Chelsea: The scapegoating of N’Golo Kante has begun to grow

Chelsea fans love a scapegoat, and more and more are turning their fingers towards N’Golo Kante as the source for the attacking woes.

N’Golo Kante has not had the best of seasons by his own standards. When he has played, he has largely done what one would expect of Kante. The rest of the time he has been fighting various injuries on and off the pitch.

There was an undercurrent that began last year when Maurizio Sarri (falsely) said Kante was not technical enough. That undercurrent has only grown in strength since with some starting to question Kante’s place in the side. For now, it is “just against sides that park the bus” but there are others bringing up win percentages with and without Kante as if correlation equaled causation.

Kante is slowly being made a scapegoat. He may be Chelsea’s last remaining world class player and some cannot wait to see him leave because “does not fit the requirements” of whatever style of play they have concocted within their own heads.

It is worth starting with mentioning that the claims against Kante are not totally unfounded. Chelsea’s winning run came on the back of a Jorginho-Mateo Kovacic pivot. But again, that is a case of correlation and causation. That winning run did not feature many difficult opponents (at least on paper) and Kante’s defensive abilities were not as needed.

Another factor is the seemingly constantly evolving role of Kante season to season and manager to manager. Under Antonio Conte, Kante was used primarily defensively and to recycle possession. Sarri used the Frenchman in a more box to box role and Frank Lampard has only made that box to box role more distinct by pushing Kante higher and asking him to rotate with wide players.

Lampard’s strategy against Newcastle was relatively clear. The wingers would stay wide to pin the wing backs. The two center mids (Kante and Mason Mount), would push up tight to Tammy Abraham to occupy the three center backs. The fullbacks would tuck in towards Jorginho to give a three versus two advantage in midfield.

That sort of role actually does seem to suit Kante. He is quite good in those tight spaces on and off the ball. He may not be the ideal player to get into the box for a shot, but he knows how to play others in to do more damage. The main issue against Newcastle was not Kante in lieu of Kovacic but the lack of rotations in the wider areas.

It is those wide rotations where Kante has truly come alive this season. He seemingly has a great sense as to when to move wide to allow someone else central and vice versa. His crossing is also a somewhat under rated skill set when he does move wide.

There are matches for Kovacic and Jorginho and Kante and all combinations between. But Kante does not automatically stifle the attack; he just changes the focus of it. Scapegoating Kante for not scoring when chances were there (and they were) is to confuse correlation and causation.

Kante is Chelsea’s only undeniably world class player. To blame him for an issue which he is barely connected is foolhardy. Chelsea cannot afford to lose him right now through the common finger pointing after a loss fans love to do. There were issues against Newcastle. Kante was not one.