Greyco

Maybe we should start trying to play in a way that doesn't require offensive players to intercept crosses on the goal line. I didn't see the Atletico wingers, who work as hard as anyone in world football, needing to track their oppossing full backs to their own goal line. You can't ask that from a winger and than expect him to be creative at the other end.

Hazard's favourite teams when he was younger were Arsenal and Madrid. Definitly not PSG, don't know where you got that from. You can even see Demba taunting Hazard with the Arsenal thing when they had night with De Bruyne and the fans that was broadcasted on ChelseaTV.

... The reason he opted to go to Chelsea, and not the other interested clubs, was because Chelsea agreed to his demands to be immediatly loaned out. Chelsea doesn't deserve a lot of credit for his development so far. Just that they had the scout to notice him and the board willing to take a risk (low) to sign him.

Januzaj isn't a left winger tho. He's best on the right wing or in the 10-position. Played in those positions at the youth levels of both Man Utd and Anderlecht. Even had a stint as a striker at Man Utd. It's just that Young was the left winger at Man Utd. Not as big a challenge taking that spot as it is from Rooney behind the striker is it?

March and April are usually his standout months... Looks like he's finally settled in fully. Last season the team was more inclined to give the ball to Mata. Hazard himself was also a bit too shy and not imposing himself on the team enough. With Mata gone, he's become the main go-to-guy to create something and it looks like he's thriving under that responsibility and isn't locked out that much anymore on that left flank.

The one issue I have is why he was never tried in the pivot, in the Ramires role with a holding player next to him. It's quite clear he isn't on the same level as the other attacking midfielders, bar Schürrle who I don't rate but nevertheless brings something unique to the team. De Bruyne doesn't have the speed of Hazard and tenacity of Oscar or Willian, nor the technical brilliance of Mata. But he does have an excellent range of passing and did play for Genk and Werder in central midfield from time to time, and did quite well. Obviously still had to evolve and grow into that role and especially work on his defensive side... But I guess at Chelsea you really have to be the developped product. You're always expected to be competitive and get few chances to try new things in the season. I do wonder tho if KDB would've been tried in central midfield when there was a coach here with less of a defensive mindset as Mourinho.

Spanish paper AS: http://as.com/diarioas/2014/01/15/english/1389798503_272684.html

Ended second behind Neuer in the voting by fans on the UEFA website: Keepers: Neuer: 372,148 Courtois: 92,118 Cech: 65,750 De Gea: 44,102

Considering he was born in Belgium, grew up in Brussels and went through the Anderlecht youth academy until 2011, that's a rather stupid comment to make... Just because he hasn't determined which country he'll represent.

In modern football it's the fullbacks that provide the width. Yesterday Chelsea was too negative and Cole and Ivanovic hardly pushed high up the field, the few times they did were the best moments in the game for Chelsea. Thought Hazard wasn't that bad yesterday, just an average day at the office. Was left isolated a lot tho. But when he had the ball, he often did something good with it. The few chances Chelsea had were set up by Hazard with Oscar getting on the end of them.

Scotty Parker (was FWA tho?) Based on last season, David Silva is in no way ahead of Mata. Silva had a horrid year.

Actually the very reliable Belgian and French sources all had him on € 550k before taxes a month.

Have you forgotten the absolute fabrications reliable English media printed last year in his whole transfersoap? About 5% of what was said then was correctly translated. Got him that whole primadonna image in England that, even now, he hasn't completely been able to overturn. Looking back at last year, that was just incredible. I follow both French/Belgian and English media. I often had the original articles or interviews in front of me when I read the English 'translated' ones later. The amount of bad translation or worse was incredible for some huge papers that are considered reliable. Often papers like The Sun would take a French article on Hazard, formulate the sentences a bit different with more sensationalism added, give it the label 'Exclusive' and print it. A day later papers like The Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Mail would copy that article from The Sun and consider it authentic. Don't think Hazard himself, or his entourage, are that accurate in following up on stories on him to bring papers in trouble.

Errrr what? Have you even seen Bremen this season? KdB never played as a holding midfielder, not a single game this season. He played 2 games as a striker, alone upfront. He played a vast amount of games as an AM, either alone or next to Aaron Hunt with Junuzovic and/or Fritz as holding midfielder(s) behind him. And the last weeks of the season he featured mainly as a winger when Elia and Arnautovic were relegated to their reserve team for misconduct.

Yes they are. He's talking about Adnan Januzaj, hugely talented 18-year old at Man Utd. He was born in Brussels, Belgium but is from Albanian heritage and so far, has ignored all call-ups for the Belgium national youth squads. Januzaj is another future star for the big stage, same class as Hazard.

Courtois is still a long way of from Cech's form. And yes, I've seen plenty of both the past years. Courtois benefits from the best defence in La Liga. Miranda & Godin are beasts in front of him. He has faced by far the fewest shots in La Liga. Compared to what I've seen from Cech the past months, well, Cech is still a street ahead of him. Courtois is great tho for his age. Has that calming presence about him that exudes confidence to his defenders. Always has his position right to narrow the angles and is, certainly for La Liga-standards, great in claiming crosses and corners. However, you don't see the spectacular from him like Cech's save vs Hernandez.

Eh? Sure of that? Atletico has paid Chelsea a fee of € 2.5m this season for the use of Courtois.

The Ronaldo-statistics were from the 06/07 season. In fact, compared to Hazard he was a month younger. Don't use Wikipedia tho. The statistics on there are not always from the same source so not reliable to compare. Appearances can also be deceiving, minutes played is a better variable. Hazard's current conversion-rate is actually slightly better then Ronaldo's who has 21.8%. Then again, Ronaldo has a shot every 17 minutes and Hazard every 58 minutes. Watching them this doesn't come as a surprise since Ronaldo goes for goal at almost every opportunity. Kagawa has an astonishing conversion rate of 42% tho. Some links with Opta-date for those interested: http://soccerlens.com/messi-number-1/91022/ http://www.eplindex.com/29009/eden-hazard-vs-shinji-kagawa-debut-season.html http://www.eplindex.com/31265/eden-hazard-vs-juan-mata-chelsea-wizards-statistically-compared.html But then again, Hazard is more of a playmaker than Ronaldo and hasn't been morphed into the focal point of attack like Messi at Barcelona. The only similar player that I can think of is Götze. Offensive playmakers with great individual skill and vision that drift around the final third.

At that age: (from transfermarkt.co.uk) Messi scored 43 and assisted 20 in all competitions from RW. (feat. 5544 minutes that season) Ronaldo scored 23 and assisted 23 in all competitions. (4385 minutes) Hazard scored 16 and assisted 24 in all competitions this season. (4956 minutes) His chance conversion-rate is similar to Mata at 22% which is adequate enough compared to other great players. Still a long way of from the 30% Messi has. Imo he could increase his goalscoring statistics more by getting in better positions in front of goal. Hazard tends to drift towards the ball a lot, looking to get involved in the play, and doesn't look to go deep very often.

Including all friendlies, internationals, etc. He has played the most of all the outfield players with 5275 minutes this season. Cech has 5745 minutes. Ramires and Hazard 4950 and Mata and Oscar around 4550. Long season. * numbers from Transfermarkt.co.uk

Since I'm having a bout of insomnia I might as well make some of you happy with a translated extract from an interview Hazard did yesterday with the Belgian press: Don't take anything to literally. My zombie-state at the moment prevents me delivering an accurate word for word translation in proper English. I'm certain that other Belgian posters who rise fresh in the morning will point out the mistakes. And since this was tranlated from French to Dutch to English there will be plenty.. Source: http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20130320_00511574 http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20130320_00512232

Still... As an outsider, Cole was my favourite English player. In that whole hyped up England team of the last decade he was the only one I enjoyed watching. None of those other players had the possibility to do something extraordinary... and do it with flair and style.

Not taking anything away from Courtois here... But it's more down to Juan Fran, Merida, Godin and Felipe Luis which have given Courtois very little work the past few months. Atletico has the fewest shots conceded in La Liga and actually both Falcao and Diego Costa have been magnificent. Actually quite funny how people are rating Falcao over here. You do remember the semi-finals and finals of the Europa League last season? And the Supercup. 3 games on a high stage where he delivered big time for his team.

Tbf, you should have done your research better. 99% of those stories about Hazard last year were false. There were made up quotes from him issued by Twitter jokers which got retweeted and retweeted over and over until they became real. There were huge mistranslations which got coverage in huge media outlets like ESPN. It all says a lot of the modern media where competing with fast media like Twitter and Facebook undermine the quality of the journalism. Stories are copied without checking reliable sources. I remember Hazard doing a Canal+ interview after a game last april where he was asked about his future and him evading the questions of the journo. They kept insisting on an answer going as far as: What do you prefer: red or blue? He answered saying he liked the red shirts of Lille and the blue seats in the stadium of Lille, nothing more. 10 minutes later 'reliable' English media such as the guardian are stating Hazard claimed he will be definitly wearing blue next season. Made you wonder what kind of translators they employed. You know that Hazard never had that public image of a tease in France or Belgium right? In France he was actually quite liked by media and other teams. Never moaned, never dived and a joy to watch. A bit like Mata is in England today. I thought the past months in English football would have cleared up the destorted image the English press gave to him?

Pretty sure Hazard doesn't even have instagram. Remember him saying that a few months ago on Twitter. Besides, the majority of those photos I recognize from the twitter feed of himself or his former Lille teammates.