1 hour ago, dkw said:

Anyone basing there entire arguments on things halfwit pundits said should have a long hard look at themselves... 

 

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Anyone basing there entire arguments on things halfwit pundits said should have a long hard look at themselves... 

Yeah, people who've played at the highest level of the game know less about it than people on here.  I'm a huge admirer of Kante as a player and person. This season  he's had a few very good games, some poor ones and a lot of very average ones. Before this season he rarely, if ever put in a less than 7/10 performance, but rarely would i rate him more than that this season. And no, i do not agree with those who say he should be just sitting in front of the back four, like Makalele did.  His position needs tweeking, so he can get back to providing more defensive cover, but also allowed the freedom to bomb forward when we have the ball. In other words, to get back to playing like he did when he was player of te year.

31 minutes ago, STATS said:

A lot of journos  and ex-pros are deluded tbh. They just jump on the bandwagon. They all jumped with the "Kante needs to play in his right position" etc and Jorginho should not be playing there. They don't realise that Kante is a B2B player but instead just say the cop out line. It is cringy. I would rather listen to the likes of Cundy and pundits who actually watch and know about Chelsea. There are other good pundits around but a lot of them just talk utter rubbish.

look at these muppets try to run from idea that they got it wrong with Jorghinho

 

Jorginho looked like he'd been found out. His passing was extremely limited and negative and he looked nowhere near fit or strong enough for the premiership. Not just the media, but many Chelsea fans were in agreement on him. Full credit goes to Jorginho for the way he's fought thu it and looking like a quality player now. Now, if a journo who was anti Jorginho refuses to admit that, then they are indeed a mug not worth listening too.

2 hours ago, Dixons said:

 

Yeah, people who've played at the highest level of the game know less about it than people on here. 

Garth Crooks played for very good Tottenham sides and led the line for two FA Cups and a uefa cup win yet as a pundit does Team of the weeks with Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden playing as wingback's. There's one thing being naturally gifted (and being guided tactically by top coaches) it's another having a good knowledge of the game on their own.

There's very few pundits who's opinion i'd go to for football related matters and even fewer for Chelsea. Far too many are bitter,clueless or both especially the players from the early 90's and earlier. The one's fresh out of retirement Scholes aside look promising(i liked Zabaleta at the WC2018) but early days, i imagine the current bitter one's were ok to begin with too.

That said i don't disagree with your assessment that Kante isn't as good as previous years, however i think the "problem" with him playing there is more emphasised by the lack of end product at LCM. No one worried about Essien, Maka and Mikel scoring bugger all between them because Lamps made up for it, the two month's RLC was fit and firing no one was getting worked up about Kante's end game either. We need a goalscoring CM more than we need to move Kante.

Edited May 30, 20197 yr by Argo

6 hours ago, Dixons said:

Or create them. Between Kova and Kante the combined goals and assists has been woeful! We got away with it this season, mainly because other teams were even worse. Moving forward,we need significant upgrades on those two. And yes, that does mean looking for someone better than Kante in that position. 

I'm sorry but I stopped taking you seriously the moment I saw "we need to upgrade on Kante",

Anyone defending pundits needs to look at Robbie Savage. Robbie Savage is genuinely an idiot, yet somehow manages to keep a career as one of the most prominent pundits in the game, and he wasn't even a god player. 

10 hours ago, Dixons said:

 

 Before this season he rarely, if ever put in a less than 7/10 performance, but rarely would i rate him more than that this season. 

Then you really should try watching the matches rather than listening to "experts". 

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Then you really should try watching the matches rather than listening to "experts". 

Have to say I think Wednesday was the best he has played for us by streets. But he doesn't have impact in the way you want from a 50m midfielder.

11 hours ago, robdog said:

look at these muppets try to run from idea that they got it wrong with Jorghinho

 

Struggled to watch more than 20 seconds of that.

9 hours ago, Deino said:

I'm sorry but I stopped taking you seriously the moment I saw "we need to upgrade on Kante",

I get the point he is making though; unless you have a forward 3 like Liverpool or a 20 league goal striker like Kane, you can’t afford to setup with a midfield 3 of Jorginho-Kante-Kovacic. The output of this trio ( 6gls 6assists) is less than what David Silva (6gls 8assists) alone produced. 

 

Say what you will, but this is the fourth european title for Kovacic in a row. 3CLs with Madrid, now the Europa League and his team made it to the world cup finals as well.

Leads me to believe that his impact on a squad is a lot more subtle than many people realize, since he didn't contribute goals to either of those teams.

5 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

Say what you will, but this is the fourth european title for Kovacic in a row. 3CLs with Madrid, now the Europa League and his team made it to the world cup finals as well.

Leads me to believe that his impact on a squad is a lot more subtle than many people realize, since he didn't contribute goals to either of those teams.

In the first champions league win he played 2 mins past the last 16.

In the second he played 6 mins totsl in the knockout stages.

In the 3rd he mansged to start 2 of the knockout gsmes including 1 of the semi finals. 

All in all i dont think you could give him much credit for the 1st two champions leagues. The 3rd he was more involved but nowhere near a key player, and in all 3 he was an unused sub in the final. 

2 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Have to say I think Wednesday was the best he has played for us by streets. But he doesn't have impact in the way you want from a 50m midfielder.

That wasn't about Kovacic. 

15 minutes ago, big blue said:

In the first champions league win he played 2 mins past the last 16.

In the second he played 6 mins totsl in the knockout stages.

In the 3rd he mansged to start 2 of the knockout gsmes including 1 of the semi finals. 

All in all i dont think you could give him much credit for the 1st two champions leagues. The 3rd he was more involved but nowhere near a key player, and in all 3 he was an unused sub in the final. 

So as much impact as Rob Green 

1 minute ago, big blue said:

In the first champions league win he played 2 mins past the last 16.

In the second he played 6 mins totsl in the knockout stages.

In the 3rd he mansged to start 2 of the knockout gsmes including 1 of the semi finals. 

All in all i dont think you could give him much credit for the 1st two champions leagues. The 3rd he was more involved but nowhere near a key player, and in all 3 he was an unused sub in the final.  

A football team is more than just the starting 11. Zidane had chosen his midfield in Madrid and if they were fit Modric, Kroos and Casemiro were going to play, no matter how many good performances their subs put in. The point is that there are tons of players of Kovacics caliber that will bring a bad attitude into a dressing room if they are not playing.

You are correct though; this was his first season as a regular starter in years (incidentally his first PL season as well) and despite people spitting on Kovacic the whole season the results at the end of the season paint a picture of success.

His main problem is that he is lacking balls, but this will only get better in time.

27 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

Say what you will, but this is the fourth european title for Kovacic in a row. 3CLs with Madrid, now the Europa League and his team made it to the world cup finals as well.

Leads me to believe that his impact on a squad is a lot more subtle than many people realize, since he didn't contribute goals to either of those teams.

He's not even near any key player though and winning titles with Real Madrid is him being at the right place at the right time.

5 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

He's not even near any key player though and winning titles with Real Madrid is him being at the right place at the right time.

Watch the game Madrid vs PSG two seasons ago. He frustrated Verratti to the point Verratti earned himself a red card. It's not easy to play against PSG these dasys.

I'm not saying I would start him every game, but wanting Drinkwater over him in the squad is criminal.

Edited May 31, 20197 yr by Vagabond

5 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

Watch the game Madrid vs PSG two seasons ago. He frustrated Verratti to the point Verratti earned himself a red card. It's not easy to play against PSG these dasys.

I'm not saying I would start him every game, but wanting Drinkwater over him in the squad is criminal.

I'm fine without having both of them. Kovacic knows how to run with the ball but he's underwhelming, if only he was a bit faster he could have been a nice winger.

Edited May 31, 20197 yr by Gol15

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I'm fine without having both of them. Kovacic knows how to run with the ball but he's underwhelming, if only he was a bit faster he could have been a nice winger.

So you want to go into the new season with... ?

3 hours ago, dkw said:

Then you really should try watching the matches rather than listening to "experts". 

Again, up until this season Kante would have been a contender for player of the year,with both the writers and players. Do you honestly think he was anywhere close to being one of the best this year?

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

I get the point he is making though; unless you have a forward 3 like Liverpool or a 20 league goal striker like Kane, you can’t afford to setup with a midfield 3 of Jorginho-Kante-Kovacic. The output of this trio ( 6gls 6assists) is less than what David Silva (6gls 8assists) alone produced. 

 

Exactly!

7 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

So you want to go into the new season with... ?

Give a chance to Ampadu and other younglings because Kovacic is overpriced. Either way we need at least 1 new midfielder, 1 centre back and 1 striker...at the very least.

3 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Give a chance to Ampadu and other younglings because Kovacic is overpriced. Either way we need at least 1 new midfielder, 1 centre back and 1 striker...at the very least. 

With Ampadu over Kovacic we are back to Europa League at the end of next season, maybe not even that.

Just now, Vagabond said:

With Ampadu over Kovacic we are back to Europa League at the end of next season, maybe not even that.

Our squad left without any new player for the next season will go back to Europa league anyway, just watch as Manchester teams spend crazy and so will others do as well, maybe not Liverpool, we will be left behind if nobody from the youth comes in and makes an impact.

Kovacic is average, just because he could sign for us even if we get the ban doesn't mean that we should commit to that signing at any cost...Though I think Sarri would like to keep him, even so IMO we need at 3 new players and some of them can be from our own youth.

11 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Give a chance to Ampadu and other younglings because Kovacic is overpriced. Either way we need at least 1 new midfielder, 1 centre back and 1 striker...at the very least.

A centre back again? Shouldn’t have given Luiz a new contract then. We have Rudiger, Christensen, Luiz & an excellent Zouma returning from loan.

Midfield; yes we need a No 10 desperately who can create & score. 

We also desperately need a winger who can replace Hazard’s output. Willian & Pedro won’t cut it. All this assumes we defer the ban.