For many people, midfield enforcer N'Golo Kante was last season's Player of the Year.
He was simply brilliant for Leicester City (he has since moved to Chelsea of course), forming a barrier in front of the defence that the opposing team would typically struggle to get through.
Such were the consistency and wholeheartedness of his displays, even the most ardent Leicester City fan wouldn't have begrudged him his £32m summer move to Chelsea.
But so far, life at Stamford Bridge hasn't gone quite according to plan for Kante; the Blues are without a victory in three Premier League outings and the Frenchman in particular has come in for some criticism.
The latest disparaging comments followed Chelsea's 3-0 mauling at the hands of Arsenal on Saturday evening. While it must be stated that Kante was by no means the only poor performer during the game, seeing how good he was last season, he seems to be the man being singled out over recent weeks.
So far, so unfair. However, an occurrence shortly before half-time (with the Gunners 2-0 up) showcased just how far Kante's standards have slipped, and most likely, he'd be the first to admit it. "?
You can actually see the pause in Kante's run where he contemplates the meaning of life, love, his career... pic.twitter.com/ZspuVHhtFy
How Kante was outrun tracking back by referee Oliver #Chelsea #arsenal pic.twitter.com/0AWmO3DeLs
The problems started immediately after the Frenchman was turned by Mesut Ozil (so far, so fair: Ozil turns most players); but rather than sprint his heart out to try and catch the Arsenal forward, Kante was only halfhearted in his attempts to retain the ball...
...Seconds later, Arsenal were 3-0 up, Ozil the scorer.
Kante was duly criticised for his lack of effort, and it has since transpired he was also outsprinted by referee Michael Oliver during the debacle, despite having a head-start on the man in black. Indeed, it was the official who arrived in Thibaut Courtois' penalty area first, as they both ultimately witnessed Ozil volley in Alexis Sanchez' cross.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea fans took to Twitter to share their misgivings regarding the now notorious incident:
Kante didn't even try to catch up with Ozil after Ozil deleted him. Such a lazy boy. He was several yards behind Ozil when Ozil scored.
Kante couldn't even track back to defend against the slowest player in the league
Kante had the most un-Kante type of game today. Never seen him so far behind the run of play https://t.co/fl6rNudUjx
Kante will look to put all this drama behind him when Chelsea face Hull in the KC Stadium on Saturday - and hey, if all else fails and the Ozil incident is still lodged in his memory after the match, perhaps he should look to associate himself with a different man in black: