The Skipper

He’s only gonna get better. Still has some things to add to his offensive game but it’s progressing nicely. What a damn player.

@DYC. Brother, still think Cahill is better and that Rüdiger is bad? (Even though Gary did have a decent game yesterday tbf.)

So how do people feel about Willian now compared to Hazard? How is what Hazard said about us needing better players even near this? Crazy how one game changes everything.

Rüdiger... hell of a performance. Hazard carrying the attack once again... Cesc is honestly pretty much a major liability defensively, but is also giving possession away a lot.

Yeah. Walker Stones Maguire I think.

It’s the culture/environment around the club. Players know that if things go sour the manager usually gets the flack. It’s poisonous.

Shelvey should’ve been called up too. England seriously lack a player of RLC’s skill set in midfield so why not? He’s not a 17 year old Walcott who hasn’t even played in the PL at all. He has a decent PL season and some Chelsea experience behind him.

That dawned on me shortly after but my previous post details my stance. A few better options available (still pleased to see him called up). Like who? If guys like Livermore got called up...

Not that surprising to me, Southgate coached him at U21 and proper believes in his talent. @Unionjack remember I did say Southgate loves him. England’s CMs are quite poor as well so he has a chance to maybe get quite a lot of minutes.

Nah I’d agree with Eden that we need at least 3/4 top players if we want to seriously challenge for trophies again tbh pal. I’m sure most of the players would agree that the squad needs to be improved. Hazard hasn’t ever come out to say something like this tbh but personally, the board can’t continue to ignore stuff like this if it’s not just the manager, but our top players saying it as well.

Yeah I agree that it wasn’t fair for people to criticise Conte for it the first or second time around, but when you keep going back to the media and saying the same thing over and over again - as the manager it sets a sort of precedent/mentality in the squad. Amongst other repeated comments where he publically said CFC aren’t good enough several times, the mentality/tactical setups in must win games this season... I understand why he’s getting criticised for it. Sure, we didn’t have enough to seriously challenge this season but we should’ve had enough to finish top four, but Conte clearly doesn’t care like that anymore. If Eden came out repeatedly saying that “we need better players” throughout the season where we were actually fighting for a top four spot, sure, criticism would be fair. Eden’s been a bit more bold in the media recently though to be fair - he’s saying what we’re all thinking in a less brash way than Conte was, and he’s saying it at a less volatile time as well. Conte has bigger responsibility to manage the squad than Eden does, so naturally if he keeps claiming these things (especially when the transfer window is closed and we can’t do anything about it for example), I can see why people attacked Conte over it. We should be focusing on working with what we have. Not that I disagreed with Antonio over this though.

Salah plays under an attacking manager and is basically Liverpool’s striker. Hazard isn’t a goal scorer like that either and plays in a pragmatic, defensive system...

Of course Conte was right in that we need better players. Isn’t that what we’ve all been saying? Aren’t Eden and Conte allowed to have opinions?

I bet you most of them feel the same - that the club needs to invest in good players. Even the likes of Azpi were saying we needed more players last summer?

Martial is already better than Willian in my book. Just has more natural talent. Trumps Willian on almost everything as an attacker player.

Our fans are clearly blind then. Willian isn’t on Eden’s level at all.

Willian has never scored more than 10 league goals (most ever is 8 which was last season - this season he has 6 - apart from these two seasons he’s never scored more than 5 league goals) in a season in his whole career, never mind just his time at Chelsea. For someone that disappears way way more than Eden, how can you even compare the two? He literally has one really good month a season.

He’s got two years left, so we haven’t entered that territory yet. I’ll judge if/when we get there.

My overall point is that h don’t know why you’re chastising Eden for this issue when ultimately this decision and power falls to the board, not Hazard.

Going against the grain here but he really isn’t that good imo. As long as we replace properly he won’t be missed.

Or you know, we could just keep Eden and also improve the team together? Eden isn’t holding the club to hostage at all... this is a strange narrative to have imo. I mean, the club could just sell him you know? You should criticise the club for not selling him, not Eden... The board have that power don’t they? You don’t want an Alexis situation to happen but how did that happen? Arsenal weren’t challenging for serious trophies. You should look beyond Hazard, there are far bigger problems. Hazard’s woes are a symptom, not the cause.

Hazard literally carried us (offensively) to two titles... if you can’t see past the fact that the system is cancerous right now and that that’s affecting almost everyone’s general ability then I don’t know. I’m not really a Hazard fanboy, I just appreciate his talent. He’s one of the most talented attackers in the world. Why would you want to get rid of that instead of adding to it? He isn’t a number 10 either, he’s a wide playmaker. You should have a look at how many chances he’s set up for guys like Morata and Willian this season - he should have way more assists. This is just one example of how he’s way more than just a dribbler. If you think Hazard offers “nothing but dribbles” to the side then I don’t know man, don’t think it’s worth arguing. We’ll just agree to disagree pal. When it comes to first 11 players and ability, Hazard is the least of our problems. It’s our failure to surround him with top players/system that actually allows him to maximise his talent that’s caused all this. Edit: Chances created isn’t a great stat but it gives you some sort of overall picture... take a look at this: Most chances created from open play since 14/15: Hazard - 324 Ozil - 293 Eriksen- 285 Sanchez - 272 Assists since 14/15: Ozil - 41 Eriksen - 40 Sanchez - 28 Hazard - 21 Now, you really can’t say Hazard just dribbles.

He’s damaging the club? Not the board who have surrounded him (and others like Kanté) with average players? Put yourself in Eden’s position - I’m sure you would’ve left the club ages ago. The fact that he’s still here and even still thinking about staying shouldn’t be seen as a negative at all.

Again, here’s where mentality comes into it and Morata doesn’t seem to have that mentality to me. He isn’t that sort of guy that will stay behind and do those extra hours. It’s a gamble - do we stick with him and hope that his mentality changes, that he’s more hungry to succeed here? Or do we cut out losses soon (either this season or next if he doesn’t provide the goods) and try our hand with someone else like Icardi? I’m leaning towards the latter more. On Icardi - off the ball movement and finishing is immense, better than Morata’s. We lose out on technical ability a bit but still, since when has that stopped a top CFC striker as long as he’s hungry enough? Icardi just has that mentality already, and in the right system he could easily grab 30/40 a season.