Chelsea: Maurizio Sarri nears peak ignorance when discussing N’Golo Kante

We could spend a lot of time trying to justify Maurizio Sarri’s repeated statements about N’Golo Kante’s short-comings in the technical side of the game, but the truth is probably much simpler: Sarri is no better at press conferences than he is at coaching.

Frank Lampard’s 209 Chelsea goals. Didier Drogba’s nine goals in nine finals. N’Golo Kante’s four major trophies in the last four seasons. Jorginho’s 161 passes against Brighton last week. As we learned from Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the other.

Maurizio Sarri would agree. One of those things is not like the other. A century and half plus eleven passes against a midtable team is sufficient justification for him to shoehorn N’Golo Kante into the right central midfielder role and keep Jorginho at the base of Chelsea’s midfielder. Against everything N’Golo Kante has done for two clubs and country and despite everything Kante has demonstrated this season, Maurizio Sarri cannot see past Jorginho’s supposed advantage in “playing at one touch” when deciding how to arrange his midfield.

Where to begin? Many times this season Sarri has cited Kante’s supposed deficiencies in explaining his formations. He said Kante is not technical enough to play at the base of midfield, is not quick enough on the ball to facilitate play like Jorginho does and, on Wednesday, is “wonderful for something different but not for playing at one-touch,” for which you need someone who is “technical and fast with the mind.”

This is simply ignorant, every which way. What makes Kante such an effective midfielder is how quickly he recovers the ball and puts his team back in control, usually moving forward. Kante certainly has the positional sense and speed to close down the opposition ball-carrier, and the defensive technical ability to make the tackle.

When Kante tackles an opponent, rarely does he send the ball flying. He tackles the ball so it stays close by, often laying it into the direction he wants. This allows him to get on the ball within a step or two, while the opponent is just starting to change his direction from where he was going with the ball to where the ball is now going courtesy of Kante.

Within two touches, Kante has the ball away from its most recent non-Blue carrier. More often than not, Kante dispatches the ball to a nearby teammate. This prevents him from being dispossessed himself, either by the player from whom he took the ball or from that player’s supporting teammate.

Mastery of any of these three broad steps – making the timely tackle, controlling the output of the tackle, releasing the ball away from the opponent – would make someone a strong midfielder. The ability to do all of them together, repeatedly and consistently, would be the mark of a player who is quite “technical and fast with the mind.”

Whether a team is a counter-attacking team like Chelsea traditionally is or a possession-oriented team like Maurizio Sarri wants Chelsea to be, Kante’s greatest contribution to the flow of play is not just reclaiming possession but doing so with minimal disruption to Chelsea’s movement. If anything, Kante increases the pace of play amongst his teammates because they have to be in position to advance the play as soon as he wins possession, which is often sooner than most would expect.

Perhaps Maurizio Sarri does not understand that N’Golo Kante moves the ball as quickly as any midfielder. Maybe Sarri is as mesmerized by Kante’s movement and quickness as those watching at home.

Kante executes his passes out of the tackle under more pressure and with greater awareness than Jorginho does in the vast majority of his passes. Jorginho routinely releases the ball to marked teammates because he lets the circuit, rather than his awareness and decision-making, dictate the pass. He telegraphs his one-touch passes, leaving the opponent with the 50/50 decision of whether they should pressure him into a poor pass or just head right to the space where they know the pass is going.

But Jorginho makes a lot of passes, and that seems to be enough for Maurizio Sarri.

Only the worst tactical and analytical bloggers (like, even worse than my early pieces) would either cite the number of passes a player made or speak of “one-touch” as though it were handed down amongst Mosaic law to argue their side.

To our knowledge, no tactical or analytical blogger did this.

The head coach of Chelsea Football Club’s men’s first team did.

Maurizio Sarri embarrasses himself and the club when he says things like this. He reveals himself – again, for anyone willing to pay attention – as just as poor in his understanding of player psychology and press relations as coaching tactics and organization. Praising one player for the vacuity of 161 passes and saying another player is not “technical and fast with the mind.” Enshrining “one touch” while slagging off one of your two best players.

Who says things like this? Who finds it acceptable to speak about a player of N’Golo Kante’s ability and achievements like this?

The head coach of Chelsea Football Club’s men’s first team did.