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Chelsea's midfield problem: N'Golo Kante and Jorginho's positioning

Chelsea take on Fulham at Stamford Bridge on Super Sunday

Jorginho and N'Golo Kante's roles at Chelsea were debated on Monday Night Football

On Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher and David Ginola discussed how to get the best out of N'Golo Kante and Jorginho at Chelsea.

After Chelsea's 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday there has been plenty of debate about the composition of Maurizio Sarri's midfield and David Ginola believes the Italian is getting it wrong. The former France international wants to see N'Golo Kante in a central role.

"In the French team, he plays in the middle," Ginola told Monday Night Football.

"I don't know who you play on the side but when you have a quality player like Kante then you play him in the middle.

"I love him because if you take him away from the French team, it doesn't look the same at all. But he plays in the central position and this is the key position in modern football.

"For me, Chelsea are wrong to play Kante in that position [on the right]. Chelsea are wrong. He is not good in that position."

Jamie Carragher agreed.

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Kante is a very average player in the position he is playing in now.
Jamie Carragher

"Kante is a very average player in the position he is playing in now," he said. "I just see a normal midfield player. When he is playing here [deeper] I see a class midfield player."

It is not just that Kante is not at his best on the right of Sarri's midfield three. Jorginho, the deep-lying playmaker who is being used in that central role, is not as effective defensively.

That was a problem against Spurs as he was sucked out of the space for Harry Kane's goal and then exposed on the counter-attack by Heung-min Son for the third.

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Highlights from Tottenham's 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Premier League

Even so, Carragher is an admirer of Jorginho and does not expect Sarri to abandon his policy of using the Italy international midfielder centrally.

"Jorginho is not moving from that position," said Carragher. "He is Sarri's man. He has built his system around him. Kante is not moving because he is about to sign a massive contract.

"What I would say straight away is that Jorginho has been excellent this season. Teams are having to change their system and their style at times to counteract Jorginho. That shows what a good player he is and how important he has been to Chelsea.

"If he is getting players around him like Dele Alli or Gylfi Sigurdsson or like Juan Mata did for Manchester United also, this means there should be space for other players.

"Against Spurs, the space was in the wide areas because they were playing a diamond so that meant there should have been space for Eden Hazard and Willian."

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So what can Sarri do to stop Chelsea suffering as they did at Wembley? Carragher believes a minor tweak to the team's shape could be enough to solve the problem.

"I don't think the balance of this midfield ever looks right with Mateo Kovacic there," he added. "Maybe Sarri is stuck on a 4-3-3 but I actually think it is quite simple to play them as a midfield two and maybe with Ross Barkley or Willian in the No 10 role in a 4-2-3-1.

"It gets Kante back on the ball and it actually relieves a bit of the pressure on Jorginho because there are now two players looking to receive the ball and get Chelsea playing.

"But I don't think anything revolutionary has to change. Jorginho is a good player."

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