Napoli explains Chelsea: Sarri will not expect offence from N’Golo Kante

Maurizio Sarri knows what he wants from each of his midfielders and his forwards. Based on the patterns he established at Napoli, he will not expect N’Golo Kante to be one of Chelsea’s offensive drivers as a box-to-box midfielder.

Chelsea’s draw to West Ham left the first fault line amongst the fans in Maurizio Sarri’s short tenure. N’Golo Kante’s new role as a box-to-box midfielder intrigued most everybody over the first four Premier League games. But the diminuition of his impact on defence and Chelsea’s overall inability to create scoring chances against the Hammers left many fans feeling they were missing out on the best of Kante and the full thrust of Sarrismo.

However, Maurizio Sarri only expects one of his midfielders to be part of the offensive creation. The other two – Kante and Jorginho at Chelsea, Allan and Jorginho at Napoli – are conduits to that attacking midfielder and the wingers, who take things towards their climax.

Over his three years at Napoli, Sarri’s forward and midfield lines were remarkably constant. The only change in those three years was Dries Mertens taking over for Gonzalo Higuain at the start of the 2016/17 season. Other than that swap, the players remained the same: Jorginho as deep-lying playmaker, Marek Hamsik as attacking midfielder, Allan as box-to-box midfielder, Jose Callejon at right wing and Lorenzo Insgine at left wing.

Almost as constant as the players were the relationships between the individual positions and the two lines in goals, assists and key passes. The centre-forward led the team in goals each year. Dries Mertens in both seasons had three times as many goals as assists. The forward line scored five times as many goals as the midfielders in two seasons, and just under three times as many last season.

In each season one of the wingers led Napoli in assists, and the second-highest assist tally was from either the Marek Hamsik (twice) or the other winger. At no point did the deep-lying playmaker (Jorginho) or box-to-box midfielder (Allan) have more assists than Marek Hamsik or either winger.

The key passes followed a similar pattern. Allan had the fewest key passes of the six players in the front two lines each of the three years. The only season in which Jorginho had more key passes than any of the forwards was in 2015/16, when Napoli were still learning Sarrismo and Gonzalo Higuain was a one-man finishing machine. He scarcely made any passes because his was usually the final touch.

Chelsea are a bit disjointed compared to this template five games in to the Premier League season. Eden Hazard and Pedro lead in goals scored, combining for eight. The other five goals are individually scattered amongst the centre-forward, a left-back, another winger and two midfielders. Curiously, those midfielders are N’Golo Kante and Jorginho – the two who are not expected to score based on their roles in Sarrismo (Jorginho’s goal was a penalty).

Olivier Giroud leads in assists, which is certainly not according to plan. In the three seasons of Sarrismo at Napoli, the centre-forward was never higher than third on the team in assists. Behind Giroud is Hazard (OK) and Marcos Alonso (also unusual by Sarrismo standards).

For key passes, Eden Hazard and Willian lead the way, followed by Olivier Giroud and the full-backs. Only then does Mateo Kovacic appear for the first time in this discussion, tied with N’Golo Kante.

Kovacic occupies the midfield role that should be most active in chance creation. Mateo Kovacic has developed an interesting feature in Chelsea’s build-up play by coming to the outside as Marcos Alonso moves first to the half-space and then to the penalty area. This facilitates Alonso’s offensive nous, but takes the midfielder – ostensibly a greater force for chance creation in Sarrismo – out of the direct build-up. Perhaps Alonso’s journey from left back to left wing-back will now take him to shadow attacking midfielder.

Even with Kovacic and Alonso exploring this new interaction, the Blues still have their necessary numbers going forward without having to rely on N’Golo Kante.

Chelsea’s last experience with a true box-to-box midfielder was Frank Lampard, the club’s all-time goal scorer. That memory tilts against N’Golo Kante by distorting expectations. Chelsea fans should not be concerned about N’Golo Kante’s minimal experience and temporarily limited contributions to the offensive build-up. His role in that aspect of the play is several passes before the business end of the attack. If Chelsea are struggling to create scoring opportunities, it is because of the people downstream of Kante in the build-up.

Kante has made most of his passes to Cesar Azpilicueta and Jorginho this season, followed by Pedro and Willian. This is consistent with how Allan played with Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon at Napoli. The difference between the two teams in terms of chance creation, then, is what the wingers are doing with the ball after they receive if from either non-attacking midfielder or their same-side full-back.

If Maurizio Sarri wants more offence from his midfield, Ross Barkley should be his first choice. Barkley can draw defenders to the centre and make attacking vertical runs much more effectively than Mateo Kovacic. His movement will also keep Willian out on the wing and not dropping deep, which will in turn keep Kante where he belongs as a box-to-box midfielder. Against West Ham, Kante made room for Willian’s wanderings by moving far forward, sparking the discontent.

A more powerful attacking midfielder like Barkley will take the misguided pressure off N’Golo Kante, and will ensure someone other than Kante is latching on to headers in the box. If you want to know how, just look to Napoli.