I never conceived him as Makalele type player. I'm only saying our midfield needs more energy. In fact I'm sure I've not mentioned Makalele on this forum.
You agree that Kante do well at Chelsea but use his performance against Ireland as an example of why he wouldn't do good for us. If we could find a deep lying playermaker that's prepared to cover ground and impose himself on the game with repeat efforts, I'll be all for it. I want mids like Keane and Scholes that do lots of work deep in midfield, but also prepared to bomb forward with energy and well-timed runs to add lustre to attack. Or someone like Hagi to play pass, receive it back, move into dangerous areas with the ball at his feet and score goals. I don't want old guys wandering around in circles because holding their position and making the odd good pass.
I want players like Mensah who will move from right back to help out when the other defenders are caught out, like against Spurs, or bomb forward to play a powerful pass across the goal to Martial , like against City, or win the ball against opponents through strength and detemination like he does. . . Or Luke Shaw who defends brilliantly but has the energy to bomb forward and add substance to the attacks. Or Rashford who will move deep and take possession, carry it forward under duress. It seems to be only the young players that are prepared to move out of their comfort zone in this team. Do you really think Carrick and Schweinsteiger can bring us glory in the league next season? I think our style will remain static and we are prone to being overrun if we're relying on them. Kante/Mensah will at least win the ball back when the heat is turned up and relieve the pressure valve. You're right though I'm talking about another team's target, and hypothetically. I just hope we look for high energy mid, and yes, I do think it's imperative for us to bring younger players.
BTW what's this great revelation you made about France tactics, and which you didn't 'fluke'?
I am not specifically pointed at you with Makelele reference, there are other posters on your side with the Makelele comparison. My response is toward you and those posters as a whole.
Why I agreed with that poster? He said Kante would likely be played in Marchisio's role for Conte, which is perfectly fine. Mourinho doesn't play Marchisio. Mourinho plays a deep lying defensive midfielder (no need for the play maker), a #10 (who fits his profile which is not traditional #10). The other midfielder is the balancer between the two roles mentioned. Kante doesn't play the Makelele role well hence the Ireland preference (I can use the first few games in Europe to demonstrate this point too, but you guys likely will argue for Kante because you don't see the point through tactical view, but individual performance. The sign of trouble was always there to see). Kante is not Mourinho's #10. So the last role is the balancer role. Kante is not well supportive for Pogba as I already explained Kante overplayed into Pogba's territory. So why would Mourinho sign an unbalancer for his expensive Pogba.
Here you're suggesting signing Kante just for the sake of energy, without considering team balance. That's as good as LVG signed Di Maria for his possession style and sold him after a year and moaning about lack of pace.
I already explained, Kante's way of ball carrying, bombing forward is very different than the like of Dembele or Yaya Toure. Kante had Leicester set up to allowed him to go ball chasing and start attacking higher up with the opponents' having few players at the back. It's different than running against team sit deep and holding the their position which Yaya often did in his best seasons and Dembelele.
If anything Scholes is wasted in the box to box role earlier on his career. There were better box to box midfielders than Scholes. His prime happened in his 30s (see the irony) when SAF played him deeper thus relies more on play making and energy level. We're moving forward, not backward. And Kante is no where near Keano and Scholes level to begin with.
We'll need to wait and see how the youngster turn out under Mourinho especially TFM who may have a chance to turn out to be this deep defensive midfielder in Mourinho profile. It will be for another thread. With the right set up and tactic for the occasion Bastian and Carrick can still boss the game. It's about good management. I am not saying these 2 can play all our games and boss them. They would be good as an options in case there is another team who use similar tactic to Santos that nullifies athleticism and stalemate the midfield. There a passing game from deep would be better than all the energy put together.
Not great revelation, it's just the plain sight that slap everyone in the face but they don't realize. Kante overplayed his role and messed up the team dynamic since the first few games. I and a few others called it while others are drooling about Kante dominated everyone, including his own teammates!
What argument do you have that Chelsea are bigger than Man Utd? I'd love to hear it.
