Eden Hazard

[Hutcho 8,443]

I think he will progress well this season.

The addition of fabregas I see as a good thing because it means he isn't as relied upon as much and also if fabre plays deeper then the service into hazard and Co should be better and more efficient.

Add into that the fact that we potentially have a dangerous striker at the bridge again which will make the runs and (fingers crossed) score more goals should benefit him somewhat.

Tbh, I am more interested in seeing how Oscar reacts as I hope to see a little bit more of the talent we know he has come out. Also if Mou is planning on playing fabregas in a 3 in mid or at the CAM then he is in direct completion and it will be interesting to see how Oscar responds to that.

[Footballover 222]

This is the season he either steps up to another level or he's simply a very good player.

I can't understand this ultimatum, you think that this year will be the last in which he will progress? He is only 23, he is still so young and so inexperienced and he may reach his peak only at something like 25, maybe even later. Players such as Ribery, Robben and even Malouda (a beast at his prime) reached their summit at a very progressive age for example.

If you think that Eden will become a Ronaldo v2, I might disappoint you - well, he will most probably won't. I really dought that Hazard will score as much as the Portuguese because he is not a born finisher, both because he lacks certain qualities that great finishers have - shooting and heading especially, but more importantly because he takes different aspects of the game on himself. I agree that he should shoot more but I don't think he needs to become obsessive with it, he can contribute a great deal to the team even if he doesn't score 40 goals a season.

Hazard is a fantastic player already and I personally don't worry about him that much. He will become an even more remarkable player in the future and will be remembered as one of the best even if he won't reach the hights that Ronaldo and Messi reached. If there is a player that we need to worry about it's Oscar, but that's a different discussion...

[Barbara 15,149]

I can't understand this ultimatum, you think that this year will be the last in which he will progress? He is only 23, he is still so young and so inexperienced and he may reach his peak only at something like 25, maybe even later. Players such as Ribery, Robben and even Malouda (a beast at his prime) reached their summit at a very progressive age for example.

If you think that Eden will become a Ronaldo v2, I might disappoint you - well, he will most probably won't. I really dought that Hazard will score as much as the Portuguese because he is not a born finisher, both because he lacks certain qualities that great finishers have - shooting and heading especially, but more importantly because he takes different aspects of the game on himself. I agree that he should shoot more but I don't think he needs to become obsessive with it, he can contribute a great deal to the team even if he doesn't score 40 goals a season.

Hazard is a fantastic player already and I personally don't worry about him that much. He will become an even more remarkable player in the future and will be remembered as one of the best even if he won't reach the hights that Ronaldo and Messi reached. If there is a player that we need to worry about it's Oscar, but that's a different discussion...

I think both of you have good points.

For him to reach his peak as you say that could happen at age 25 or maybe even longer, he needs to do some things now. He won't wake up someday when he's 25 and just reach his peak. There are serious improvements he needs to start doing now if he plans to ever reach his ceiling.

Criticizing Hazard is very complicated on this forum and rarely people accept it, but he's overrated in general (not his potential, but his impact in the team) by people here and I agree about that with Alex a couple of pages ago - which doesn't mean he isn't our best player. He is our best player and overall a great player and stats - as my signature says - don't tell the whole story, but it's hard to ignore them when they are really bad. He was completely anonymous the first months of the season last year (except October), barely impacting any game, and then he exploded and was really good starting in December and then people just assume he was amazing for the rest of the season, but at the end of February he had already faded considerably and his really good matches were far and between. He didn't score from open play since February 8th and he had only 2 assists from February til the end of the season. Still nobody says a word about it and everyone just keeps saying he was amazing last season. Yes, he was insanely great, for three months, average for another four and had ups and downs (mixed with injuries) in the last three.

Does it means he sucks, that he wasn't good enough or any other thing someone may assume I'm saying? No, it means that he hasn't living not even half of his potential. If he doesn't assist and doesn't score enough, I don't give a fuck how many dribbles and 'chances created' (unless they're clear cut chances) he makes (although as I explain below, those things can help a lot, but they can be very misleading too). At the end of the day he isn't effectively helping us win matches the way he could, the way he has potential to do.

I kept defending him and I believe he's Balon D'Or material, but if he doesn't start to step up (mentally above all) now, he could end up being nothing but a very good player as TOPTB said in his posts. I'm quite aware that the stats don't tell the whole story (he could be the guy that consistently gives the pass before the assists, he could be the guy that drags markers and leave others unmarked, even if isn't directly involved in the match stats), but they don't absurdly lie either. Eden Hazard is an amazing player with a lot of talent, and his talent and meaningless stats such as chances created (completely different from clear cut chances) give him a reputation that seems to be much bigger than what he really is at the moment. I want to see him reach his full potential, but he has to start working on that, especially mentally, where I think he lacks, otherwise he will never be the player most of us expect him to be.

His stats by month are (ESPNfc breakdown):

August - 0 assists, 1 goals (Super Cup)

September - 0 assists, 0 goals

October - 1 assist, 4 goals

November - 1 assist, 1 goal

December - 2 assists, 4 goals

January - 3 assists, 1 goal

February - 0 assists, 3 goals (all in the same match and 1 penalty)

March - 2 assists (Galatasaray), 2 goals (2 penalties)

April - 0 assists, 1 goal (1 penalty)

May - 0 assists, 0 goals

[Hamilton 2,118]

With Costa and fab he should do better in most months..

[Barbara 15,149]

With Costa and fab he should do better in most months..

I think the additions will help him a lot, but he needs to step up mentally too. What TOPTB said... maybe he will never score goals like Ronaldo (who does anyway?), but he has to have the same mentality, the same confidence and the same approach. He will improve a lot as a player if it improves.

[Footballover 222]

Barbara,

I get your point and I agree with it partly, but I have to say that you are forgetting one very important and critical issue - last season, Hazard was our only real "executer" in terms of attacking play (not to mention the fact that he needed to defend on top of it all)! The first few months were really problematic and he was actually pretty awful to say the truth, but when he clicked into gear somewhere aroung November he was amazing, as you mentioned. It is a bit simple to say it but with time, teams understood how to stop him and we were practically fucked when that happened. The point is - it's really not fair to judge him conclusively because at times last season, our strategy was to give him the ball and hope for the best. This season though, he will have much much more freedom and help with Luis coming in to loosen him from the defensive job, Costa and Fabregas who should take some of the attacking burden on themselves, and assuming Schurrle, Willian and Oscar will improve, we can all expect him to be better, and I personally believe he will step up to the task.

[Moros 86]

To be honest I think we need a at least one attacking midfielder, before we can play with the real big boys (Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, Barcça & City). Cesc, Luiz and Costa are very fine additions. But when we talk about AM's (I'm counting Cesc to play in the pivot) we have only one that strikes fear in the other team, that's hazard. Now with Cesc, Costa and Luiz it will be better and Hazard isn't the only threat on the pitch anymore, but if really want him to show his magic we need another guy comming. I really hope that we can land Reus this summer, winter or next summer. Cause then we'll have, as far as I'm concerned, a world class team. And I bet it would make all our current players perform even better.

[zolayes 14,489]

To be honest I think we need a at least one attacking midfielder, before we can play with the real big boys (Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, Barcça & City). Cesc, Luiz and Costa are very fine additions. But when we talk about AM's (I'm counting Cesc to play in the pivot) we have only one that strikes fear in the other team, that's hazard. Now with Cesc, Costa and Luiz it will be better and Hazard isn't the only threat on the pitch anymore, but if really want him to show his magic we need another guy comming. I really hope that we can land Reus this summer, winter or next summer. Cause then we'll have, as far as I'm concerned, a world class team. And I bet it would make all our current players perform even better.

we have Oscar and Schurrle we can only play 11 AND we can't bring another overseas player without getting rid of one

[stroey 2,525]

To be honest I think we need a at least one attacking midfielder, before we can play with the real big boys (Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, Barcça & City). Cesc, Luiz and Costa are very fine additions. But when we talk about AM's (I'm counting Cesc to play in the pivot) we have only one that strikes fear in the other team, that's hazard. Now with Cesc, Costa and Luiz it will be better and Hazard isn't the only threat on the pitch anymore, but if really want him to show his magic we need another guy comming. I really hope that we can land Reus this summer, winter or next summer. Cause then we'll have, as far as I'm concerned, a world class team. And I bet it would make all our current players perform even better.

LuiS

[Barbara 15,149]

Barbara,

I get your point and I agree with it partly, but I have to say that you are forgetting one very important and critical issue - last season, Hazard was our only real "executer" in terms of attacking play (not to mention the fact that he needed to defend on top of it all)! The first few months were really problematic and he was actually pretty awful to say the truth, but when he clicked into gear somewhere aroung November he was amazing, as you mentioned. It is a bit simple to say it but with time, teams understood how to stop him and we were practically fucked when that happened. The point is - it's really not fair to judge him conclusively because at times last season, our strategy was to give him the ball and hope for the best. This season though, he will have much much more freedom and help with Luis coming in to loosen him from the defensive job, Costa and Fabregas who should take some of the attacking burden on themselves, and assuming Schurrle, Willian and Oscar will improve, we can all expect him to be better, and I personally believe he will step up to the task.

I actually agree with all this, which is why I agreed with Hamilton's post after mine too.

I wrote it (I guess in Cesc's thread a few weeks ago) that one of the guys that would benefit the most with the new additions (if not the most of all) is Hazard. Back then I said that it was very easy for teams to throw 2-3 sometimes even 4 players to mark him because opposition knew he was our only source of creativity for a while (especially when Oscar's form dropped). So it makes it very easy for opposition to mark the only relief valve when everyone else weren't that dangerous. Now we have Cesc offering assists, Diego Costa being an amazing target man, Schurrle having one season under his belt and being much more dangerous and that will alleviate not only the pressure on Hazard, but also the man-marking on him. If today a team deploys 2-3 players on Hazard, first, they'll probably leave Luís alone to link up and provide a cross or pass to a player coming from behind at the end of the box (the list of good finishers there is nearly endless with Cesc, Matic, Oscar, Schurrle, Costa, etc). Even if Luís is not there or isn't the first one to receive the ball it means Costa and the other two AMs and one between Cesc and Matic coming from behind are left completely unmarked or marked by only one player (in many cases from distance, if they're close to one another, as if the same defender was there to cover both of our players).

So I have no doubt he will benefit from that and he will be more active, will produce better stats and will contribute more with other things that stats don't tell - such as the pass before the assist, providing space for others, 2x1 plays, etc), but if he doesn't step up mentally, forging a winning-at-all-costs mentality, he won't reach his potential, which would be a waste, even if he starts offering better stats. It's not only about him having more real impact in our matches, but when you see a gem like Hazard, you just want them to fulfill their potential because it's hard to find a guy that has the talent, the technique and the brains like he has. Those guys are special and not easily found, but I feel like he doesn't have an attitude compatible and I hope being a winner like he is, Mourinho is able to influence him.

[Namika 922]

To be honest I think we need a at least one attacking midfielder, before we can play with the real big boys (Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, Barcça & City). Cesc, Luiz and Costa are very fine additions. But when we talk about AM's (I'm counting Cesc to play in the pivot) we have only one that strikes fear in the other team, that's hazard. Now with Cesc, Costa and Luiz it will be better and Hazard isn't the only threat on the pitch anymore, but if really want him to show his magic we need another guy comming. I really hope that we can land Reus this summer, winter or next summer. Cause then we'll have, as far as I'm concerned, a world class team. And I bet it would make all our current players perform even better.

Nope, we are good to go. We are easily at the level of City, Dortmund, Barcelona and Bayern imo.Real is ahead everyone else at the moment but I think if we are to meet in the CL we could do something.

[Barbara 15,149]

Nope, we are good to go. We are easily at the level of City, Dortmund, Barcelona and Bayern imo.Real is ahead everyone else at the moment but I think if we are to meet in the CL we could do something.

actually I feel we're ahead of Dortmund for sure (even if now most of their injured players will be fit again, but then we don't know how many of them will stay) and maybe even ahead of Barcelona. Yeah, they now got Suarez, but we all know he struggles in the big matches when he faces high level defenses. I don't feel like they're much better than they were last season and despite being runner-ups in La Liga, the Madrid teams were very focused in the UCL (Atlético actually divided it sort of) and still they didn't look impressive. I think they'll get better with Neymar better adapted and a better manager, in addition to Suarez, but I think our new additions still put us a step ahead of them.

Domestically we're a bit behind City imo because of their depth in the striker department and having one season with most of their players (while we did add a few key players that will get some time getting used to one another and producing their best level) and I think Real was a great team last season already. Now is anyone guesses, as they were a bit all over the place (as usual) with their signings. If they keep their level, let alone improve it, they're one step ahead of everyone else imo. Bayern under Guardiola lost a lot imo and is overrated by the lack of competition Bundesliga provided. They were humiliated by RM last season and aren't nearly as convincing and deadly as they were under Heynckes.

[Namika 922]

actually I feel we're ahead of Dortmund for sure (even if now most of their injured players will be fit again, but then we don't know how many of them will stay) and maybe even ahead of Barcelona. Yeah, they now got Suarez, but we all know he struggles in the big matches when he faces high level defenses. I don't feel like they're much better than they were last season and despite being runner-ups in La Liga, the Madrid teams were very focused in the UCL (Atlético actually divided it sort of) and still they didn't look impressive. I think they'll get better with Neymar better adapted and a better manager, in addition to Suarez, but I think our new additions still put us a step ahead of them.

Domestically we're a bit behind City imo because of their depth in the striker department and having one season with most of their players (while we did add a few key players that will get some time getting used to one another and producing their best level) and I think Real was a great team last season already. Now is anyone guesses, as they were a bit all over the place (as usual) with their signings. If they keep their level, let alone improve it, they're one step ahead of everyone else imo. Bayern under Guardiola lost a lot imo and is overrated by the lack of competition Bundesliga provided. They were humiliated by RM last season and aren't nearly as convincing and deadly as they were under Heynckes.

Agree on pretty much everything, seeing our style of play, I'd fancy our chance against Bayern and Barcelona. We are a better team than City but they're more consistent, and that level of consistency is enough for the PL but not for the CL and unless they elevate it more, they won't compete in the CL.

Dortmund 12/13 was such a good team but right now with the players they lost and the ones who are coming back from injury, I don't know where to situate them but if they rediscover their 12/13 form, they are easily in the top 4/5 teams.

[Moros 86]

LuiS

Sorry!

[iseah100 5,612]

actually I feel we're ahead of Dortmund for sure (even if now most of their injured players will be fit again, but then we don't know how many of them will stay) and maybe even ahead of Barcelona. Yeah, they now got Suarez, but we all know he struggles in the big matches when he faces high level defenses. I don't feel like they're much better than they were last season and despite being runner-ups in La Liga, the Madrid teams were very focused in the UCL (Atlético actually divided it sort of) and still they didn't look impressive. I think they'll get better with Neymar better adapted and a better manager, in addition to Suarez, but I think our new additions still put us a step ahead of them.

Domestically we're a bit behind City imo because of their depth in the striker department and having one season with most of their players (while we did add a few key players that will get some time getting used to one another and producing their best level) and I think Real was a great team last season already. Now is anyone guesses, as they were a bit all over the place (as usual) with their signings. If they keep their level, let alone improve it, they're one step ahead of everyone else imo. Bayern under Guardiola lost a lot imo and is overrated by the lack of competition Bundesliga provided. They were humiliated by RM last season and aren't nearly as convincing and deadly as they were under Heynckes.

I'm not so sure we're ahead of Dortmund, probably level. When healthy they are one of the top 5 teams. Players like Subotic-Hummels-Gundogan-Sahin-Reus.

I think it goes

Real

Bayern

Chelsea, Dortmund, City.

Barca

[stroey 2,525]

http://youtu.be/ywG65F_Mmy4

LoL

[Blue Armour 4,158]

As is usually the case there's no real benefit to judging Hazard (or really any player for that matter) during pre-season.

I don't think he takes these matches seriously..and that did prove to be the case last season. The step up in performance when our first truly competitive fixture against Bayern came up last season was huge.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I can't understand this ultimatum, you think that this year will be the last in which he will progress? He is only 23, he is still so young and so inexperienced and he may reach his peak only at something like 25, maybe even later. Players such as Ribery, Robben and even Malouda (a beast at his prime) reached their summit at a very progressive age for example.

If you think that Eden will become a Ronaldo v2, I might disappoint you - well, he will most probably won't. I really dought that Hazard will score as much as the Portuguese because he is not a born finisher, both because he lacks certain qualities that great finishers have - shooting and heading especially, but more importantly because he takes different aspects of the game on himself. I agree that he should shoot more but I don't think he needs to become obsessive with it, he can contribute a great deal to the team even if he doesn't score 40 goals a season.

Hazard is a fantastic player already and I personally don't worry about him that much. He will become an even more remarkable player in the future and will be remembered as one of the best even if he won't reach the hights that Ronaldo and Messi reached. If there is a player that we need to worry about it's Oscar, but that's a different discussion...

Unfortunately, this is the type of hogwash that gets peddled around here frequently. Some seem to take great delight into pointing out what Hazard is not rather than what he is. Just read some of the previous comments on this thread, you will think the player in question is a mediocre player and not our POTY and not the 2nd best player in the league (as voted by his peers last season). It's one thing having high expectations for a player, it's another having outrageous ones, making daft ultimatums (he either does this or....) and then condemning the player in question for not living up to them. A "very good player" is a joke. Eden is a world class player. If he's put on the market tomorrow, his value will easily exceed 70 mil pounds and upwards. Our rivals will die to have a player of his skill and ability.