What's going on with kante? After watching the game and seeing comments online his performance, it seems to have split fans down the middle. They either love the fact he's finally playing holding midfield and we've won 3 in 3 since the restart, against 2 of the top 4 sides in the country without conceding a goal from open play. Or think he's playing terribly and doesn't suit the role.
For me personally I'm somewhere in the middle, I do not and have never thought his best role is purely holding midfield. In playing him there you limit one of his biggest assets, the guy is a beast of a box to box midfielder and when in "search and destroy" mode is undoubtedly the best in the world at what he does for me. Covering the length of the pitch retrieving the ball in attacking positions before sides know what to do while still being able to run the length of the pitch and sniff out danger at the other end with the same energy in the 90th minute that he had in the first. In order to do this he needs a midfield partner willing to sit while he goes to retrieve the ball and work in tandem with him.
In the role he's currently playing as a shield, the cover he gives to a weak back 4 is clear to see and its importance to a side who have been defensively shaky at best all season cannot be understated. But in doing this you lose one of his biggest assets. For me we have the perfect player to play this role in kovacic, he's athletic, robust with a low centre of gravity and good on the ball, he can run the game from deep with his passing ability and ball retention.
Talk of selling kante seems crazy to me, we're assembling a young hungry squad but at 29 he is far from past it and the guy is a winner who when used correctly is world class. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water, just slightly tweak out system to let kovacic and him interchange but have kovacic as the slightly deeper lying player. If we do that I think the base for our attacking talent to go and play without endless defensive responsibility is there.
What do you think?
Kante
posted on 29/6/20
- I think Kante playing as a lone DM is equal to Kante being ‘out of position’ as I think he has been since Conte left. In Sarri’s 4-3-3 and first half of this season thought he was too advanced, and part of the reason he hasn’t hit his high standards heights since Conte left (for me). In general, in a 4-3-3 I don’t think there’s quite one position that suits him (unless we had a real goalscoring advanced midfielder next to him).
So to maybe concisely put my argument..Jante as a DM or Kante as an advanced player can be fine for the most part and put in 6-7/10 performances. But we we won’t see the Kante of Leicester or the Kante of Conte.
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Agree with all of this
He's a 90's player in a 21st century football world. Was made for two man midfields
posted on 29/6/20
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posted on 29/6/20
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posted on 29/6/20
Kante is what he is - an old fashioned shielding player. He's quick, nimble and makes countless interceptions and tackles but he's not very good technically which means he often loses the ball due to bad distribution. Playing him as an attacking midfielder is folly imo. In games against city etc when we're soaking up pressure, he's a must have - in games when we have 70% possession, Jorginho is better.
posted on 30/6/20
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posted on 30/6/20
I saw online that he had most touches most passes and most possession regained for us this weekend. Make of that what you will. I thought he was decent. Some people said he had a poor game which I didn’t understand. Still prefer him as a box to box though.
posted on 30/6/20
comment by Eric_Draven (U20260)
posted 21 hours, 26 minutes ago
Kante is what he is - an old fashioned shielding player. He's quick, nimble and makes countless interceptions and tackles but he's not very good technically which means he often loses the ball due to bad distribution. Playing him as an attacking midfielder is folly imo. In games against city etc when we're soaking up pressure, he's a must have - in games when we have 70% possession, Jorginho is better.
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Kante not very good technically? Are you serious? Do you really pay attention? I rank Kante as one of the most technically gifted players we have. If you will stop looking out for his interceptions and tackles and just watch his movements, dribbles, drop shoulders, passes, you will realize how technically gifted he is
posted on 30/6/20
I saw online that he had most touches most passes and most possession regained for us this weekend
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That's normal for the DM in a 433, the first two especially, to this day Mikel (on paper) looks like a beast in those things. If those stats aren't there it says more about the inability of the team to play the system than the DM's performance
posted on 30/6/20
I think both sides of the argument are right. A midfield three is not Kante's natural position full-stop. However, he is still able to put in some great performances in both positions depending on who he plays with and who he is playing against - so the key is finding the right balance.
Against teams who press us (like City and Leicester) it is clear as day that Kante is not comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder. It is not a position that requires energy, nor does it allow Kante to showcase his dribbling skills. So what you are left with is a midfielder who reads the game very well, but whose passing ability falls short of helping us maintain possession and build attacks. Really in these kind of games, or games where it is more of a level playing field he should be playing RCM.
Now against teams where we are expected to have the lion's share of possession, it makes more sense using Kante as a CDM. His ability to cover such a large area of the pitch will allow us the luxury of playing two attacking mids, so in theory it solves the two issues we've have had this season against teams who park the bus: another attacking/goal-scoring threat to help break teams down and a midfielder mobile enough to prevent us from getting counter-attacked.
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Very persuasive argument (the last paragraph), can see what you mean completely
posted on 1/7/20
comment by The Blue Texan (U11585)
posted 20 hours, 58 minutes ago
comment by Eric_Draven (U20260)
posted 21 hours, 26 minutes ago
Kante is what he is - an old fashioned shielding player. He's quick, nimble and makes countless interceptions and tackles but he's not very good technically which means he often loses the ball due to bad distribution. Playing him as an attacking midfielder is folly imo. In games against city etc when we're soaking up pressure, he's a must have - in games when we have 70% possession, Jorginho is better.
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Kante not very good technically? Are you serious? Do you really pay attention? I rank Kante as one of the most technically gifted players we have. If you will stop looking out for his interceptions and tackles and just watch his movements, dribbles, drop shoulders, passes, you will realize how technically gifted he is
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I actually think he has a terrible touch. He loses the ball a lot, overruns and his passing and dribbling are not great. I see the argument for him as a box to box midfielder but I think it's his quickness and strength that are special.