Of course, when you say "we" that is in no way all encompassing.
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Of course, when you say "we" that is in no way all encompassing.
Do you rate Ozil?
I don't fully agree. Kane was more or less non existent because of the shape of the Chelsea midfield generally. We created a number of opportunities through areas that Kante should have been patrolling. I like Kante as a player and I'm far from knocking him but he didn't have a particularly great game yesterday and had we been just a tiny bit more clinical we may have punished them in the first half because we had the better chances.
His game was to literally shut down Kane and Son.
Would you say Kane and Son were shut down? Or were they at the same level of previous games?
Kante wasn't as good as Kovacic who was arguably the best performing midfielder on the pitch - but he had a great game
By his own standards I didn't think Kante was a standout at all.
Let's be clear here. I think he is better than Sissoko by a fair margin, as an all round footballer. Make absolutely no mistake.
Kane and Son were indeed kept fairly quiet yesterday but then so were a succession of Chelsea players.
Chelsea created their best opportunities from crosses from the right, as you'd expect against a team deploying the tactics Spurs game against them.
Where was Werner? That's right, more or less rendered useless by the work of Sissoko.
By one of the most successful managers in World Club football
The former International coach of Norway used to say that Øivind Leonhardsen was the world's best footballer without a ball.
Running, working hard, filling in positions etc are not sexy attributes, but extremely underrated by most football fans. Sissoko might not be everyone's favourite player, but he plays an important role, albeit one that would be possible to upgrade on.
Running, working hard, filling in positions etc are not sexy attributes, but extremely underrated by most football fans. Sissoko might not be everyone's favourite player, but he plays an important role, albeit one that would be possible to upgrade on.
By his usual high standard, no.
But I do think Ndombele going passed him a few times is clouding peoples judgement. Ndombele would walk through prime Makelele too such is his ability. But Kante mopped everything up in a Chelsea midfield that dominated for basically 90 minutes.
Of course, the way we approached the game was always going to have Chelsea dominate the ball and try and pick them off - except it didn't work much for us because of the likes of Kante who worked tirelessly to limit Kane's time on the ball.
Chelsea's best chances were actually from our right hand side. Cross in the box that Abraham should have scored, the Werner disallowed goal and Giroud right at the end....
Sure, we let James cross in numerous times from our left hand side, but I don't really remember too many attempts that troubled us from it.
Werner had a quiet game, sure. Like I said, he had the on form Aurier to deal with as well as Sissoko, who kept up with him all game.
Again, I didn't say Sissoko didn't do a good job on Werner. I said it was a job that anyone who's disciplined, physical and fit could do and that it wasn't anything special. Sissoko at the moment is lucky that his competition for a place in the team right now is Harry Winks - because he ticks a lot more boxes than Winks in games like Chelsea where we need that physically fit and disciplined runner to stay out of the centre of the park (due to his poor limitations) and follow a wide man instead.
Sissoko's job was to shut down Werner .... anyone watching would have seen that, even JJ spotted it.
Werner - 0 Goals, 0 Assist, 1 shot blocked, no KP's, no dribbles, no headers won, completed just 70% of his attempted passes, Werner was substituted after 74 minutes with his lowest rating of the season ...
Who gives a fuck about Kante? Sissoko's job was to stop Werner, so ask yourselves did he succeed?
Sure he didn't save a penalty nor did he score a hat-trick, nor did he paint the Mona Lisa at half time ... that wasn't his role so why talk about it?
Werner - 0 Goals, 0 Assist, 1 shot blocked, no KP's, no dribbles, no headers won, completed just 70% of his attempted passes, Werner was substituted after 74 minutes with his lowest rating of the season ...
Who gives a fuck about Kante? Sissoko's job was to stop Werner, so ask yourselves did he succeed?
Sure he didn't save a penalty nor did he score a hat-trick, nor did he paint the Mona Lisa at half time ... that wasn't his role so why talk about it?
Not everybody can track and follow fast players when they make runs. I wouldn't imagine for instance it being a good idea to put winks there to do the same job against Werner. He's done a different job evertime in the games vs united city and chelsea imo. Jose likes him because of this. With our front 4 we shouldn't be worrying about what he contributes in an attacking sense imo. If jose tells him to just worry about tracking thats what he'll do. If he tells him to come right across be aggressive put a foot in and provide an outlet for aurier that's what he'll do, in fact there was an instance where aurier was a bit trapped and he came right over and gave him the option that allowed us to get the ball safe, but there is no stat for this but things like that are pivotal if you are to defend well and as a team. Some would of stood there and let aurier try do it by himself and losing possession there with a few players around and breaking is just a recipe for disaster. He wasn't outstanding yesterday but there is a very good reason week in week out he's in Jose's first 11.
Physical can be a factor but in a midfielder it's no more vital than tenacity, dynamism, stamina, intelligence and none are very viable without some technical footballing ability because....you know.....this is football first and foremost.
Sometimes being a "unit" is actually a hindrance in football, as it hinders movement, dexterity, stamina and the ability to turn quickly - all vital in football for a player playing in midfield - a position that requires 360 degree thinking and movement.
You're right, not everybody can.
This is why Sissoko is preferred to Winks - he's alot more physical, he's stronger, covers more ground and is willing to run up and down to follow a man.
However, there are plenty of players out there who will listen to a coach's instruction of following a man, nullifying certain players who have the physical attributes mixed in with footballing ability.
In fact, I have no doubt Hojbjerg could have done it with ease.
Problem then is, we'd have no one to do what Hojbjerg does so well in the centre of the park.
It's a position we absolutely need to upgrade on in the summer - maybe that is where Skipp comes in and around the squad.
I don’t think Kane was literally non existent. I saw him on the telly.
Nor did he enable us to get out of our half for massive chunks of the game. Anyone watching hing saw that too.
He did his space filler job well. Nobody is denying this. He did nothing else well though, which heavily contributed to us doing nothing and having an X/G of 0.23.
It's great that he played a part in our second bus park of the week. But some of us would just like to advance to bus park plus 2.0 where we get out of our half more than 3 times. To do that we need to upgrade to a player who can shuffle par excellence between RB and RCB but also pass it forwards more than 4 times in 94 minutes.
Which for the record, JJ has also pointed out about Sissoko n MOTD.
Last two weeks Hojbjerg has done the same (LB/LCB channel blocking) remit on the left, he was covering KDB/Mahrez last week for example - whilst still also managing to play some football.
That's the point some of us are making isn't it. As you say above, you don't have to spend a fortune to find a player who can follow a simple defensive remit in a bus park, whilst also able to actually play some football.
I don't think Jose will want to let him go. If he trusts you I think he's loyal and if you do the job he asks of you he is happy. We all know his limitations I personally think there is a better player in there and that he just lacks belief myself. The thing is with Moussa is he's an absolute beast and it's must be intimidating to smaller players with him tracking and getting physical with you. He does a lot of the little things like taking pressure off with dribbles later in the game with slender leads etc (like lucas) which go unnoticed.
You list good players who could fill that role. We couldn't get any of them though unless they were in the last year of their contract. They're all regulars for their team and Levy just doesn't do those kinds of deals with premier league teams.
PEH - last year
Doherty - last year
Hart - Free
Bale/Reguilon/Rodon/Vinicus/ all from outside the premier league.
If you scout those kinds of players outside the premier league, or they get to 1 year left then I'm sure Levy and Jose would love to know.
I don't think we'll get rid of him - but he'll be benched for a superior player who does the exact same job but can play football too.
I reckon Bissouma could quite easily fill the role. Physical. Strong. I'm sure he can follow Mourinhos instructions. He can also play abit too.
Though he'll have 2 years left on his deal in the summer.
Doherty wasn't in his last year by the way - his contract was up in 2023.
He starts every week for the team top of the table mate.
TOP.
The other 5 couldn#t get him if they wanted him.