I've been in favour of selling him for some time. He's 29, his game is based on his acceleration, he doesn't fit into our style of play. 
If we could get 80-100m for him then yeah. But I don't think we can get that money in this market.

I'd take £70m and just spend that on Havertz.

Honestly I think he's on the verge of being the next Essien, players of that physical intensify burn out quickly and while I reckon he could prosper in Spain or Italy for a few more years I can't see that with us. Also I agree that I think the team is changing and as strange as it might seem but I think you're right, he doesn't fit in.

53 minutes ago, TheSocialShark said:

There's an awful lot of talk of selling him. What's the feeling around here on such rumours?

The idea of selling him is insane. He is the only world class player in the team. We need to stop trying to turn him into an 8 and use his strengths and play him as a six. 

Also no one is paying 80m for anyone this summer so we're not getting full value if we do sell.

The idea of selling him is insane. He is the only world class player in the team. We need to stop trying to turn him into an 8 and use his strengths and play him as a six. 
Also no one is paying 80m for anyone this summer so we're not getting full value if we do sell.

Who would you play along side him?

10 minutes ago, TheSocialShark said:

I'd take £70m and just spend that on Havertz.

Honestly I think he's on the verge of being the next Essien, players of that physical intensify burn out quickly and while I reckon he could prosper in Spain or Italy for a few more years I can't see that with us. Also I agree that I think the team is changing and as strange as it might seem but I think you're right, he doesn't fit in.

This seems to be the plan because Havertz heatmap is mostly that right side of the pitch and I imagine Ziyech is very similar to that as well. 

IMO we don't need to sell anyone in order to buy Havertz. So far we haven't used our own money for Werner (only around 1m), and we are still to sell Bakayoko,Drinkwater,Pasalic,Moses...

Edited June 19, 20206 yr by Gol15

4 minutes ago, TheSocialShark said:

6 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

The idea of selling him is insane. He is the only world class player in the team. We need to stop trying to turn him into an 8 and use his strengths and play him as a six. 
Also no one is paying 80m for anyone this summer so we're not getting full value if we do sell.

Who would you play along side him?

For me, Kovacic. But I also think we could play him deeper and accomodate Mount and RLC ahead of him. 

1 hour ago, TheSocialShark said:

There's an awful lot of talk of selling him. What's the feeling around here on such rumours?

I would be up for it tbh. Great player but we have proven we can cope without him and in fact performed better when he has not played this season. He is the highest earner on the team and picks up more injuries than he used to. The issue is a lot of the big teams don't require that type of player. On top of my head, PSG ay go for him but with Neymar excessive wages and them looking to give Mbappe a similar contract will they move for him and he will be 30 next year. If we can't get a big fee for him then yes keep him around of course but if we got say £70-75m (which I doubt) I would be up for it albeit we use the money to buy other players.

Edited June 19, 20206 yr by STATS

44 minutes ago, TheSocialShark said:

I'd take £70m and just spend that on Havertz.

Honestly I think he's on the verge of being the next Essien, players of that physical intensify burn out quickly and while I reckon he could prosper in Spain or Italy for a few more years I can't see that with us. Also I agree that I think the team is changing and as strange as it might seem but I think you're right, he doesn't fit in.

That's the only reason i would consider it, he is picking up injuries too much for my liking, as you mentioned Essien comes to mind, if we were offered upwards of 50m for a player of his age then it would be hard to say no, i think we have seen the best of Kante and what a player he's been since he came to the Premier league, but i think if we decide to keep hold of him, his price will decrease as will his contribution as time goes by.

1 hour ago, Spiller86 said:

The idea of selling him is insane. He is the only world class player in the team.

He was, he's not anymore (certainly not in Lampard's set up anyway).

 

 

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/amp/news/lampard-insists-chelsea-wont-need-to-sell-kante-to-finance/zp2bmr70gb7b1vb1xxuf5m0mx?__twitter_impression=true

 

For me Kante has been the most disappointing player of this season. However, he's had so many injuries which I think could've taken its toll on his performances. I'm hoping this break is exactly what he needs to get back to the form he was in at the start of the season and before, because from December and onwards he's been piss poor. 

But if he's still playing the same way for the next two months, I think we might need to have a good long think about what we should do with Kante, I might catch some flak for this I understand. Because we could be looking at a player who has lost a decent amount of pace from his injuries, which in truth is MASSIVE for a player like him who relies around pace. We saw the decline in Essien (who was one of my favourite players at the time) after his knee injury, after his 2nd knee injury he wasn't the same player at all, that was in 2010 when he was still 28/29 years old, by no means should be past his prime, but what a change in him. 

Maybe I'm being unfair here, because Kante has had such high standards since arriving it's almost alien to see a player of his stature who's out of form. But I will be keeping an open mind in the coming games which he will no doubt be starting. Because I can't quite tell if it's been a regression on Kante's part or the system just isn't suiting his style of play ORRR and I'm hoping it's this part, that he's just out of form. 

Edited June 20, 20206 yr by Slojo

Pace is part of his game but not his game. He is relentless in running around players which is not pace but great reading of the opponent and perfect timing.

Sarri started to use Kante in a more advanced role and this term it is all about injuries. Last time he was doing what he does under Conte and he was brilliant. Same with France and they won the World Cup.

I hope we manage to keep him but in all fairness he is not crucial for us.

2 hours ago, Slojo said:

For me Kante has been the most disappointing player of this season. However, he's had so many injuries which I think could've taken its toll on his performances. I'm hoping this break is exactly what he needs to get back to the form he was in at the start of the season and before, because from December and onwards he's been piss poor. 

But if he's still playing the same way for the next two months, I think we might need to have a good long think about what we should do with Kante, I might catch some flak for this I understand. Because we could be looking at a player who has lost a decent amount of pace from his injuries, which in truth is MASSIVE for a player like him who relies around pace. We saw the decline in Essien (who was one of my favourite players at the time) after his knee injury, after his 2nd knee injury he wasn't the same player at all, that was in 2010 when he was still 28/29 years old, by no means should be past his prime, but what a change in him. 

Maybe I'm being unfair here, because Kante has had such high standards since arriving it's almost alien to see a player of his stature who's out of form. But I will be keeping an open mind in the coming games which he will no doubt be starting. Because I can't quite tell if it's been a regression on Kante's part or the system just isn't suiting his style of play ORRR and I'm hoping it's this part, that he's just out of form. 

I think how Lampard deals with the Kante situation will go a long way to showing us just what level a manager he's going to be.

Knowing when a players time (be it as a starter or in the squad) is up is the difference between a good manager and a great one, especially with players with untouchable esque reps.

16 hours ago, Argo said:

He was, he's not anymore (certainly not in Lampard's set up anyway).

He was much better under Conte than he has been under Sarri and Lampard, and I feel that is because he is playing too much of a forward role. Kante's strengths have always been breaking up play from deep, starting attacks and playing a support role in attack. The way Sarri and Lampard have used him means he can't do this as well because he is being asked to play a much bigger role in our attacks. It hasn't worked consistently enough though and it's hurt our results too often.

Lampard has a bit of problem to get the best out of our midfield, and it shows that he is struggling to find his best pair because of how often he has tinkered with it. There are so many options and all of them have major strengths and major weaknesses depending on where they play. Gilmour, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, all of these will argue that they should be starting in those two CM roles, but who are the two that suits Lampards tactics the best?

Personally, I think every successful team needs a player that is capable of being a shield between defence and midfield. They don't need to be a traditional DM, but they should have some good defensive attributes in their game. Jorginho is too weak for me, with everything I have seen from the past two seasons, he would be the last player I would have playing there. Kovacic likes to take risks by dribbling past players, so I wouldn't play him in that role, he would be my number 1 choice to play next to that player though. So that leaves Gilmour and Kante. Gilmour has shown that he is capable of playing the Jorginho role as good if not better than Jorginho himself. He's already seems to be much more assured with his defensive qualities too. He is much better on the ball than Kante, but Kante is better than any player in the team when it comes to recovering the ball and protecting the defence.

Lampard doesn't seem to want to use Kante as that defensive shield though. Lampard is going with Joginho and Gilmour for the deeper position and Kante and Kovacic for the more attacking position. I personally think it should be Kante and Gilmour for one position and Kovacic on own his for the other. Kovacic shouldn't be sharing his position in the team with Kante. He is much better in that role than Kante is and he has bought so much more to the team this season.

45 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

He was much better under Conte than he has been under Sarri and Lampard, and I feel that is because he is playing too much of a forward role. Kante's strengths have always been breaking up play from deep, starting attacks and playing a support role in attack. The way Sarri and Lampard have used him means he can't do this as well because he is being asked to play a much bigger role in our attacks. It hasn't worked consistently enough though and it's hurt our results too often.

Lampard has a bit of problem to get the best out of our midfield, and it shows that he is struggling to find his best pair because of how often he has tinkered with it. There are so many options and all of them have major strengths and major weaknesses depending on where they play. Gilmour, Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic, all of these will argue that they should be starting in those two CM roles, but who are the two that suits Lampards tactics the best?

Personally, I think every successful team needs a player that is capable of being a shield between defence and midfield. They don't need to be a traditional DM, but they should have some good defensive attributes in their game. Jorginho is too weak for me, with everything I have seen from the past two seasons, he would be the last player I would have playing there. Kovacic likes to take risks by dribbling past players, so I wouldn't play him in that role, he would be my number 1 choice to play next to that player though. So that leaves Gilmour and Kante. Gilmour has shown that he is capable of playing the Jorginho role as good if not better than Jorginho himself. He's already seems to be much more assured with his defensive qualities too. He is much better on the ball than Kante, but Kante is better than any player in the team when it comes to recovering the ball and protecting the defence.

Lampard doesn't seem to want to use Kante as that defensive shield though. Lampard is going with Joginho and Gilmour for the deeper position and Kante and Kovacic for the more attacking position. I personally think it should be Kante and Gilmour for one position and Kovacic on own his for the other. Kovacic shouldn't be sharing his position in the team with Kante. He is much better in that role than Kante is and he has bought so much more to the team this season.

I think the true answer to improving our defense under Lampard will be from the front, as much as Werner and Ziyech will add to us offensively they're excellent pressers of the ball, only Mount is on the same level as them pressing wise out of our other attacking players. With that alone I think/hope a vast defensive improvement will arrise.

heard rumours we may sell him.. hopefullynot 😕

Back to his best yesterday. You just feel so much more secure with him in his proper role. A couple of times, Villa broke away with most of our team upfield and I thought "sh*t here we go again with the counter attack", then Kante just emerged and shut it down in his usual way. 

A couple of times Grealish found a moment of space but then Kante was there again shutting him down and forcing Grealish to dive to get anywhere. 

Hope Frank sees what we all saw and keeps him in the role for City. Makes such a difference.

Simply played his best because he played in the position where he best at.

You couldn't pass through him, he was everywhere on the pitch.

He should empty his pockets because in 3 days City are coming.

I thought he was really good yesterday, however, as a nit pick, I don't think he got the ball moving quick enough at times, particularly in the middle of the game. But out of our 3 midfielders he was definitely our best performer so no complaints. 

I was mostly impressed with his recoveries, it was back to old Kante right there, every time Villa cleared the ball Kante was there to recover it, something I've greatly missed about him since he's been playing more offensively. A lot deeper today and we already saw a difference. He's better when he plays deeper. 

On 19/06/2020 at 22:30, Spiller86 said:

For me, Kovacic. But I also think we could play him deeper and accomodate Mount and RLC ahead of him. 

Are you Frank Lampard?

Sure was a refreshing sight to see him in a more defensive position. One of his best games of the season for sure.

Kante is a keeper. Not a goalkeeper. A keeper. Let's keep him.

I thought he improved and impacted the game a lot more after we took the lead and Villa opened up more which kind of strengthens my point, when we're facing the jumbo jet Infront of goal it has to be the Billy/Jorgi, Kova and Mount trio, the ball simply is moved about a lost faster and teams have less time to get back into shape.

Still more than happy to see him used in the situations that play to his strengths (after we took the lead yesterday and the City game on Thursday), with his engine being a vital part of his game and being 29 he will have to be carefully managed to guard against burn out, less is more.

If Kante were to play a couple of neat weighted passes for attackers through the middle successfully he'd had a perfect game. We had 70-90% of possession mainly because he was there.

An oldie but such a nice piece on Kante and Hazard. Such nice boys and amazing footballers.