One of the chief criticisms of Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea was the way that he used N’Golo Kante in midfield.
The Frenchman was deployed in a more attacking role than fans were used to, and it caused a lot of controversy in the media.
One of Sarri’s coaches at Stamford Bridge, club legend Gianfranco Zola, was on BeinSports speaking about the tactical switch, and he claimed that “Kante is not a sitting midifelder”, pointing out that in every system he’d played in before – in England at least – he had had a more defensive player alongside him.
He’s right, although just because people don’t understand that Kante is not a “defensive” midfielder doesn’t mean that he wasn’t misused at times last season when he should have been placed deeper to cover the opponent when they tried to break.
You can see the full clip here:
https://twitter.com/PrimeKirby/status/1160793029994864640
