I've never been a fan of him and he still leaves me underwhelmed.

Lots of huff and puff but at the end of a game I always find it hard to remember anything from him that stood out. 

He's one of those players opponents are happy to let him have the ball because they know he he won't  do much with it.

Not a bad player, just a consistently bang average one. 

 

Easily one of our best dribblers at the club, just wish he had an end product at times, Would love to see him score a minimum of 5 goals at least a season, but he isn't great in that department unfortunately.

 

No one doutbs his dribbling and technical ability on the ball. But the same old problem of no end product is still there.  Dribbling past 3 players in the middle of the pitch might look pretty but it doesn't hurt the oppositon.

8 minutes ago, Dixon said:

No one doutbs his dribbling and technical ability on the ball. But the same old problem of no end product is still there.  Dribbling past 3 players in the middle of the pitch might look pretty but it doesn't hurt the oppositon.

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

16 minutes ago, Sindre said:

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

Yes. He played some great passes yesterday but unfortunately the recipients failed to capitalise on them. On another day at least one of them might have resulted in a goal and we wouldn’t be hearing from the naysayers.

32 minutes ago, Sindre said:

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

Couldn’t have said it better.

1 hour ago, Sindre said:

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

I've never had any problem seeing what Modric brings to a team.  For me, Kova is like Carrick at Utd, who was another player some fans loved but others thought was a bit meh.

11 minutes ago, Dixon said:

I've never had any problem seeing what Modric brings to a team.  For me, Kova is like Carrick at Utd, who was another player some fans loved but others thought was a bit meh.

Kova is more like Modric imo.. But difference is that Modric have deadly front 3 who make something out of his passes.. Also he has years of experience in Real (great understandig with his teammates), also modric transfer was considered as the biggest flop for RM. Do i need to tell you how that turned out? With better front 3 Kova will look even better then now. Give Kova, actully give the whole team some time to make their own chemistry between them. Many players are young and many of them are playing their first or second season in chelsea including Lampard as a coach. 

Edited July 15, 20206 yr by Dbstf0222

I think right now its 

       Kante

Kovacic      Mount

4 hours ago, Sindre said:

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

Modric won Ballon D'or because he is the leader of his national team which went to the World Cup final. He didn't get it because of how he played in La Liga and CL.

Edited July 15, 20206 yr by Gol15

7 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Modric won Ballon D'or because he is the leader of his national team which went to the World Cup final. He didn't get it because of how he played in La Liga and CL.

You honestly believe he won the Ballon D'or purely for his international games? Surely you're not that daft to believe that.

I love Kova and I think he does a lot more than some give him credit for. Every time he's on the pitch our whole team looks different. But for the love of god... don't compare him to Modric lol

4 hours ago, Sindre said:

But passes and transitions into the final third does and Kovacic is one of the best in the league at it. That's end product enough for a player in Kovacics role.

Not everyone needs to score or directly assist. Someone needs to be responsible for bringing the ball up to our attackers and Kova is that man. Similar to what Luka Modric has done for Real Madrid for the last several years really. He scored one goal and had six assists the season he won the Ballon D'or. And no one complained about his end product to put it that way.

Moutinho aswell, didn't get a single goal or assist in the league for AVB's unbeaten Porto but was widely regarded as their most important player, even over Falcao and Hulk.

Just now, Argo said:

Moutinho aswell, didn't get a single goal or assist in the league for AVB's unbeaten Porto but was widely regarded as their most important player, even over Falcao and Hulk.

Same with Verrati.

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

You honestly believe he won the Ballon D'or purely for his international games? Surely you're not that daft to believe that.

It's the only logical reasoning out there. The World Cup has a lot of weight and Modric was a big underdog, you can't prove that Messi wasn't the best player in La Liga that season and you can't prove that Ronaldo wasn't the best in CL either.

9 minutes ago, Vagabond said:

I love Kova and I think he does a lot more than some give him credit for. Every time he's on the pitch our whole team looks different. But for the love of god... don't compare him to Modric lol

Why not? They're similar playstyles. No one is saying he's as good. 

3 hours ago, Dbstf0222 said:

Kova is more like Modric imo.. But difference is that Modric have deadly front 3 who make something out of his passes.. Also he has years of experience in Real (great understandig with his teammates), also modric transfer was considered as the biggest flop for RM. Do i need to tell you how that turned out? With better front 3 Kova will look even better then now. Give Kova, actully give the whole team some time to make their own chemistry between them. Many players are young and many of them are playing their first or second season in chelsea including Lampard as a coach. 

I really like him as a player this season. I was very much against us signing him in the summer but I was wrong on that. 
 

I do think he has a role in the team and is brilliant on his day but unfortunately as soon as he hits the final third it’s like he turns in to Mikel. Abraham made a fantastic run when he came on last night and all Kova had to do was play it in the big space between the CB’s and he ended up going to the side and giving it to Reece (I think). He’s just not got that eye for a final ball, which at times is fine, I’m not looking for him to chip it over the back line but that was a simple pass yesterday. His ball retention and work rate is exceptional and he glides past players with the ball. I just wish he could add the final ball at least some of the time.

1 minute ago, EdinburghBlue said:

I really like him as a player this season. I was very much against us signing him in the summer but I was wrong on that. 
 

I do think he has a role in the team and is brilliant on his day but unfortunately as soon as he hits the final third it’s like he turns in to Mikel. Abraham made a fantastic run when he came on last night and all Kova had to do was play it in the big space between the CB’s and he ended up going to the side and giving it to Reece (I think). He’s just not got that eye for a final ball, which at times is fine, I’m not looking for him to chip it over the back line but that was a simple pass yesterday. His ball retention and work rate is exceptional and he glides past players with the ball. I just wish he could add the final ball at least some of the time.

He doesn't have that final ball instinct but he should really take a few long range shots per game, he actually scored one of the most clean strikes this season but he lacks the guts to just shoot it from time to time. I believe that Lampard tried already to encourage him to have a more free role so I expect him to score goals next season.

36 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Why not? They're similar playstyles. No one is saying he's as good. 

The only thing similar is their superb ball control and press resistance. Kova has better dribbling in general and is a bit quicker, but Modric is much more intelligent in his movement, can shoot and has unbelievable vision.

I don't think Kova will ever come close to Modric simply because of the way their careers went. Modric left spuds because he wanted to win some titles for a change while Mateo doesn't really care for titles anymore, he just wants to play. He'll always be missing that little bit of grit. I hope I'm wrong, but I follow Mateo since his days at Inter and Modric for his last season at Tottenham (RM is my favourite spanish club and both were linked to it).

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

You honestly believe he won the Ballon D'or purely for his international games? Surely you're not that daft to believe that.

I think it’s fair to say Modric wouldn’t have got the ballon d’or if he hadn’t got to the World Cup final with Croatia. BUT - the World Cup is a pretty huge thing. It’s not like it should be discounted in the selection process. What players do on that stage is remembered forever: a reason why Maradona is a greater legend than Messi will ever be, even if Messi is the better player . Modric’s performances at the WC were phenomenal. On the biggest stage of all, he showed the world what a remarkable and complete player he is / was (sadly he is on the wrong side of that hill now). If a player wins the ballon d’or based on CL performances, we don’t say “he wouldn’t have won it if his team hadn’t won the CL”, right? Whether he deserved the ballon d’or or not, he’s still one of the all-time greats.

15 minutes ago, Dean said:

I think it’s fair to say Modric wouldn’t have got the ballon d’or if he hadn’t got to the World Cup final with Croatia. BUT - the World Cup is a pretty huge thing. It’s not like it should be discounted in the selection process. What players do on that stage is remembered forever: a reason why Maradona is a greater legend than Messi will ever be, even if Messi is the better player . Modric’s performances at the WC were phenomenal. On the biggest stage of all, he showed the world what a remarkable and complete player he is / was (sadly he is on the wrong side of that hill now). If a player wins the ballon d’or based on CL performances, we don’t say “he wouldn’t have won it if his team hadn’t won the CL”, right? Whether he deserved the ballon d’or or not, he’s still one of the all-time greats.

That's exactly the point, he was a machine during the WC. Croatia beat Messi's Argentina in the group stage 3:0 and then had 120min games all the way through all knockout games till the final.

If Messi had done that, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have won that individual prize. This is why I pointed it out, the WC matters a lot and Modric didn't have Kroos,Ronaldo and Ramos but he still delivered.

Kova either needs to learn how to shoot, how to make the final pass or learn how to score free kicks. 

He lacks the scoring instincts to make full use of his talents

23 hours ago, Deino said:

Kova either needs to learn how to shoot, how to make the final pass or learn how to score free kicks. 

He lacks the scoring instincts to make full use of his talents

Kovacic is never going to be great in those areas, so we may as well just get used to it and make the most of what he can do. I like that he can dribble around the half way line and take a bunch of opposition players out of the game and pass the ball on to the attacking players. For me, the attacking players need to make more of what he offers them. 

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Kovacic is never going to be great in those areas, so we may as well just get used to it and make the most of what he can do. I like that he can dribble around the half way line and take a bunch of opposition players out of the game and pass the ball on to the attacking players. For me, the attacking players need to make more of what he offers them. 

I agree on the latter part of your post. He is still 26, plenty of time to develop his game. Modric wasn't a serial goalscorer either but he did have a couple of nice goals from outside the box. 

I'd be happy if Kova can at least do that when the opportunity presents itself

This 'why do we struggle to break down teams who get a lot of men behind the ball and moans about lack of midfield creativity?'  is consistently brought up in match day threads.  Well what do we expect when we have Kova, Kante and Jorgino?  We can't say it's not Kova's job to create or score, the same with the other two, then bitch about lack of creativity from them. 

Edited July 16, 20206 yr by Dixon