ICC 2016: Real Madrid 3-2 Chelsea - 4 takeaways

#2 Defeat shows the importance of Kante to Chelsea

All three goals that the Blues conceded in the first half was the result of some naivety at the back. With Aina committing a string of errors at the back, Marcelo ran rings around Chelsea. The experienced players, the likes of Gary Cahill and Nemanja Matic too were uncharacteristically poor at the back, leaving behind acres of space and also failing to cover up for Aina’s mistakes.

It’s the situations like these that indicate how important N’Golo Kante can be to Chelsea for the upcoming season. The Frenchman has a knack of closing down the channels that arise through positional unawareness and Chelsea desperately lack such kind of a player right now.

Antonio Conte has a massive rebuilding business at his hands, and today’s defeat was a mere reflection. The introduction of Kante, who started training with the team this week, can be a panacea to the defensive woes that exist within the team, however.