N'Golo Kante and Jorginho the answer for Chelsea, says Danny Higginbotham
Thursday 29 November 2018 12:50, UK
Maurizio Sarri should find a role for both N'Golo Kante and Jorginho in Chelsea's midfield, according to Sky Sports' Danny Higginbotham.
Kante is regarded as one of the world's leading defensive midfielders, with a World Cup and two Premier League titles, in the past three seasons.
Sarri stated after their 3-1 loss to Tottenham he feels Cesc Fabregas or Jorginho are better suited to the holding role in his system.
But Higginbotham told Premier League Daily he believes the Chelsea head coach is missing a trick.
"I understand where Sarri is coming from because he wants to play a different way but against the bigger teams it could be an option to have Jorginho and Kante. I understand in the games where you are going to control the game.
"In matches where you are going to have large amounts of the play, you are going to pin back your opposition so they are not able to go forward.
"Yes, I understand that because it gives you extra men to go forward. But I think if we look at Kante, in my mind, the defensive midfielder of Jorginho is very different to the defensive midfielder of Kante.
"In terms of the playmaker that Jorginho is, he is afforded space because the likes of Kante, [Mateo] Kovacic and [Ross] Barkley move further on which creates space for him.
"But he does not have that defensive side that can track back. Kante is just always aware, when the play breaks down, Kante thinks can we win it back? Can we get ourselves on the front foot? It is what he [Kante] does unbelievably well.
"When they play with one defensive midfielder, it can be very difficult because Jorginho can be dragged out."
In bigger games, Higginbotham believes Sarri should consider changing up his tactics to avoid the big gaps in midfield.
He added: "The difference is if you say right what we are going to do, if you are playing 4-3-3 with two attacking midfielders and one sitting, like Chelsea do, you can flip it.
"We are going to play with one attacker going forward to join with the three forward-thinking players and we will have two sitters.
"If you have your two sitters, what you do then, if you have players say Tom Cairney who wants to drift into this area that is not a problem.
"Because you can still go and have that protection."
