Ward

The thing with Eden is, he might not score a goal or get an assist in every game but you have to look at how much space he creates for others and opportunities for others to assist by eliminating players in 1v1s, going past a few players or attracting more players to deal with him leaving others free.
Its a sort of similar situation (although in a different way due to different playing styles) with a player I admire a lot in Luka Modric, when he was at Spurs and we were linked with him, people questioned his goals and assists a lot and the same has happened in Spain as well. He doesn't always directly assist or score but the nature of his game means hes involved in the goals, be it finding that pass in behind a pivot or defense that opens the spaces up for someone like James, Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema to create a chance or in the past Lennon, Bale, Van Der Vaart etc.
The pass that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal is sometimes the most important part of a move. Its also the same with the dribble that is 2 or 3 passes before a goal at times.
I read somewhere Eden has completed 31 take-ons already this season, obviously a player of his talent you want to see him scoring 20-25 goals a season or whatever but when hes going up against fullbacks and beating them and dragging others out of position to deal with him, hes having a big effect on the game even without scoring or assisting directly. He needs to keep it up, his problem last year was consistency, hopefully he keeps a high performance level through the season. He should be looking for at least 10-15 goals and 10-15 assists but if he plays very well and drags players out of position by beating people then players like Cesc, Costa, Schurrle etc. all have more space and time on the ball at times too.
I know the Modric thing is a bit off topic and maybe not 110% comparable but yeah haha....

Troll alert.

I rate Bale very very high, fantastic player really, who has many attributes to become one of the greatest of his generation (awesome dribbling skills, long range shots, pace, strength, crossing abilities...)
Unfortunately for him, imo, his whole career he'll be in the shadow of guys like Gotze and Hazard because they have something very important he lacks : the football I.Q of a genius. You know, that thing that enabled Zinedine Zidane to be one of the greatest of all time even though he wasn't a monster physically speaking.
Vision and creativity are what make the difference between an excellent player (Bale), and a football wonder (Hazard).

Best assist so far i've seen this season

Best assist so far i've seen this season

This goes without saying really. Was it ever up for debate? Hazard doesn't just rely on his speed and power, he has an excellent football brain. He is the better player already.
When Bale can play a pass like this with his weaker foot

then we can talk. :tophat:

Sporza vid wow
Reaction on uefa.com

here's the link
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2013/matches/round=2000358/match=2010082/postmatch/quotes/index.html?autoplay=true&vid=1930840

We're dealing with him perfectly, he's still young and is looking more confident each week. Calling him back in Jan woulda just messed things up. He went on loan for this exact reason and i think he'll have 1 more year until hopefully Torres has pissed off and Lukaku and Ba are the main man or men. This guy will be a fucking beast for us, i can't wait to see him destroy everyone.

Yes indeed.
I agree: it is a big problem that Fernanda is our number one striker. Ba is good indeed, but he doesn't start often because of the fat waiter and also 1 good striker in an absolute top football team just isn't enough. The board indeed should realise this. Think for example of the Europa League. Because of our own stupid foult we only have Nanda to play upfront, whilst in my opinion, the Europa League is a price too, so we should try to win it.
BUT
People should also realise that it was indeed a smart move to loan out Romelu Lukaku. He's only 19 and as I and my fellow Belgians witnessed in Belgium, this is a guy who really keeps improving IF he can play. Now, anyone who's crazy enough to say he would have gotten a proper chance as Chelsea's number one striker this season is, sorry, just fooling himself. Nanda is here, as is his idiotic friend, and you just can't keep a 50 million player on the bench for a 19 year old who ( at the beginning of the season) had not yet proven himself in the premier league.
Don't get me wrong, I really wish this could be possible, but wake up : football just doesn't work like that. However, we don't have to ignore the facts: Romelu is rocking at West Brom. Like I said before: he already scored 12 premier league goals, he is the youngest non-British player to ever score 10 goals in the Premier league, he is only the 3 west bromwich player to reach the 10 goals in one season mark. Also, we can all see his improvement: he's even faster, he's even stronger, he look sharper, his first touch improved dramatically, his positioning is better, he knows when to pass, his work rate is very high and he's a very humble guy much liked by his teammates.
And for those missing this : Romelu is constantly declaring in the press how much he likes playing football, how hard he trains to get better and how glad he's to be on loan so that he can improve. Now, I think ( I hope anyway) that there are no retards on this beautiful forum, and if this is indeed the case, we all know that atm playing in West Brom is better than warming a bench in Chelsea. Let the guy improve, week after week, and then, one beautiful day, he will come back to Chelsea and we will all feel very melancholic: a new Droga has arrived
So i would say let's just enjoy him destroying other teams while we sit this season through. Watching MOTD is fun tonight, because of our 19 year old. Then, in the summer, let's think the matter through and do what's best for the player.

2gems,
http://www.insidefutbol.com/2013/01/19/i-look-at-him-and-i-see-eden-hazard-legendary-french-coach-gives-lucas-moura-vote-of-confidence/77425/?