On 24/09/2018 at 15:57, ForeverCarefree said:

There's definitely a question mark hanging over Kante in the new role he's being asked to play. 

When we don't have the ball he's still the best in the league at helping to win it back and getting an attack started but does he have an eye for a killer pass in the final third? Is he capable of chipping in with 8-10 goals? 

The evidence in the first 7 games suggests maybe not but hopefully he can grow into the role and start contributing directly to more goals otherwise at the least I could see him starting to get subbed off for the final 25 minutes to be replaced with Barkley/Fabregas who have more proven attacking attributes. 

It’s worth looking at Allen’s stats for Napoli, that’s the role Kante is playing. 

17/18- 4 goals 5 assists

16/17- 1 goal 6 assists 

15/16- 3 goals 5 assists

Its quite possible that Sarri isn’t looking for 8-10 goals a season from him. It feels like he’s there to achieve something more fundamental to the teams play.

4 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Thought he was brilliant against Liverpool personally.  97.5% pass completion, highest number of tackles by a Chelsea player.

Throw in his assist and that's about as good a performance you could ask for from a midfielder in such a high profile match. 

It was his first performance so far where I thought he looked top quality.

3 hours ago, Kentonio said:

It’s worth looking at Allen’s stats for Napoli, that’s the role Kante is playing. 

17/18- 4 goals 5 assists

16/17- 1 goal 6 assists 

15/16- 3 goals 5 assists

Its quite possible that Sarri isn’t looking for 8-10 goals a season from him. It feels like he’s there to achieve something more fundamental to the teams play.

But the stats you've provided add up to contributing to 9, 7 and 8 goals during the course of the season. Are we confident of Kante being able to achieve the same?

That Napoli team had Hamsik too who had 

17/18- 7 goals 1 assists

16/17- 21 goal 10 assists 

15/16- 6 goals 11 assists

Right now I don't think any of the midfield 3 would be capable of those kinds of numbers and unless between them they can start coming up with more I think we're going to be too reliant on the front three for the goals and given that Morata and Giroud aren't likely to score too many it's not clear where the goals are going to come from. 

42 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It was his first performance so far where I thought he looked top quality.

Agreed. 

Up until the Liverpool game I don't think there had been much between him and Barkley performance wise but Kovacic stepped up his game against the Bin Dippers. 

I think we saw why we were so keen to bring him in, even if it is only initially on loan. (Although I have read a few things recently that have suggested that he's very keen to make the move permanent already. 

I like Kovacic as a player and he is really helping our team offensively and defensively.  The problem is Real Madrid will not likely sell to us unless one of two conditions is met:

1. Hazard goes the other way (obviously they will need to add cash)

2. We pay an astronomical fee to acquire him.  

I don't know what Kovacic contract situation is but RM are not likely to be keen for a sale.  Especially if their struggles continue throughout the season.  

Hypothetical question here ..ur offered Pogba for either Kovacic or Jorginho. What do you say, yay or no?

Kovacic, because he isn't even our player

Edited October 1, 20187 yr by Stim

I think RLC and Barkley are the two most likely to score goals. Kovacic has spoken how Sarri is helping him in trying to improve his goal scoring, so it's definitely a case of being patient. 

10 hours ago, ManUnitedFan said:

Hypothetical question here ..ur offered Pogba for either Kovacic or Jorginho. What do you say, yay or no?

No I'm afraid, particularly for Jorginho. Pogba is a luxury player, he does have a lot of talent but he looks more trouble than he's worth, he's lazy, has a crap attitude and showboats too much. 

I don't think Pogba will ever mature, he's created too much of a god complex for himself. He's that highly followed on social media and has such a high price tag that whoever tries to get him in line and disciplines him will fall under.

Decent performance tonight, links well with Hazard especially. 

Thought he kept the midfield ticking over. Would love for him to add some goals to his game though. Seems like he’s capable but just needs to get get off the mark maybe. 

not sure if this video was posted here, but checkout Mateo

 

Very good footballer, but he will be pushed out if Barkley and Loftus-Cheek keep scoring. It's harsh because he's a very good player, but it's the reality of the situation. We need goals from midfield because we lack goals in other areas.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Very good footballer, but he will be pushed out if Barkley and Loftus-Cheek keep scoring. It's harsh because he's a very good player, but it's the reality of the situation. We need goals from midfield because we lack goals in other areas.

I agree, but I also feel this healthy competition is good for our midfield. Im just thinking if we can potentially also swap out Jorginho/Kante (to get them some well deserved rest)  for one of these 3, instead of RLC, Barkley and Kovacic all fighting for 1 spot

54 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Very good footballer, but he will be pushed out if Barkley and Loftus-Cheek keep scoring. It's harsh because he's a very good player, but it's the reality of the situation. We need goals from midfield because we lack goals in other areas.

Kovacic is by far the best replacement for Kante, whenever he needs a rest, or get injured/suspended. Barkley and Loftus-Cheek both have goals in them and are best going forward, but they don't have the best defensive game, although Barkley has improved. I also like that Kovacic has the ability to go past players with ease, because of his speed and dribbling. I'm just happy with what we got atm, we have good replacements for all our players in central midfield.

13 minutes ago, comtrend said:

Kovacic is by far the best replacement for Kante, whenever he needs a rest, or get injured/suspended. Barkley and Loftus-Cheek both have goals in them and are best going forward, but they don't have the best defensive game, although Barkley has improved. I also like that Kovacic has the ability to go past players with ease, because of his speed and dribbling. I'm just happy with what we got atm, we have good replacements for all our players in central midfield.

Arguably the best overall midfield in world football currently

1 hour ago, Barry_Stanton said:

Arguably the best overall midfield in world football currently

I was thinking the same thing, but then you have people in the media like Glenn Hoddle wanting to see both RLC & Barkley playing side by side for the The Good of England, this might be the writing on the wall for Kovacic - IMHO Kovacic has played very well in the Chelsea kit - makes good plays on both sides of the halfway line - his only issue is he doesn't score goals, which personally I don't mind because he is a midfielder - you only get midfielders that score like Frank Lampard once in a lifetime

4 minutes ago, robdog said:

I was thinking the same thing, but then you have people in the media like Glenn Hoddle wanting to see both RLC & Barkley playing side by side for the The Good of England, this might be the writing on the wall for Kovacic - IMHO Kovacic has played very well in the Chelsea kit - makes good plays on both sides of the halfway line - his only issue is he doesn't score goals, which personally I don't mind because he is a midfielder - you only get midfielders that score like Frank Lampard once in a lifetime

I think we should cut Hoddle a bit of slack right now....

6 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

I think we should cut Hoddle a bit of slack right now....

I didn't realize I was being negative - I was just stating what he said

Starting to look like we may not need to spend big money to bring Kovacic in permanently. At the moment he should be fighting Kante for minutes. Leave that third CM spot to Barkley and RLC imo.

11 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Starting to look like we may not need to spend big money to bring Kovacic in permanently. At the moment he should be fighting Kante for minutes. Leave that third CM spot to Barkley and RLC imo.

I don't think Real Madrid can demand big money for him, unless he secures a starting spot in our team. 

9 minutes ago, comtrend said:

I don't think Real Madrid can demand big money for him, unless he secures a starting spot in our team. 

Reckon they'd want £50m for him, or Hazard in return.

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Reckon they'd want £50m for him, or Hazard in return.

Just let Hazard speak to Courtois on how life in Madrid is treating him, then Hazard will never think about Madrid ever again.

Especially after just getting drubbed 5-1 by Barca who didn't even have Messi playing, currently leaving them either 9th or 10th in the league

People forgetting how quality Kovacic has been.  Understandable that Barkley has moved ahead of him, but it’s clear that Sarri still has reservations about RLC’s tactical play.

Also, the only reason RLC was in the match today was because he was our only player on the bench that can play on the wing, when Pedro had to come off.

7 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

People forgetting how quality Kovacic has been.  Understandable that Barkley has moved ahead of him, but it’s clear that Sarri still has reservations about RLC’s tactical play.

Also, the only reason RLC was in the match today was because he was our only player on the bench that can play on the wing, when Pedro had to come off.

No, it was because he earned his spot in the squad ahead of Moses because of his performance in the Europa league, and if he keeps taking his chances, he will get in ahead of other players too.

Also, nobody is forgetting how good Kovacic has been so far, it's just that we need goals in this team and others are producing those goals when he isn't. We have struggled to kill off some games in vital moments at times because we have had too many players on the pitch who don't score enough goals.

Edited October 29, 20187 yr by Scott Harris

16 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Very good footballer, but he will be pushed out if Barkley and Loftus-Cheek keep scoring. It's harsh because he's a very good player, but it's the reality of the situation. We need goals from midfield because we lack goals in other areas.

As others have said I think you might start to see Kovacic competing with Kante for that right sided spot in midfield. 

End of the day he's here on loan and so if Barkley and RLC emerge this season and we don't need to sign him permanently then it's good for the club. 

But he is a quality player, no question and I can imagine he'll be keen to start scoring himself given RLC and Barkley's recent contributions.