Discover why N’Golo Kante is struggling at Chelsea
Chelsea might be too big for N’Golo Kante
N’Golo Kante arrived at Stamford Bridge with giant expectations this summer. After all, he was a huge part of Leicester City’s title-winning squad last season. Unfortunately for the Blues, Kante is struggling mightily to adjust to being a Chelsea player.
His failings have never been more apparent than they were yesterday in the defeat against Arsenal. He played the full 90 minutes against the Gunners but wasn’t effective by any means. Many would call his Whoscored.com player rating of 6.66 pretty generous.
He looked completely overwhelmed against the pacy Gunner attack. Kante wasn’t necessarily at fault for any of the three goals, but he didn’t do anything to stop them either. He certainly didn’t live up to his massive summer transfer fee.
His failings yesterday shouldn’t be a huge surprise to Antonio Conte though. Kante has only posted one above-average performance on the season. That came in the Blues’ 3-0 victory over Burnley. Other than that, he’s posted a below-average statistical rating in every match with his new club.
Five matches certainly isn’t enough of a sample size to draw permanent conclusions about Kante’s ability to handle the Chelsea spotlight. It is, however, enough match time to lead us to ask legitimate questions. It’s entirely possible that Kante just isn’t suited to play at such a “big club.” Perhaps his mental makeup is better suited to play for an underdog side like Leicester City. You can be sure that Claudio Ranieri would welcome him back with open arms.
I believe Kante’s struggles are more related to Chelsea’s tactics than any issue with pressure at the club. He simply isn’t an ideal fit for the way the Premier League giants want to play.
At Leicester, he excelled at aiding the Foxes play on the counter. His job was pretty simple. He was tasked to break up the opponent’s play, and then to transition the ball to his pacy attackers as quickly as possible. It wasn’t rocket science, nor did it need to be. It was simple and deadly.
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At Chelsea, he’s asked to be a much more complete player. They enjoy long spells of possession and Conte expects his defensive midfielders to come forward and aid the attack. That requires a player in Kante’s role to showcase a great deal of skill on the ball; in addition to their defensive prowess. It’s possible that Kante’s talents aren’t properly suited to play for a side that dominates the ball.
N’Golo Kante is too talented a player to flop at Chelsea, but they may not be a very good for the way he likes to play football. The French star may rue the day he opted to leave the comforts of Leicester City.