28-05-2017, 12:06
In the final, for once, N'golo Kante didn't have a good game. He was off his pace and didn't it show?
Pundits looking at Chelsea all wonder how you stop Hazard, specially with Costa, Pedro and Willian to back him up. But the bigger the game the less hazardous even the brilliant Hazard becomes.
IMO that the simple clue to Chelsea and several top teams is that the new pivot is that key defensive midfield man. He breaks up the opposition and starts everything positive off. He fills the gaps and seems to own his acres of space. When I was younger, much, the introduction of a sweeper, a libero, behind a defence revolutionised the game. Even English teams started to look at trying it!
What is Kante and his fashionable imitators but a sweeper playing in front of a defence? Sweepers fell out of favour once the opposition caught on that the answer was to mark them. Without his freedom a libero can have neither a negative, nor positive impact upon the game. He's no longer free.
My opinion is the very first step on the road to beating Chelsea is assiduously to man mark Kante. Take out his A-game and both your own attack and defence will improve. The rest of Chelsea's team is obviously very good and it's still easy to lose to them, but if you let Kante play you're dead in the water. He was at six out of ten yesterday and that ran though his team ..... and look what an opportunity it gave Arsenal with Sanchez on a nine.
Or am I an idiot? I usually am!
Pundits looking at Chelsea all wonder how you stop Hazard, specially with Costa, Pedro and Willian to back him up. But the bigger the game the less hazardous even the brilliant Hazard becomes.
IMO that the simple clue to Chelsea and several top teams is that the new pivot is that key defensive midfield man. He breaks up the opposition and starts everything positive off. He fills the gaps and seems to own his acres of space. When I was younger, much, the introduction of a sweeper, a libero, behind a defence revolutionised the game. Even English teams started to look at trying it!
What is Kante and his fashionable imitators but a sweeper playing in front of a defence? Sweepers fell out of favour once the opposition caught on that the answer was to mark them. Without his freedom a libero can have neither a negative, nor positive impact upon the game. He's no longer free.
My opinion is the very first step on the road to beating Chelsea is assiduously to man mark Kante. Take out his A-game and both your own attack and defence will improve. The rest of Chelsea's team is obviously very good and it's still easy to lose to them, but if you let Kante play you're dead in the water. He was at six out of ten yesterday and that ran though his team ..... and look what an opportunity it gave Arsenal with Sanchez on a nine.
Or am I an idiot? I usually am!