N'Golo Kante

[Essien19 1,415]

Pogba was always going to be a starter. 

Kanté started the competition and performed really well, he was along with Payet the best French performers, however, he got suspended and Sissoko had a brilliant game against Iceland, additionally to offering width and pace going forward, which the french team lacked, so he got the spot for the last two games. 

We on the other hand desperately need a pure, strong 6. 

Fair points, but Matuidi made the cut. Yeah Kanté is a bit different, i get that.

The questions remain, how will Kanté perform outside the system? Drinkwater was important, at Chelsea it's different.

Is he good enough with the ball at his feet, how about his intelligence... overall the price is fair but far from a present.

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

12 minutes ago, Costa19 said:

And according to you he cant do this with Hazard in the same side? BS.

 

You ignored the post about him being invisible defensively. Also, attacking wise, apart from those two situations he is very average. What else does he bring? Tell me? He's no metronome who controls how we play, he can't dribble or shoot and his corners are average. In matches with space, his defensive weakness can be outweighed by his incisive passing. With no space, he is a passenger. Just watch any game against the top 6 we have played against. 

Which brings me back to my main point, considering hazard is pretty average at tracking back, fabregas is atrocious defensively and space is generally of confined suppressing the situations he's actually good in - we should not have both fabregas and hazard in the starting 11 against the big teams. 

we would even be better off dropping him for another striker. 

[Fernando 6,453]

Chelsea close to completing £29.2m deal for N’Golo Kanté

Kanté and Chelsea manager Antonio Conte have been in contact over deal
• Midfielder has already told Leicester he wants to leave club this summer

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/15/chelsea-close-to-completing-deal-for-ngolo-kante-leicester-city

[Costa19 858]

9 minutes ago, Supermonkey92 said:

You ignored the post about him being invisible defensively. Also, attacking wise, apart from those two situations he is very average. What else does he bring? Tell me? He's no metronome who controls how we play, he can't dribble or shoot and his corners are average. In matches with space, his defensive weakness can be outweighed by his incisive passing. With no space, he is a passenger. Just watch any game against the top 6 we have played against. 

Which brings me back to my main point, considering hazard is pretty average at tracking back, fabregas is atrocious defensively and space is generally of confined suppressing the situations he's actually good in - we should not have both fabregas and hazard in the starting 11 against the big teams. 

we would even be better off dropping him for another striker. 

No i did not. Fabregas strong side is not to defend, im with you on that. I just think its deluded to believe that Fabregas and Hazard cant play in the same side - as you wrote. 

[Persona 29]

Nothing Deschamps did made sense, so trying to make sense of his lack of Kante use will yield nothing. He played Pogba completely out of position to the point where he had no impact on the game, and the strikers he brought were an embarrassment. Gameiro and Lacazette both should have been there. But that's for a different thread.

[iseah100 5,612]

Maybe he can get Matic to stop playing like shit.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

17 minutes ago, Costa19 said:

No i did not. Fabregas strong side is not to defend, im with you on that. I just think its deluded to believe that Fabregas and Hazard cant play in the same side - as you wrote. 

They can both play in games with space, in fact with the players we have currently I'd prefer that. But in the big games we should not play both. 

[Gilvorak 3,734]

I'm starting to like the idea of playing 3 at the back more & more. RWB would be Willian's best position(would hide his glaring flaws), Hazard would be given the ultimate freedom as a #10, Conte/Michy play best with a strike partner & it could potentially prolong JT's career as a starter if we sign Koulibaly.

I think we'd have to bin Cesc though. He's just too slow. What does everyone else think?

[Tomo 21,733]

1 minute ago, Gilvorak said:

I'm starting to like the idea of playing 3 at the back more & more. RWB would be Willian's best position(would hide his glaring flaws), Hazard would be given the ultimate freedom as a #10, Conte/Michy play best with a strike partner & it could potentially prolong JT's career as a starter if we sign Koulibaly.

I think we'd have to bin Cesc though. He's just too slow. What does everyone else think?

Cesc would be the sacrifice, just as he would be in 4-4-2, although in big games i can see Hazard playing behind one striker in that formation with more beef added to the middle.

Hopefully if that formation is used it depends on the opposition, vs Arsenals passing game 3-5-2 would work a treat, but teams who like to use width and stretch play, like Spurs, not as much.

[Diego 433]

Why is everyone trying to guess which formation we are going to use? Conte hasn't even had a training session with the full squad, i bet he has decided yet! Like he said he will use the tactics that fit the available players the best 

[Leif 6,006]

Like Conte said, he's a tailor, and in my opinion our body shape hasn't changed in a while. So with that said, there's no need to change our formation/suit, is there? With some incoming players like Kante, perhaps we put on or lose a little weight, and so 1 little adjustment or so will be made, but nothing radical is going to happen.

[Adnane 1,101]

10 minutes ago, Gilvorak said:

I'm starting to like the idea of playing 3 at the back more & more. RWB would be Willian's best position(would hide his glaring flaws), Hazard would be given the ultimate freedom as a #10, Conte/Michy play best with a strike partner & it could potentially prolong JT's career as a starter if we sign Koulibaly.

I think we'd have to bin Cesc though. He's just too slow. What does everyone else think?

Zouma - JT - Koulibaly ( or else ) 

Willian-Kanté-Matic-Azpilicueta(Baba)

Hazard

Costa-Bashuayi

 

Could be brilliant indeed, but we need a good LWB, the 3-5-2 relies heavily on the offensive contribution of the wingers, we all know that Azpilicueta on his bad foot is struggling offensively and we're still waiting to see how Baba will perform on his second year. 

But assuming we drop Cesc, yeah, the potential is there.

[the wes 7,212]

N'Golo Kanté made more tackles (146) & interceptions (134) than any other player in 2015-16 PL. #CFC [Opta]

[Mufassir08 2,400]

How about Kante, Matic and Cesc in a midfield three? 

 

Matic

Cesc-Kante

[samzilla 517]

kante stop, won't stop!

[Styles 9,790]

38 minutes ago, Gilvorak said:

I'm starting to like the idea of playing 3 at the back more & more. RWB would be Willian's best position(would hide his glaring flaws), Hazard would be given the ultimate freedom as a #10, Conte/Michy play best with a strike partner & it could potentially prolong JT's career as a starter if we sign Koulibaly.

I think we'd have to bin Cesc though. He's just too slow. What does everyone else think?

I'm in favour of binning Fabregas, never mind the formation / tactics. Think Conte will figure things out pretty quickly.

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

23 minutes ago, Adnane said:

Zouma - JT - Koulibaly ( or else ) 

Willian-Kanté-Matic-Azpilicueta(Baba)

Hazard

Costa-Bashuayi

 

Could be brilliant indeed, but we need a good LWB, the 3-5-2 relies heavily on the offensive contribution of the wingers, we all know that Azpilicueta on his bad foot is struggling offensively and we're still waiting to see how Baba will perform on his second year. 

But assuming we drop Cesc, yeah, the potential is there.

Notice how flexible that is. If apzi drops back its a straight forward back for, hazard drifts to his normal position on the left and we have a 442. 

Also easy for a switch to a diamond. Apzi drops back, matic or Kante moves to a LCM. It's all really fluid. 

I remember AVB once saying that formations aren't that important as it changes so much in a match. 

But from my limited knowledge of Conte, a 352 has certain stricture to it i.e some positions aren't fluid but a player has his area on the pitch. At least it's very easy to switch during a match without subs. 

[AK-3001 286]

Funny how people think Conte will bin Fabregas.

 

This is the same Conte that got Pirlo into the Juventus side and played him to his strengths and very much hid his weaknesses (which were a lot for a Juventus player in a 3 man midfield). 

 

It's needless to say that Fabregas in form is one of the best players in squad. He is one of the best passers of the ball in the football world and against clubs that sit back, he's the key to the lock.