MrExcalibur100

Sifting through past pages, it's the same stuff that has plagued this board for majority of its lifespan. Hazard is never going to satisfy some of us if this continues. A verbose one, yes but needs to be added to the discussion. (1) People expecting far too much too soon from Hazard by looking at him through the lens of Ronaldo and Messi. You....just....can't. Every player is different and every career takes different routes. Ronaldo and Messi have been at big clubs their entire careers. They've been playing Champions league since they were 18, making deep runs into the knock-out phases. Hell, both had even won the thing at 23. Hazard on the other hand has only played 2 seasons of Champions league in his ENTIRE career. He's only been in the knock-out phase one time in his career and that was last season were he also got injured as well. The Champions league is the highest level of football and Hazard has been unlucky (for various reasons, club, injuries etc) not to have played a lot in that competition yet. It's no surprise his development as a player is slower than Ronaldo and Messi. This is an incredibly important point. There's also the fact that he's spent majority of his career in the French league while Ronaldo and Messi have been in two of the best leagues in the world for all their careers. This again is going to affect development and status as player as the French league doesn't offer the stiffest of opposition, to say the least. Ronaldinho and to a lesser extent, Zidane only showed their full class when they moved to better leagues. Like Jose said, "give him time". (2) Overrating players from other clubs and underrating our own. This also applies to other players but especially to Hazard. Case in point, Robben has an outstanding World Cup and all of a sudden, he's the player Hazard should aspire to be. Bale scores in the Champions league final (despite doing nothing all game) and Hazard should be more like Bale. I even read someone put Bale in the same category as Ronaldo and Messi when making this comment. James freaking Rodriguez is amazing for Colombia and Hazard should apply himself more. And on and on and on. (3) Criticizing him for being "inconsistent". The opposite is infact the case and the meaning of the world has become lost in football circles . There is a difference between being an inconsistent player (i.e Nani) and having a bad game/not performing at your normal level for a brief period. You can't be inconsistent and be considered a world class player or even a good one. Hazard, for such a young player has been considered a consistent player all through his career. He was certainly far more consistent at 23 than a certain Arjen Robben was. How quickly we forget. The inconsistent label was unfairly thrown at him in his first season in English football by the media hacks. It was his first season at the club, of course he was going to be shaky in his performances. All his achievements for Lille were simply thrown under the bus. Luckily, his performance level last season shut a lot of mouths in the media and we no longer hear a lot of that. But unfortunately, a small minority of forum members still repeat that nonsense. (4) Not being a "leader". This apparently is the new one. A 23 year old player in his 3rd season with us is all of a sudden supposed to lead. I wonder why the same isn't demanded from some of his other teammates. And the big games that Hazard did lead in are not spoken of or simply forgotten. Let's forget Man City away and remember Crystal Palace away. Makes sense.

(1) Hazard goals/assists in the last 3 seasons: Robben goals/assists in the last 3 seasons: 2011/12 : 20 goals 17 assists 2011/12 : 18 goals 6 assists 2012/13 : 14 goals 19 assists 2012/13 : 13 goals 10 assists 2013/14 : 17 goals 9 assists 2013/14 : 24 goals 10 assists Total : 51 goals 45 assists Total : 55 goals 26 assists Total games : 156 games started Total games : 111 games started Infact, according to ESPN, Robben has only scored 20+ goals in a season twice in his ENTIRE career. Or do you think every winger is like Ronaldo (the guy is not even a true winger anymore but that's another topic) can score 50+ goals a season? Or even 20+ goals? At least if you're going to bullshit about Hazard and his numbers comparable to other players, get your facts right before misleading other people with nonsense. Hazard's goals/assist ratio is incredible. (2) Yes, I just shudder at the fact that Hazard is not at the level as three of the best players of all time. Can you just imagine the incredulousness of that? How dare he? Some of the rubbish that gets posted on this thread (and the threads of some of our other players as well) is incredibly cringeworthy to say the least.

I'm not sure why his words about wanting to assist more is being put under such scrutiny. Almost everything Hazard says to the media is to be taken tongue-in-cheek, the guy is a joker, first and foremost. (Just to provide the assist stats) Hazard assist stats in the last 3-4 seasons (ESPN) Lille 2011/12 : 17 assists. Chelsea 2012/13 : 19 assists. Chelsea 2013/14 : 9 assists (a noticeable, not just individually but as a team as well) So even for a player who isn't primarily a playmaker and offers much more than true playmakers, he tends to assist a LOT with numbers comparable to some of the best playmakers out there. And as for him not being a "leader" or not wanting to "lead", that's a bit rich considering that he did carry the mantle and lead the attack several times last season. In only his 2nd season at the club, mind. The question is why weren't some of his teammates "leading" as well?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQS52DJx21U

We just have to improve our ability to retain possession as a team. With Fabregas now in central midfield, we're clearly less solid. This team is definitely no longer built to soak pressure and play on the counter attack. At some point in that match, the ball possession was 75% Everton 25% Chelsea. That's simply not good enough for a team with a midfield such as ours. We need to be more confident in our quality when we play away from home and more patient in possession. When we allow the opposition to dominate possession like Everton did, it tends to make some individual players, the likes of Hazard and Fabregas especially, less effective. Swansea will be a good test because they are one of the best possession based sides in the league. Bringing in Filipe Luis and Oscar for Ramires and Azpilicueta will be a good start.

Very good read: http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/chelseas-amazing-summer-means-the-titles-within-joses-grasp/

Yeah, I agree with that. It can be easily be summed up as they are an unbalanced and top-heavy squad, something we all know. The bolded part can also be applied to a team like Arsenal. They are pretty "light" through the middle but that doesn't stop them from finishing 4th. Not every team can have a Matic or Toure. I don't think they'll challenge for the title either. Challenge as in 3-6 points off top place. I think they can finish high though, 3rd or even 2nd (City letting Negredo leave is idiotic) but I don't think it will be close points wise between us and them. Their fans will be delighted with 4th place I guess, despite the players they now have.

Why do you think Rojo is a bad signing? I've always been impressed with him every time I saw him play. He can also play CB if need be. So can Blind. I do agree their defense is nothing special but you don't need a special defense to come 3rd or even 2nd in this league when you have an assassin like Falcao up front. Once van Gaal moves away from that silly formation and they settle, I see a top 4 finish at least.

They do have some weaknesses in their squad, obviously their defense is nothing special, compared to ours but it's hardly weak either. The signings of Falcao and Blind boost them a lot. They're still missing Rafael, Evans, Shaw and Rojo. In central/holding midfield Carrick, Blind and Herrera are coming back as well. Add that to the other ridiculous talent they have, their squad is looking more impressive than Arsenal's or Liverpool. Once van Gaal moves away from this 3-5-2 insanity, they'll become a force again. Maybe not like before, but a serious candidate for 3rd or even 2nd. They don't even have European football to worry about.

Tremendous player, his movement is amazing and his finishing ridiculous. But it means nothing if they can't sort out their attacking build up and defense. A player like Falcao will look very average if they play the way they've been playing recently. He's the ultimate poacher but how can you poach if there's no chances being created? Hopefully, before van Gaal sorts these problems out, because he will, we will be out of sight.

Negredo to Valencia official. Loan with option to buy for 30 million euros. http://www.marca.com/2014/09/02/futbol/equipos/valencia/1409609181.html Pretty bewildering decision considering how injury prone Aguero has been in the last year or so and how injury prone Jovetic has been throughout his career. Add that to the inconsistency of Dzeko, it's good news for us no doubt about that.

Personally, I feel he's had his time at LB. He was fantastic there last season but the novelty is starting to wear off. The way he lost Coleman, (and it's not the first time its happened) is characteristic of a player being played out of position. Way too narrow. He also offers absolutely nothing in attack. Got dominated by Coleman and struggled to make simple forward passes. It's time for Filipe Luis to start, hopefully against Swansea.

Less concerned about Falcao going to United than City, tbh.

So, Leicester 1-1 Arsenal. Really impressed with The Foxes so far. They are definitely the best of the promoted sides and I'm sure they'll stay up. Certainly more than 3 worse sides than them.

In : Costa, Fabregas, Luis, Remy and Courtois returning. Out : Torres (!), Ba, Eto'o, Luiz. All our mediocre players gone and replaced with top quality all round. Summer window of 2014/15 has probably been the best in CFC history. Very well done to the board and Mourinho

Brilliant!! Now all of a sudden we have a brilliant strike-force. Welcome Loic

The perfect transfer window. Simply fantastic.

Leicester 1-1 Arsenal. Cracking atmosphere at the King Power stadium. I have a soft spot for them after the game they gave us at the Bridge last week.

Good for him. He will get a lot of games at Milan. I'm confident he'll be an important player for us because Jose rates him and likes him very much. He could obviously have done a job for us but we got ourselves into this in the first place with letting so many home based players leave.

I thought it was Ramires that was the really poor one defensively. Matic wasn't exactly a rock though, so you're right. But no need to be worried about Nemanja.

I was saying it at the start of the season that Jose has just assembled the strongest Chelsea team ever, yes stronger than 2005 and so far I've seen nothing to change my mind concerning that. Great times ahead!

Immense performance against Everton. What a thunderous shot!!

I actually thought he was very poor defensively. The goal kind of masked his performance, but he didn't provide anywhere near enough cover for our backline as he got caught out far too many times. His passing was also poor, but that's normal for him I guess.

Also notice how once we got the first 2 goals, the ref was all of a sudden against us, he and his officials. As if they were trying to compensate for something. I HATE it when that happens. This game should have been over when Howard handled it out of the 18 yard box. Let's not forget that.

Costa BY FAR the best player on that pitch. BY FAR! No two ways about it. He's incredible.