Been having this argument with a friend of mine who's better. He's convinced Makelele was better. Don't get me wrong Makelele was excellent for us in our 2 title winning seasons under Mourinho, and is one of the best defensive midfielders I've seen play in the PL, but I honestly think Kante is better, he's everywhere. Another great performance today, he seldom has a bad match.

 

Anyway if push came to shove who would you pick???

Both. They seem to be types that can work well in a midfield. Put Lamps ahead of them both and it'd be a WC midfield. 

Comparing a player who has finished playing, against a player who has only been at the top level for a few years isn't very fair.

Different players whom played different roles

A midfield of Kante AND Makelele. Add Essien too. Damn. The 3 forwards can literally not cross the half line to cover back.

40 minutes ago, dynamite said:

Been having this argument with a friend of mine who's better. He's convinced Makelele was better. Don't get me wrong Makelele was excellent for us in our 2 title winning seasons under Mourinho, and is one of the best defensive midfielders I've seen play in the PL, but I honestly think Kante is better, he's everywhere. Another great performance today, he seldom has a bad match.

 

Anyway if push came to shove who would you pick???

It’s a bank holiday & you have been having too much to drink.

it is called the Makelele role for a reason.

Edited August 27, 20178 yr by ducavis

Makelele all day long. Kante and Essien are very similar players, I actually think Essien was better and would have dominated for years without the injuries.

Makelele. Kante is brilliant, but i think Makelele was better at stopping players. He knew how to position himself and stop teams getting forward, he really was a rock. Kante covers more ground, energy and can probably get past players easier, but i think Makelele was better at everything else. Another thing i think Makelele was underrated for was his passing. So many people used to say that all he did was stand in that DM position but he did more than that. He broke down so many attacks and started many with an important pass.

Yeah Makelele was deep in the DM position during defending but transitioned into a full fledged CM during attack, just the perfect DM.

Kante's defensive style seems more reactive to what he sees than predictive from reading the game, he can pass but is better running with the ball, he is what I hoped Ramires would become for us and the only thing letting Kante down is he doesn't have the goal scoring ability that Rami had.

Makelele any day

On 8/27/2017 at 23:28, Scott Harris said:

Makelele. Kante is brilliant, but i think Makelele was better at stopping players. He knew how to position himself and stop teams getting forward, he really was a rock. Kante covers more ground, energy and can probably get past players easier, but i think Makelele was better at everything else. Another thing i think Makelele was underrated for was his passing. So many people used to say that all he did was stand in that DM position but he did more than that. He broke down so many attacks and started many with an important pass.

Yeah, but he didn't score much.  really let us down, did that.

Makalele was a smarter footballer, knew where to be at the right time. Kante just runs everywhere, hopefully Kante will learn to conserve his energy abit and become a natural defensive midfielder.

If Kante carries on the way he is going he's going to burn out at a young age imo.

On 27/08/2017 at 23:28, Scott Harris said:

Makelele. Kante is brilliant, but i think Makelele was better at stopping players. He knew how to position himself and stop teams getting forward, he really was a rock. Kante covers more ground, energy and can probably get past players easier, but i think Makelele was better at everything else. Another thing i think Makelele was underrated for was his passing. So many people used to say that all he did was stand in that DM position but he did more than that. He broke down so many attacks and started many with an important pass.

For all his excellence, he had the most horrendous passing, at least for the first couple of season. It really was awful, considering he was only playing the shortest of passes anyway. 

It got better though.

Such a hard question to answer.

And not really a fair one, too. 

Makekele used to just be there all the time at the right place disrupting things

I remember watching a game with my United supporting bro years ago and the sheer frustration from him :} Raging at Makekele... "This GUY is AlWAYS THERE!!!"

Depends what formation you want to play them in. Maka with two attacking CM's next to him or Kante in a pivot.

IMO they're not directly comparable.

Makelele was a classic anchorman whereas Kante is more box-to-box. 

As I've said in the past, Kante and Essien are IMO more comparable. Essien definitely offered more going forward, but Kante IMO is better defensively. 

 

Makalele was like the first edition of an evolving player type of which Kante is currently the latest........and the greatest.

Makalele when he arrived at CFC was an absolute revelation that somehow Real Madrid had failed to realise was making the Galacticos Galactic. I loved that guy. His tracking and tackling was a thing of beauty.

Edited September 2, 20178 yr by Blue Ballet

I love Kanté to bits but this is not a fair comparison for him, give me Maka any day.