I can't tell if you are talking about CP or Grealish... if it is about the former then I disagree with you. I don't think CP dives at all... but Jack is the King of diving. Anyone puts their hands on him and he is going down.
CP. The EPL is not exactly fair with respect to fouls, and if you got the rep for going down easy, it follows you. CP does go down easily.
I just disagree with you. He weighs a buck 40. It is a rough league and he moves fast. I have yet to see one play this year where he "dove". Watch Jack play... he is literally looking for contact so he can go down. I stand by my POV that CP plays clean and is not getting the calls he deserves.
83% passing, 3 key passes on 96 touches. 3/5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 4 clearances. 3/3 dribbles, dribbled past twice, 4 dispossessions. None of Everton's goals were about what Kante was doing wrong... it was all about an imbalanced tactical set up and a very inconsistent performance by the defensive line on the day. Kante did a good job getting forward and providing a foil for the attackers to play off of... he was involved in multiple good build ups, including the goal. Calling him terrible is just wrong. I mean, especially since he had a fairly similar game to Kovacic who you just called MOTM. A crazy finish and a couple more dribbles isn't what separates MOTM from "terrible".
Statistics don't tell the story. The man missed the chances to put Mount, Puli, Tammy and Kova into play in good positions many times. I liked Kante before, in the rare occasions I watched Chelski, but now he's just going by the numbers.
Yeah, the numbers never matter when they go against someone's eye test... funny how that works. Kante was a great foil in multiple chances to score, including the goal. And he's part of a double pivot with 4 attackers in front of him? So him not creating more than that, or not having the awareness to create more, doesn't in any way draw a straight line to him being "terrible". That's poor player analysis. He did more than his fair share of creation as a box to box player surging out of the midfield to create overloads for their attack. He also did other jobs, clearly, and the goals against weren't because of him, in fact he almost kept out that last shambolic gift from Kepa despite being furthest mid up the field. So, as far as "terrible" is concerned I'm afraid you haven't shown your work.
It's not just me. The fans were wondering about him, too, during the game. And no rating has him high, even though he used to be a darling of the press. You're alone in this.
I noticed in the past you've always tried to cite other fans, as if what they think or what a general consensus thinks means something, but it doesn't. People have all kinds of opinions for all kinds of reasons, oftentimes emotional or illogical personal reasons... unless of course you're going to point to their actual arguments? What were the reasons they said Kante was terrible? Because, while they are almost certainly still wrong if they said he was terrible, it's very possible they have a better argument than you. Ratings are very similar to throwaway twitter opinions that aren't actually backed with that much, so I don't really care. The only reason Kovacic is ranked super highly is because he got a goal and some of these opinions/algorithms weigh that heavily. For instance whoscored has him way above everyone on Chelsea in their ranking, and Kante is a distant 2nd place by their algorithm... but apart from the goal he had a very similar day as Kante! Similar passing, similar tackling and interceptions, similar turnovers, a couple more dribbles... and 1 crazy finish! That's the different between MOTM and terrible? Nah, doesn't work like that. Or at least, if that's what you're talking about I'm talking about something much, much different when trying to assess overall performance from minute 1-90.
Well, I think that was true last season as well. The common criticism I heard was voiced in the following way: "Why is, arguably, the world's best central defensive midfielder not playing that position?" Sarri was constantly being blamed for being too stubborn because he made the decision to take Kante out of the middle of the field and gave that role to Jorginho. Apparently, Sarri did not believe Kante could move the ball fast enough.
I don't think he goes down intentionally more than the average offensive player at that level. I have been highly critical for his complaining far too much and long about not getting a call. He's improved a lot on that account.
Today's Lille match - in the US it seems to be a BR Live match - in one place the website seems to say it will be free? Anyone know if this is true?
Considering he was out for a bit that kinda makes sense. I think once he gets his physical and mental fitness his integration and quality will show back up.
Chelsea was also playing above expectation recently. When you have a young team with, putting generously, average centerbacks, continuation of their run of form is not generally going to happen. That doesn't mean they can't put it back together soon, but they do have to outscore their defensive frailties. Regardless, their offensive firepower has made them really fun to watch.
Chelsea fans speak ... "For the first time in ages, the WAGNH community chose a formation other than the 4-2-3-1 (43%) as the 4-3-3 narrowly edged it out." 4-3-3 (48%) Arrizabalaga (86%) | Azpilicueta (67%), Tomori (56%), Zouma (67%), James (72%) | Kovačić (84%), Jorginho (85%), Kanté (88%) | Pulisic (84%), Abraham (94%), Willian (57%) Unfortunately, Tomori has been confirmed to be out with a hip injury, so Rüdiger (47%) would deputize in that case. https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation...lle-4-3-3-as-jorginho-kante-kovacic-all-start
Honestly I'd be stunned if Chelsea don't go through here... They only have to beat Lille at home who have been the whipping boys of the group - collecting only one point. The real game is the Ajax vs Valencia match...
Chelsea do not in any way have the sort of managerial philosophy or necessary studs in defense to shut this one down. I expect a victory 75% of the time they play this match but one time out of four it turns out 2-1 or 3-2 Lille. A fully rested on form Chelsea squad takes this one easily, but that's not what they are at the moment. The door is slightly open for an upset, hopefully Lamps strikes the right balance in attack I want to see Pulisic in the Knockout stage.
Hope it's 4-0 in the 71st minute and the hardest decision lamps has to make is if he takes off CP on a Hat Trick...
Starts Three changes, including the return of @ToniRuediger! 💪#CHELOSC pic.twitter.com/cJqKUo0r9E— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 10, 2019