Chelsea star N'Golo Kante ordered to stick to his position, by Maurizio Sarri

Rebuked | Kante told to stick to the game plan by Sarri
Action Images via Reuters
Matt McGeehan28 November 2018

N'Golo Kante has been ordered not to deviate from his defined role on the right of midfield after Maurizio Sarri took him to task for his performance in Chelsea's loss to Tottenham.

Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley to end Sarri's 18-game unbeaten start to competitive action with the Blues and the Italian wants to see a reaction after rebuking France World Cup winner Kante for roaming too much.

Kante won two Premier League titles, with Leicester and Chelsea, playing in central midfield, but has been deployed out of position on the right to accommodate Italy playmaker Jorginho in Sarri's chosen style.

The 27-year-old signed a new five-year contract just last week and was Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year in 2017.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's Europa League Group L clash with Greece's PAOK, Sarri said: "I want to play as a centre midfielder with a very technical player. For me the centre midfielder is Jorginho or (Cesc) Fabregas.

"I don't want Kante in this position. Kante in the last match wanted to solve the match after the first 15 minutes, but in the wrong way.

"He lost the position, he attacked too much the other box. And I think this one is not one of the best characteristics of Kante. It was only a reaction to the difficulties."

Sarri has encouraged Kante to get forward in matches and his latest comments may appear to be a contradiction.

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But Sarri explained there is a time and place for Kante to attack.

"Kante has to stay near to Jorginho, especially when the ball is on the other side," Sarri added.

"It depends on the action. If the ball is on the left, we have (Marcos) Alonso, (Eden) Hazard, (Mateo) Kovacic, (Ross) Barkley, so in that situation he has to stay very close to Jorginho."

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