‘Outstanding’: Frank Lampard raves about Chelsea FC star despite 1-0 defeat
Chelsea FC manager Frank Lampard says he was impressed with N'Golo Kante's display in Saturday's 1-0 loss at Newcastle
Frank Lampard lavished praise on N’Golo Kante for his “outstanding” performance in Chelsea FC’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday night.
The France international started on the right side of Lampard’s midfield in the Premier League clash against Jorginho and Mason Mount.
The 28-year-old has been used in a variety of midfield positions by Lampard this season despite having established himself as one of the best holding midfielders in the English top flight under Antonio Conte.
Kante was unable to create a Chelsea FC winner from his position in the Blues team before Isaac Hayden netted the decisive goal in the fourth minute of added time at the end of the Premier League clash.
Lampard opted to bring on Michy Batshuayi for Tammy Abraham with 10 minutes to go instead of replacing one of his midfielders to play to strikers up front.
Asked about the decision during his post-match media conference, Lampard explained that he didn’t want to replace Kante because he was having a positive impact on the Premier League clash.
“Sometimes we can [switch to two in attack] if a game feels that way but in that case it would have meant bringing off N’Golo Kante – who was outstanding all game – or Jorginho at the base of our midfield and you have to be careful with their counter-attack,” Lampard said.
“We were creating a lot so the Michy change was to change the feeling of the striker. Can he come on and make something happen? Because he’s very dangerous around the box so it was just like-for-like.”
Kante finished with 84 per cent pass completion and won two tackles during Chelsea FC’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle.
The Blues haven’t won the Premier League title since 2016-17 when Conte was in charge of the west London side.
