All the talk at the start of this week has been about Conte, the Italian due to take over as Chelsea manager next season.
Instead though, I want to talk about Kante, the superb Leicester City midfielder.
First name N’Golo, born in Paris in 1991 the newly capped French international has taken the Premier League by storm this season. In a team of absolute heroes at Premier League champions elect Leicester, he is the man that stands out for me, even more than any of his teammates.
Watching the entirety of the Foxes fixture with Southampton only confirmed this for me. He is an absolute pain in the backside for players trying to break through the lines against City.
His positional sense, his reading of the game is second to none, on top of that he manages to nick the ball off an opponent without fouling them on so many occasions. His use of the ball then is spot on. Whenever and wherever the Southampton team tried to push through the ranks they found Kante closing space, nipping at their heels and ready to pounce on any poor touch or misplaced pass.
If you watch his game he does not just sit in front of the defence, he is not your typical defensive midfielder. What makes him different is his energy.
Whereas some of the greats in his role of years gone by such as Makelele, Dunga, Simeone managed everything in front of them from a more central position maybe 80% of the time, for Kante this is more like 60% of the time. He does a fair amount of his work out wide as Drinkwater tucks in to cover, assisting his fullbacks and even after winning the ball, Kante then wants it back in a more advanced position to assist the Foxes on the counter attack.
That attitude and purpose to win the ball back and help push his team forward, as well as his phenomenal fitness levels (nod to Ranieri and his staff for keeping him fit) really separate him from the rest of the defensive midfielders union.
The statistics back this up too.
139 tackles this season. That is sixteen more than the man in second place in the Premier League for the same statistic. Interceptions, he is second best in the top flight. And some people say stats are over rated!
What really made my mind up about writing about Kante in this piece though, was in fact not how well he performed against Southampton, but how well Manchester United and Everton’s defensive midfielders (especially the ageing Michael Carrick) did in comparison in their match later on Sunday afternoon.
How boring was that game? There is only so many times you can watch the ball played back to the goalkeeper from advanced positions before you want to turn over, or even better stick a re-run of Pointless on. What a television show that is by the way.
At no point during the City game with Saints did I feel the need to reach for the remote though.
Leicester’s whole season has been built on their ability to get the ball forward quickly. Drinkwater and Kante have done this superbly.
At the start of the campaign City were much more of an unknown quantity. They were shocking teams with their now clear undoubted ability their players willingness to support their forward men when the opportunity was there to do so.
Teams would go at Leicester and attack them, usually to the Foxes advantage. Now teams are wary of the threats throughout the City team, including Kante, that they almost by default don’t press quite as high and don’t quite create as many opportunities against them.
The whole Leicester City story is something I have spoken about before but it is definitely worth mentioning more than once. I, like the rest of the country hope the brilliant former Caen midfielder Kante and his teammates are lifting the Premier League trophy come the end of May.
Here is your round up of the games from the weekend:
Aston Villa 0 Chelsea 4 – You could be forgiven for thinking Villa’s full name was now ‘Aston Villa Nil’. I promise you it is not though. They have failed to score in their last four matches.
Arsenal 4 Watford 0 – Some revenge against Watford for the Gunners defeat to them in the FA Cup quarter finals. This win means Arsenal have bagged exactly two points per game in home fixtures this season.
Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 4 – Despite being out injured for a lengthy spell De Bruyne is still second in City’s Premier League goal scoring charts on six.
Norwich City 3 Newcastle United 2 – A great game in East Anglia, unless you are a Newcastle fan of course. They have now lost eight consecutive games on the road in the Premier League.
Stoke City 2 Swansea City 2 – The home side have lost just one in their last seven including this fixture, however they will be disappointed with a draw in this one after being 2-0 up.
Sunderland 0 West Bromwich Albion 0 – Forty point mark achieved for the Baggies. What a time to be alive! This game also saw the seventh game this season where the Baggies have failed to register a single shot on target. Zzzz.
West Ham United 2 Crystal Palace 2 – Unfortunately for readers of TEB, Palace are still the only team in the top four tiers of football in England yet to win a league game in 2016.
Liverpool 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1 – The home side in this encounter let their one goal lead slip. In Premier League games this season they have dropped a league high seventeen points from leading positions.
Leicester City 1 Southampton 0 – This was City’s fourth 1-0 win on the bounce and their fifth in six games. There is a betting tip in there somewhere!
Manchester United 1 Everton 0 – This defeat was the Toffee’s 200th away from home in the flight.
Cheers for reading.
