Eden Hazard

[Daniel1980 1,425]

I guess it depends on your definition of "carrying our attack." He's not doing all the offensive work but there were times where costa and cesc had no influence in the game until Hazard did something that allowed them to get a foothold in the game. I don't think half of the assists Cesc has made so far this season would have come about without Hazard's contributions. He's been such a huge catalyst and it's not an exaggeration ( to use your words) to say that he's been carrying us. That's not to say that there aren't other key players but Hazard' has been pivotal in these past 6 games.

I think you should read the comment I was responding to. You're taking my words out of context. The comment I was responding to said that most of our attacking threat is carried by Hazard this season and without him we'd be nowhere, which I can't agree with, despite being Eden's huge fan. He's been very influential, but other players haven't been any less influential. Hazard could have made 20 dribbles in a game, giving other players space to use, but if the final ball or finishing lacks, we wouldn't have gotten any points for Hazard's dribbles. I'm not disputing that Hazard is very important for us. I'm saying the other two players are as important if not more. Saying that Hazard is doing most of the work is strange, to say the least. All three of them contributed to our points. All three of them were important, in different ways. It's not a competition.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Even with the new attacking talents, he is still asked to carry the team. Doing a damn good job this year too.

Yep he scored an amazing amount of... 1 goal so far. Not his fault though and he is contributing through other means so I am happy with him.

[iseah100 5,612]

Yep he scored an amazing amount of... 1 goal so far. Not his fault though and he is contributing through other means so I am happy with him.

Goals are all that matter? Do you just forget how he made the pass before the pass? He still gets double and triple teamed, what is he supposed to do?

[Weckerz 3,781]

Yep he scored an amazing amount of... 1 goal so far. Not his fault though and he is contributing through other means so I am happy with him.

Do you think Costa would've scored 7 in 4 without Hazard? Do you think Cesc would have assisted 6 without Hazard?

Get it in to your head that you can be pivotal for a team without racking up goals or assists please. It's the real world here.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

What's funny is just how selective people are with the goals/assists rating scale for players. Lampard's statistics (both goals/assists) blows any midfielder of the last 20 years completely out the water but ask any non-Chelsea fan their opinion on his ability and you'd be surprised at the amount of shit said about him.

[Barbara 15,149]

I guess it depends on your definition of "carrying our attack." He's not doing all the offensive work but there were times where costa and cesc had no influence in the game until Hazard did something that allowed them to get a foothold in the game. I don't think half of the assists Cesc has made so far this season would have come about without Hazard's contributions. He's been such a huge catalyst and it's not an exaggeration ( to use your words) to say that he's been carrying us. That's not to say that there aren't other key players but Hazard' has been pivotal in these past 6 games.

and there were times Hazard did nothing to influence the game and Costa and Cesc (and even Ramires and Matic) did. So what's your point exactly? Remove Cesc and Costa from the team and we're back to the football last season, proof enough that Hazard along can't carry the team yet - at least not to win and score this much.

the same way one can't say only Costa and Cesc did it all, you can't say Eden did it all as if Costa and Cesc were mere supporting players to Hazard 'carrying the team'.

The thing is Costa and Cesc are very objective players, whereas Hazard isn't much of it yet. So the three compliment each other in every possible way. Hazard stretches the defenses or penetrates them with his dribbling, gives the pre-assist to Cesc, who's much more objective and with much better vision, does what he has to do to allow Costa to score.

Hazard's decision making process can (and will) improve exponentially, Cesc and Costa don't have the technical ability he has to dribble and that's why the three work so well together. Why do we have to have a winner? It puzzles me why one can't say Costa and Cesc aren't carrying us, but another can say Hazard does. Hazard is doing exactly what he's done last year... the difference is that he has Cesc and Costa to complete what he starts. He clearly can't consistently win us matches alone yet. He gets himself in those dangerous positions then he doesn't shoot, and sometimes he takes a little too long to make the decision to pass, he isn't always objective, etc... all aspects I'm positive he'll develop.

Will we start another internal competition in the team? Offensively we've been good as a team. Those three are equally important, which was @Daniel1980 first point that was completely disregarded and transformed into Costa and Cesc doing it all by themselves... I agree with him that we can't say Hazard continues to carry us this season... Hazard hasn't been doing anything on is own like he did last season (with some difficulty btw). Cesc, Costa and Hazard had and will have days where individually neither of them is brilliant and one (or even two) among the remaining two will step up. So while I understand why you want to point out that Hazard deserves more credit, you're making his role in our success bigger than that of Costa's and Cesc's which I don't think is true at all. And again, we don't need to have a winner, we need to work well as a team and that's what the three of them have been doing, compensating the other when he comes short.

I think bottom line is that Hazard continues to do with he's done last year (probably with some improvement, we need more matches to say that for sure) and that wasn't enough in many matches last year and didn't get us passed 3rd place (I'M NOT BLAMING THIS ON HAZARD). The difference to last year and this year is exactly Cesc and Costa. They made a difference, allowed us to change to a more offensive style. Demanding Hazard to do it all by himself, at age 23, still under development isn't fair or sane and that's why it wasn't enough last year.

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

The thing with Eden is, he might not score a goal or get an assist in every game but you have to look at how much space he creates for others and opportunities for others to assist by eliminating players in 1v1s, going past a few players or attracting more players to deal with him leaving others free.

Its a sort of similar situation (although in a different way due to different playing styles) with a player I admire a lot in Luka Modric, when he was at Spurs and we were linked with him, people questioned his goals and assists a lot and the same has happened in Spain as well. He doesn't always directly assist or score but the nature of his game means hes involved in the goals, be it finding that pass in behind a pivot or defense that opens the spaces up for someone like James, Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema to create a chance or in the past Lennon, Bale, Van Der Vaart etc.

The pass that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal is sometimes the most important part of a move. Its also the same with the dribble that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal at times.

I read somewhere Eden has completed 31 take-ons already this season, obviously a player of his talent you want to see him scoring 20-25 goals a season or whatever but when hes going up against fullbacks and beating them and dragging others out of position to deal with him, hes having a big effect on the game even without scoring or assisting directly. He needs to keep it up, his problem last year was consistency, hopefully he keeps a high performance level through the season. He should be looking for at least 10-15 goals and 10-15 assists but if he plays very well and drags players out of position by beating people then players like Cesc, Costa, Schurrle etc. all have more space and time on the ball at times too.

I know the Modric thing is a bit off topic and maybe not 110% comparable but yeah haha....

[remains of the day 564]

and there were times Hazard did nothing to influence the game and Costa and Cesc (and even Ramires and Matic) did. So what's your point exactly? Remove Cesc and Costa from the team and we're back to the football last season, proof enough that Hazard along can't carry the team yet - at least not to win and score this much.

the same way one can't say only Costa and Cesc did it all, you can't say Eden did it all as if Costa and Cesc were mere supporting players to Hazard 'carrying the team'.

The thing is Costa and Cesc are very objective players, whereas Hazard isn't much of it yet. So the three compliment each other in every possible way. Hazard stretches the defenses or penetrates them with his dribbling, gives the pre-assist to Cesc, who's much more objective and with much better vision, does what he has to do to allow Costa to score.

Hazard's decision making process can (and will) improve exponentially, Cesc and Costa don't have the technical ability he has to dribble and that's why the three work so well together. Why do we have to have a winner? It puzzles me why one can't say Costa and Cesc aren't carrying us, but another can say Hazard does. Hazard is doing exactly what he's done last year... the difference is that he has Cesc and Costa to complete what he starts. He clearly can't consistently win us matches alone yet. He gets himself in those dangerous positions then he doesn't shoot, and sometimes he takes a little too long to make the decision to pass, he isn't always objective, etc... all aspects I'm positive he'll develop.

Will we start another internal competition in the team? Offensively we've been good as a team. Those three are equally important, which was @Daniel1980 first point that was completely disregarded and transformed into Costa and Cesc doing it all by themselves... I agree with him that we can't say Hazard continues to carry us this season... Hazard hasn't been doing anything on is own like he did last season (with some difficulty btw). Cesc, Costa and Hazard had and will have days where individually neither of them is brilliant and one (or even two) among the remaining two will step up. So while I understand why you want to point out that Hazard deserves more credit, you're making his role in our success bigger than that of Costa's and Cesc's which I don't think is true at all. And again, we don't need to have a winner, we need to work well as a team and that's what the three of them have been doing, compensating the other when he comes short.

I think bottom line is that Hazard continues to do with he's done last year (probably with some improvement, we need more matches to say that for sure) and that wasn't enough in many matches last year and didn't get us passed 3rd place (I'M NOT BLAMING THIS ON HAZARD). The difference to last year and this year is exactly Cesc and Costa. They made a difference, allowed us to change to a more offensive style. Demanding Hazard to do it all by himself, at age 23, still under development isn't fair or sane and that's why it wasn't enough last year.

Ok. Can you name me one game this season where Hazard “did nothing to influence the game”? I’ll wait….

[stroey 2,525]

The thing with Eden is, he might not score a goal or get an assist in every game but you have to look at how much space he creates for others and opportunities for others to assist by eliminating players in 1v1s, going past a few players or attracting more players to deal with him leaving others free.

Its a sort of similar situation (although in a different way due to different playing styles) with a player I admire a lot in Luka Modric, when he was at Spurs and we were linked with him, people questioned his goals and assists a lot and the same has happened in Spain as well. He doesn't always directly assist or score but the nature of his game means hes involved in the goals, be it finding that pass in behind a pivot or defense that opens the spaces up for someone like James, Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema to create a chance or in the past Lennon, Bale, Van Der Vaart etc.

The pass that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal is sometimes the most important part of a move. Its also the same with the dribble that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal at times.

I read somewhere Eden has completed 31 take-ons already this season, obviously a player of his talent you want to see him scoring 20-25 goals a season or whatever but when hes going up against fullbacks and beating them and dragging others out of position to deal with him, hes having a big effect on the game even without scoring or assisting directly. He needs to keep it up, his problem last year was consistency, hopefully he keeps a high performance level through the season. He should be looking for at least 10-15 goals and 10-15 assists but if he plays very well and drags players out of position by beating people then players like Cesc, Costa, Schurrle etc. all have more space and time on the ball at times too.

I know the Modric thing is a bit off topic and maybe not 110% comparable but yeah haha....

Yep understand what U mean. Iniesta and Xavi were not always assists monsters either. They had many "pre-assists", Modric has the same game.

[Barbara 15,149]

Ok. Can you name me one game this season where Hazard “did nothing to influence the game”? I’ll wait….

my 'nothing' was the equivalent to yours 'had no influence' when you said Cesc and Costa had no influence in some games until Hazard brought us to life. The opposite is also very much true. There were times Hazard hadn't any influence in the game yet and Costa or/and Cesc took it into their hands to turn things around for us. I meant the same as you and I think both of us used hyperboles.

I agree that maybe the outstanding and never ending credit to Cesc/Costa has been overshadowing Hazard's also pivotal influence. But it doesn't mean Hazard has been carrying the team alone - which is what Daniel first post was about, disagreeing with someone that said it. Like him, I disagree with this statement, the same way I disagree with the notion that Hazard hasn't been as much influent, because he has.

So far Costa and Cesc are the difference between our matches against Leicester, Burnley, Swansea compared to the likes of Stoke,Sunderland, West Ham, Palace, Villa last season. That's why they take too much credit (deserved imo, I don't think they have been given excessive credit, it's Hazard who may haven't been given enough). In some of those matches last season Hazard couldn't look more apathetic (in a couple of them I remember even cursing him for looking completely uninterested). Exactly because Hazard can't successfully carry this team yet we brought Fàbregas. Costa was brought because there's no way we could have continued to play without strikers if we had any title ambitions.

I don't want anyone to - once again - say I'm blaming our lack of titles or bite last year on Hazard. I don't think it's fair for one single player to carry a whole team, especially when it's a 23yo, still under development. What I am saying though is that we brought Cesc to capitalize what Hazard does and do what Hazard can't do it himself yet. Without Cesc maybe we would look the same as last season. Hazard would be leading the league's dribbles stat, somehow the chances created stats and we would probably have lost or drew two of those matches we won this season. I don't want to even imagine what it would look like without Costa. Without Hazard - we have to do an imaginary scenario as we've never played with Cesc and Costa and without him - maybe Cesc wouldn't received the ball to create his assist or we would have looked too dull to dominate a match or be offensive enough.

Good thing we have the three of them, playing great football at the moment and helping the team collectively, as they're supposed to. The main difference from last season to this one is that we actually look like a team instead 10 players being hold captive of a situation where they had to hope and wait one player's moment of brilliance to bail us out of jail. That (last season) isn't how things are supposed to be, now it is.

[remains of the day 564]

my 'nothing' was the equivalent to yours 'had no influence' when you said Cesc and Costa had no influence in some games until Hazard brought us to life. The opposite is also very much true. There were times Hazard hadn't any influence in the game yet and Costa or/and Cesc took it into their hands to turn things around for us. I meant the same as you and I think both of us used hyperboles.

I don’t think you answered my question, Barbara. Give me concrete examples of instances where that happened? Besides the opening goal against Everton, I can’t think of any other situations that might validate the bold statement.

I’m surprised that some haven’t noticed that Eden, this season, has been stepping up and taking more responsibility. He still has room for improvement, after all he’s a 23 yr old playing under a defensively stringent manager - his game isn’t going to be flawless. But I’ll tell you what, the times when the team has been under the cosh and we’ve needed someone to “step-up” the player that has done that consistently has been Eden. In the first half, the trio of Cesc, Costa and Hazard were anonymous, but it was Eden that took charge of the ball, began taking players on, drawing fouls and soon after the rest of the team followed suit and raised their game. Against Everton we were under immense pressure at 2-1, I was pissing myself thinking that they were going to equalize. Cesc and Matic weren’t controlling the game, Costa was losing every single aerial duel.... we were seriously under the cosh. One of the players had to step up and create something out of nothing because Everton were very close to equalizing and out of nowhere Hazard made the dribble that forced the own goal. It was a crucial moment.

In every game we’ve played this season, he’s been influential and has made a difference at crucial times - whether it be taking players on, creating a goal or scoring, Eden has stepped up when his team has needed him. He's taken charge in ways that Cesc hasn't (and we really shouldn't be expecting him to because he's still new to the team). It’s mind boggling that some can’t see that. It's even more mind boggling that you would suggest that I'm trying to create a competition by stating that Hazard has been our most pivotal attacking player. Seriously? The only one treating this like a competition is you chica, it ain't me. Think someone is majorly crushin' on cescy.

[communicate 2,703]

I am suprised how much stick he still get.

I thought he did fine, made a good assist, got hacked by kompany multiple times (how in the heck Kompany escape red card every game is beyond me).

[Barbara 15,149]

I don’t think you answered my question, Barbara. Give me concrete examples of instances where that happened? Besides the opening goal against Everton, I can’t think of any other situations that might validate the bold statement.

I’m surprised that some haven’t noticed that Eden, this season, has been stepping up and taking more responsibility. He still has room for improvement, after all he’s a 23 yr old playing under a defensively stringent manager - his game isn’t going to be flawless. But I’ll tell you what, the times when the team has been under the cosh and we’ve needed someone to “step-up” the player that has done that consistently has been Eden. In the first half, the trio of Cesc, Costa and Hazard were anonymous, but it was Eden that took charge of the ball, began taking players on, drawing fouls and soon after the rest of the team followed suit and raised their game. Against Everton we were under immense pressure at 2-1, I was pissing myself thinking that they were going to equalize. Cesc and Matic weren’t controlling the game, Costa was losing every single aerial duel.... we were seriously under the cosh. One of the players had to step up and create something out of nothing because Everton were very close to equalizing and out of nowhere Hazard made the dribble that forced the own goal. It was a crucial moment.

In every game we’ve played this season, he’s been influential and has made a difference at crucial times - whether it be taking players on, creating a goal or scoring, Eden has stepped up when his team has needed him in ways that Cesc hasn't (and we really shouldn't be expecting him to because he's still new to the team). It’s mind boggling that some can’t see that. It's even more mind boggling that you would suggest that I'm trying to create a competition by stating that Hazard has been our most pivotal attacking player. Seriously? The only one treating this like a competition is you chica, it ain't me. Think someone is majorly crushin' on cescy.

Hazard has been quite praised for his change of attitude the past two weeks. Maybe you haven't read enough or thought it wasn't expressive enough, but a lot of people, me included, has been praising him for stepping up his game both in the pitch but mainly his attitude. He's been more determined ever since the Swansea match.

I remember Hazard had one quiet match this season, don't know which. I'll answer to you when I actually remember it. If you want to return the favor and remind me of matches were both Costa and Cesc had no influence until Hazard fired the team up. That seemed to be the case from the Swansea match on. The previous three matches I either felt like they were working in sync or that one among the other two (if not both) took matters into hands before Hazard as directly involved in anything relevant in the match.

I admitted to my love for Cesc more than once... I don't mind admitting I'm crushing on him as a footballer. What does that have to do with agreeing with someone that said it's an exaggeration and unfair to say Hazard has been carrying this team this season fails me...

Again, I don't get why we need to have a winner. Why does it have to Cesc OR Hazard OR Costa? Why can't it be our attack force that is carrying the team? This is such a nonsense argument. and I don't get how am I the one creating it if I took part - late as usual - of an ongoing discussion between you and Daniel... i've stated in all three posts here that I think it's fair to have the three of them equally responsible for our attack success, I'm not the one that kept saying one of them is above the other two...

I'll rewatch highlights to refresh my memory and will come back to you, either agreeing that Hazard has been instrumental whereas the other two were on sleep mode or not.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

I don’t think you answered my question, Barbara. Give me concrete examples of instances where that happened? Besides the opening goal against Everton, I can’t think of any other situations that might validate the bold statement.

I’m surprised that some haven’t noticed that Eden, this season, has been stepping up and taking more responsibility. He still has room for improvement, after all he’s a 23 yr old playing under a defensively stringent manager - his game isn’t going to be flawless. But I’ll tell you what, the times when the team has been under the cosh and we’ve needed someone to “step-up” the player that has done that consistently has been Eden. In the first half, the trio of Cesc, Costa and Hazard were anonymous, but it was Eden that took charge of the ball, began taking players on, drawing fouls and soon after the rest of the team followed suit and raised their game. Against Everton we were under immense pressure at 2-1, I was pissing myself thinking that they were going to equalize. Cesc and Matic weren’t controlling the game, Costa was losing every single aerial duel.... we were seriously under the cosh. One of the players had to step up and create something out of nothing because Everton were very close to equalizing and out of nowhere Hazard made the dribble that forced the own goal. It was a crucial moment.

In every game we’ve played this season, he’s been influential and has made a difference at crucial times - whether it be taking players on, creating a goal or scoring, Eden has stepped up when his team has needed him in ways that Cesc hasn't (and we really shouldn't be expecting him to because he's still new to the team). It’s mind boggling that some can’t see that. It's even more mind boggling that you would suggest that I'm trying to create a competition by stating that Hazard has been our most pivotal attacking player. Seriously? The only one treating this like a competition is you chica, it ain't me. Think someone is majorly crushin' on cescy.

I'm sorry, but this is BS. We wouldn't have won against Burnley if it wasn't for Cesc. He (and Iva) created all three goals in that game. He was the one who stepped up, not Hazard in that game. Yes, Eden played an important part in the buildup of Andre's goal(Iva did too), but that goal would never have happened if it wasn't for Cesc's amazing pass that very few footballers could have pulled off. That was the goal of the month for a reason.

Against Everton the one who stepped up wasn't Hazard but Costa. Both Cesc and Hazard didn't play huge roles in that game, though both contributed - Cesc with an assist and few throughballs for Costa and Hazard with the equalizer. Hazard was quite poor in that game, actually--so poor that many were saying he should be taken off.

Against Swansea it was Cesc's corner that allowed Costa to score a crucial equalizer(before Cesc, Hazard took the corner kick and was bad at it). It was a brilliant linkup play between Cesc and Eden that led to Diego's second goal, but Cesc deserves more credit there for his great run and great final ball to Costa. He did step up when we needed. You're rewriting history here or just have a really selective memory.

Hazard was crucial for us this season, but so was Cesc and so was Costa.

This is a really pointless debate that you started without even reading properly what I meant. All of them are important to our team, but you seem to underrate other players' contribution to our wins while overrating Hazard's. They all deserve the credit. They are a team. It doesn't have to be a competition. You're the only one trying to make it a competition. If you actually read my initial post carefully and understood that I was in no way implying that Hazard wasn't an essential player for us--he certainly is, along with Costa and Fabregas--we wouldn't be having this pointless discussion. You accuse Barbara of "crushing" on Cesc and not being objective, while you're doing the very same thing here, rushing to Hazard's defence when he actually didn't need defending. Certainly not from me.

P.S. I really didn't want to argue with a lady, but I really dislike when people put words in my mouth. And I never in no way implied that Eden was anything but essential for us. He's one of my favourite players of all time and I consider him our most talented player.

[Barbara 15,149]

I'm going to remove myself from the conversation, as the Cesc-lover. I'll come back when I re-watch all the highlights, but if I must say so, this discussion is stupid and we should just end it. They're working together, as an unit, as it should and it's been helping us to win matches. Who gives an actual fuck which on was more influential in this or that match?

On another note though, Hazard's thread is the most bewildering, bipolar, weird place on this forum. It's incredible how he's incredibly underrated and overrated all the time, but rarely a fair assessment is made of his contributions. I've been on the underrating and overrating sides of it many times, I'm not saying I'm the one being fair (normally The Skipper is), but I don't get why everything he does need to be magnified or disregarded...

I love Hazard, I really do, he's been my fave player for most of last season, he's in general my favorite Chelsea player, but there's a reason why I rarely bring myself to this thread. This place is weird. Many times I had to underrate him to bring people down from making him the best thing since sliced bread (a few of us have - literally - an inside joke about how he gets at least 10 MOTM votes at all matches, regardless if he played for more than 5 minutes or not, as long as his name is in the list, there's a minimal amount of votes he'll get, what he actually did to the match indifferent or irrelevant), in many others I felt like overrating him and some of his doings just so people would give him time and understanding for his shortcomings. Every time we try to make a fair criticism about him, it's seems like we're throwing rocks on Jesus' cross (not saying we haven't been unfair on criticism towards him before, I did and so many others). This thread really is annoying as hell.

But I'll come back to answer properly the question that has been made twice towards me, even if Daniel just before me seems to disagree about it. I want to have my own perception about it. My memory really isn't my best trait.

edit: Burnley match. Ivanovic and Cesc were running the show all by themselves. We were trying to create but we haven't been very successful until they made their magic. Hazard had an important role in the second goal and that was about it, if we consider really important actions in the match, whether they resulted on goals or not. He's been involved in play like others had, but he really made something special only then. He wasn't at all the one who's fired the match up, he didn't dictate things, he wasn't nearly as influential as Iva and Cesc. Again, I'm doing this for the sake of answering you @remains of the day, as it doesn't matter to me if he's the one who turned the match around all by himself or not, what really matters is that we won our first match of the season.

Leicester match. We were dull and harmless in the first. In the second it was a repeat of the Burnley match. Iva and Cesc fired the team up and were dangerous, their own attempts or creations stopping at their goalie. At that point even Oscar was more influential than Hazard (I'll be crucified for this comment for nine lives). It wasn't only the through ball for the first goal, he's created chances, hit the wood, was actually active. Then Hazard scored the second goal - which was wonderful, but that was after we were already dominating completely the match and after our first goal completely killed Leicester.

I'll stop here because I feel really stupid doing it. But there you go, matches where Costa and/or Fabregas or others actually stepped up before Hazard did. I don't know why it's so important to prove or restate Hazard has been instrumental for us - he has. I don't know why we have to highlight his actions (when Iva for example had much more of them in the first two matches) to make others look less impressive or important. I don't get why someone has to come and say he carries our team all by himself and others have to come and prove he doesn't. This has been silly and this is one of the most stupid posts I've written here... and I really have said stupid things before, sometimes one's judgment is clouded by emotions or they're riled up by others or have to go out of their way to antagonize extreme fanboy-ish/biased views or extreme hateful views and stupid things sprout. So I admit I've said stupid things before, but this come to a top10... the day I had to prove one of our players wasn't the first one in the team to step up when we've been scoring galore. I feel silly.

[Chelsea? 892]

Even with the new attacking talents, he is still asked to carry the team. Doing a damn good job this year too.

he's not carring the team. He's playing like our best player. Not too much to ask for.

[Barbara 15,149]

Good thing we actually won't remove Costa and Cesc from the team to let Hazard literally carry it all by himself though. Had enough of that last season. I'm happy Hazard doesn't have to endure that and I think one of the reasons he's flourishing now is because the pressure is off. Instead of running from the responsibility - as I thought he maybe could based on that interview before the Swansea game - he's actually capitalizing on it and letting his talent take over without the pressure of HAVING to win us the matches. If he fails there are others that have been stepping up, if he doesn't have a good day in the office, there are others that could compensate, if he's marked by two-three players, there are others that will take advantage of that.

Actually that's a conversation that is actually interesting to have and that we pointed out would happen before the season started, but that we haven't discussed much since it actually did. Hazard hasn't been marked by too many opponents now last season because Costa and Cesc actually drag some opponents with them. Do you guys feel like he has a little more space and freedom now? Of course, sometimes opponents gang up on him, especially in a match like yesterday where our attackers were too isolated, but in general, it feels like teams haven't been deploying 2, 3 and sometimes even 4 players surrounding him like we saw many times last season. They have other players to also worry about now and I think that's one of the factors that has been helping him the most. Am I the only one to feel a difference about it?

[dee25 1,044]

The comment about Cesc and Costa carrying our attack is interesting - couldn't 'disagree more with it. Sure they've been key players for us but it's hazard that has actually been the catalyst in the majority of our attacks. It was his dribble that opened up the space for our equalizing goal against Burnley; against Leicester we struggled in the opening mins when hazard was largely anonymous but once he grew into the game we immediately became more threatening, exactly the same thing happened against Swansea, and against Schalke and City it was Hazard that created both goals. Cesc and Costa have gotten the headlines but this kid has been a massive influence in our attacks.

I think Hazard is still our best player IMO (just my opinion guys so for the love of sweet god don't flame me). He now has better support in attack which has made it easier for him to have more of an effect but I completely agree that he's been the driving force behind most of our attacks.

The thing with him though is that his impact has mostly come in bursts.