him, isn't immune from the same criticism's aimed at the likes of Willian, Zouma, Azpilicueta and Mount of late, if he's in poor form and having a negative impact on our performances, then it's fair to point that out. 

One of Kante's best strengths is winning the ball back and starting our next attack, he's been really poor at that since he's been back. He would usually stick to a player like glue until he has won the ball back, but this season he has been struggling to do that. His tackles look weak, and so does the rest of his game.

Nobody is saying drop him for good, but our midfield has looked off since he was bought back into the team. It's nowhere near as fluid as it was before. This isn't all on Kante, Mount's form has dropped just as much, but for me, Kante's form is having a worse impact on the team overall.

I have been saying all season that we are desperate for Kante to help shield the defence, but he's not really been doing it well this season. So if we are going to go a whole season playing like this, then I would rather we did it playing the way were before the international break and have some chemistry in our midfield and creativity in our attacking play.  

[just]

7 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

He has been off form though and he's not been consistent this season. He's been good against the top teams and in Europe, but it's a fact that he has been poor against lower league teams this season. Kante, as much as we all love him, isn't immune from the same criticism's aimed at the likes of Willian, Zouma, Azpilicueta and Mount of late, if he's in poor form and having a negative impact on our performances, then it's fair to point that out. 

One of Kante's best strengths is winning the ball back and starting our next attack, he's been really poor at that since he's been back. He would usually stick to a player like glue until he has won the ball back, but this season he has been struggling to do that. His tackles look weak, and so does the rest of his game.

Nobody is saying drop him for good, but our midfield has looked off since he was bought back into the team. It's nowhere near as fluid as it was before. This isn't all on Kante, Mount's form has dropped just as much, but for me, Kante's form is having a worse impact on the team overall.

I have been saying all season that we are desperate for Kante to help shield the defence, but he's not really been doing it well this season. So if we are going to go a whole season playing like this, then I would rather we did it playing the way were before the international break and have some chemistry in our midfield and creativity in our attacking play.  

OK we'll just play him against the top teams then. Scott, I am not seeing what you say there when I watch him play. Against Lille his performance was the best of any Chelsea player I have seen this season. And I think for most people it goes under their radar because he does that so often. He is a staggering player IMO.

Scott, I'm not gonna argue with you here except to say you don't, in my opinion, leave out your best player. And he is, again in my opinion, our best player by a country mile. He would get in the midfield of any team in Europe. You can't say that about any other of our midfielders.

 

[axman2526]

Him and Kovacic are capable of adding goals to this team. Kova is clearly improving with Frank's training. Jorginhos final ball continue to improve.

I think we are vastly under estimating the potential of the trio of Kova, Jorginho and Kante with lamps getting the best out of each.

[icecoolguy22]

I reckon the manager should just let him do what he's been doing great for years, that's covering the defence, do the hard yard, be the unsung hero, I could be mistaken, unless Kante himself wanted to change his playing role, why changing a piece of your jigsaw that's been working, and making it into something else. Sarri's been mucking around with Kante the whol season, that's started his decline in defensive work. Now, Lampard is on a similar route, I don't dobut Kante will improve and chip in a few goals, but what's the cost? We probably conceded more because he's not doing his previous job, and nobody is doing it. Once you have a great player like Kante covers the central defenders, the fullback could bomb forward without fear, we aren't going to be caught out everytime someone loses the ball. A goal saved is as good as a goal scored.

[PloKoon13]

I think Kanté needs to play in a midfield two in order to get the best out of him. He is our single greatest asset - we should be playing to his strengths, even if it ultimately means sidelining one of Jorginho and Kovacic.