Belgiannutt

True but how many times is he actually allowed to get into 1 on 1 situations ? Every PL manager knows Hazard's lethal when it comes to 1 on 1 dribbles. (Lack of a supporting left back doesn't help this either.) Also how many times was he able to get on the ball in Everton's final third ? Not a lot. I do agree that Hazard at times can be a bit too passive though.

He can play there but his best position is centrally. On the 10 or on the 8. Oscar-ish is probably the best comparison. He's good at most things, great at some things but not worldclass at anything. At best i can see him be a squad player here but i don't think he has what it takes to be a starter here. Just my opinion ofcourse.

While our back four did get exposed by our midfield they still should be dealing with these situations a lot better then they have done.

He's actually gone. Now it's time to :

Well i guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that. imo Azpi at times will defend to narrow leaving a lot of space on the wing to exploit. I don't know whether that's a tactical guideline by Mourinho or just Azpi's natural reflex because he's a right footed player playing left back. When did i say Hazard shouldn't defend ? I merely stated that Azpi's tendency to defend too narrow makes it more difficult for Hazard. Not exactly the best example seeing as how Ribery has Alaba bombing forward, supporting him in attack and lessening the burden on ribery. Hazard has no one he's on his own on that left side. Again when have i ever said Hazard shouldn't defend ? Well to put it bluntly, because none of them are as good going forward as Hazard. Look all i'm saying is we should try and look to ease Hazard's defensive duties a little or at the very least offer him some support going forward (Filipe Luis) cause now it's a pretty shitty deal for Hazard. He has to track the right back all the way into our own 18 yard box and doesn't get any support when going forward. He simply can't keep doing that. He doesn't have that engine to keep going up and down the line. He's not that type of player.

True but don't you think that's extremely unfair towards Hazard ? We're basically telling him he's on his own in attack but berate him when he fails to track a run. Why don't we just play Filipe Luis and have both Luis and Ivanovic work in tandem with eachother. If we attack on the left Luis goes forward, Ivanovic stays back. If we attack on the right. Ivanovic goes forward, Luis stays back. It's time for Filipe Luis to come in. So you agree that Azpi defends to narrow at times ? Wouldn't that mean that you agree that Azpi defending to narrow would put more pressure, defensively, on Hazard and make our left side more vulnerable to overlapping runs from right backs, making our left side an avenue... Something which you were eager to acredit solely to Hazard ?

Talking in general yes Hazard isn't 100 % full proof when it comes to defending. It just doesn't come naturally to him. It has improved and will continue to improve but it's never going to be perfect. He's always going to make mistakes from time to time. At the end of the day he's still an attacker first, defender second. About the game today. Sorry but i really have no idea what you're talking about. Hazard did his defensive work, apart from the first goal. He might not always have been succesfull in stopping the cross or intercepting the ball but he was tracking back he was there helping out. Why is it that Azpi isn't put under the same scrutiny as Hazard ? Why does Hazard have to help Azpi on defense but Azpi doesn't have to help Hazard in attack ? Also i'd like to hear your opinion on what i said about Azpi in my first post. "He offers nothing going forward and at times defends to narrow" Do you agree with that or not ?

That's such bullshit. Apart from the first goal, Hazard did his defensive work all game long and helped out whenever Azpi needed it. Azpi offers nothing going forward and at times defends way to narrow. I like Azpi but as a right back not a left back.

Coleman was the one who tried to provocate Costa.(and got him the yellow card in the process) He was putting his elbow into Costa's back and constantly nudging him. Costa reaction was justified. Serves him right.

Why do some people want to spent 20 million + on a second choice striker ? You do realize whoever we sign will be sitting on the bench for the majority of the season right ? Remy is a good all around striker with a lot of pace. He's already used to playing in the PL so he doesn't need a lot of time to adapt. He's a proven goalscorer in the PL and he's cheap. Excellent signing if it happens.

It isn't, it's actually very smart from our end. If we sold him we'd have to pay off his remaining transfer fee ( i believe it's around £18 million) immediately, causing us to take a hit in our 2014-2015 ffp balance. With this being a loan we'd be able to spread his remaining transfer fee over those 2 years and pay £9 million this year and 9 £million next year.

Pretty sure we put in the "No takesy backsy's" clause

hmm disagree with that. I also disagree with what Pat Nevin said. We have got good sguad depth but i would say from our starting eleven there are 5 players that aren't so easily replaced if something were to happen to them. Terry, Matic, Fabregas, Hazard and Costa. I would say those 5 are irreplacable in terms of the quality they bring to the team.

Oh come on. "This guy gave what he could most of the times he played for us and even though he had really difficult times as a blue, he never gave up" No he didn't there were multiple games where it looked like he didn't give a rat's arse. Actually he did gave up. There was a period where he simply didn't care what we did whether we lost or won he didn't care. That's giving up. "the fact that his goals at Nou Camp and Amsterdam were absolutely immense for us" What ? His goal at Amsterdam yes but at Nou Camp ? His goal didn't change anything. We would have still gone through if he didn't score that goal and there was only about 2 minutes left to play. Immense my ass. "For me he will always be a special player" Special player ? Why ? What exactly makes him a special player ? "he never ashamed our shirt and our club" Euhm he's had a lot of embarrassing performances for us in a Chelsea shirt. Honestly how many ridiculous misses did he have for us. How many times did he take a shot on goal and it went out for a fucking throw in.

They used to do it in catholic schools here. My dad had it done to him. Everytime one of the nuns (teachers were nuns) caught him trying to write with his left hand they told him to put his left hand out and then they repeatedly hit his hand with a wooden ruler. My dads basically left handed and left footed but writes with his right hand.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2732164/EDEN-HAZARD-I-m-no-Lionel-Messi-Cristiano-Ronaldo-I-m-catching-up.html

People are really taking this "consistency" thing way too far.(basically what Styles said couple posts before) You can't expect Hazard to create danger when he doesn't have the ball or expect him to be brilliant every single time he gets on the ball.

Had 50 points last week. This week i've got 51 points and i've still got De Gea, Kompany and Gerrard to give me points.

I know i usually don't like this kinda things but it's for a good cause. When you're nominated you're supposed to either donate to the ALS research fund or throw a bucket full off icewater over yourself. Most famous people donate and throw an icebucket over themselves. ALS is a disease where a person slowly loses all control over his/her body but the person can still feel everything. First it starts with your legs and arms then you can't speak anymore,then you can't swallow anymore and lastly you can breath anymore.

Annoying ? I dunno i thought it was kinda funny. "EDEEEN !!"

Short video (10 sec) of a bit of Hazard "skill" vs Real Sociedad. I always like these videos that get made by the crowd. You get a better view of what happens and you hear the crowd better.

Ehm yes he can.

The 4-3-3 worked so well because a lot of teams were playing in a 4-4-2. 4-3-3 always dominates the 4-4-2 as it's 3 on 2 in midfield. Nowadays the majority of the teams play a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1( basically a 4-5-1 when defending) so the midfield is usually clogged up and there's no way of getting an extra man in midfield. I think he likes the 4-2-3-1 because it offers a solid defensive platform with the 4 defenders and the 2 midfielders sitting in front of the defense but also gives us a lot of fluidity with the 3 am's behind the striker. Also with the amount of quality am's we have it does seem logical to utilise a formation that allows us to play 3 of them.

my team : De Gea Clyne, Kompany, Vlaar Mirallas, Gerrard, Fabregas, Ward-Prowse, Hazard ( C ) Costa (VC), Giroud Subs: Krul, Gayle, De Laet, Cameron