The Big Drog

Absolutely delighted, it's not every day your club signs a player of such talent, at 21 years of age he has so much time to adapt and grow into the English style and Chelsea, he is undoubtedly one of of the best talents in all of Europe and a player that genuinely could win the Balon D'or at some point, hugely exciting signing. Welcome to Chelsea.

Because we've never ever struggled against teams playing that way under any of our previous coaches.....

Why cant two good players play together even if they are somewhat similar? Silva and Nasri, towards the end of the season, really started to tick. Fabregas and Iniesta occasionally play together for club and country. Hazard has shown with his country that he can play as part of a fluid system, that he doesn't just have to occupy the space behind the striker the whole time.

Because he will relish going from being the all conquering, greatest manager in the history of one of the biggest clubs in the world in Barcelona to being our youth coach.....

That could quite possibly be one of the most moronic, ignorant and downright head scratching comments I've ever come across in my entire life, I'm genuinely not exaggerating when I tell you that I am sitting at home reading that comment, cringing in the process with my head in my hands, that truly went above and beyond the limit.

A fair and balanced article on Hazard's performance against England, from The Guardian. Eden Hazard's assignment, on his first appearance in a senior fixture on an English pitch, was to confront two men with whom, at the start of next season, he should be sharing a dressing room. Aided by a tactical plan that made England's attack look medieval, he gave John Terry and Gary Cahill plenty of problems in the opening minutes. Hazard is not yet a Chelsea player. The medical examination has still to take place before Roman Abramovich can sign the cheque that will deposit £32m in the coffers of Lille. But after being in receipt of advances from the two Manchester clubs and Arsenal, the 21-year-old Belgian prodigy appears to have put an end to a very public courtship by choosing to join the champions of Europe. He will be expected to inspire the kind of flamboyant football the club's owner hopes to be watching as they mount a defence of their trophy, by contrast with the brave but dour stuff with which they won it. From the kick-off, Hazard took up the centre-forward position, which was a surprise since he measures just over 5ft 7in. Behind him, in line astern, were the 6ft 4in Marouane Fellaini of Everton and Fulham's Moussa Dembélé, with Dries Mertens of PSV Eindhoven on the right and Kevin Mirallas of Olympiakos on the left. The plan, it became clear, was for Hazard, Fellaini and Dembélé to interchange on the vertical axis, occasionally venturing wide when the two nimble wide players moved inside. An interesting and novel formation, it demonstrated thought and originality on the part of Marc Wilmots, Belgium's new manager, who was promoted to take over from Georges Leekens a fortnight ago. Wilmots was selecting a team for only the second time at this level, following last week's 2-2 draw with Montenegro. Half an hour into this match the spectator could only feel that if there was a golden generation in show at Wembley, it was not England's. For Belgium, the failure to qualify for the Euro 2012 finals under Leekens must have been only slightly less traumatic than a similar experience four years ago for their hosts. From 1972, when Belgian football belatedly embraced professionalism, they reached the quarter-finals of four successive European championships, and in 1980 they made it all the way to the final, where they were beaten by West Germany. They were also present at six successive World Cups between 1982 and 2002, and the squads of 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 featured Enzo Scifo, the Belgian player probably closest in style to Hazard: a deft, perceptive playmaker, a couple of inches taller than his successor in the No 10 shirt but of similar gifts and instincts. There were moments in the opening passages when Belgium's five forward players seemed to be toying with England, passing the ball to and fro across the face of the home team's penalty area while searching for the glimmer of an opening for the final thrust. The image of bright, progressive football was tarnished in the 17th minute, however, when Mertens stupidly pushed Cahill into Joe Hart as he chased a through ball, costing the Chelsea defender any further involvement in the match. Hazard's skill with the dead ball came to the fore in the 26th minute. An inswinging free-kick from the No 10 caused problems for the defenders and was touched out for a corner on the right, which Hazard hit long to Guillaume Gillet, waiting beyond the far post to apply a header that was eventually cleared. That the Chelsea players in the England defence were not about to treat their prospective team-mate lightly was emphasised when Ashley Cole chased Hazard down just after the half-hour mark and halted him with a painful trip. By now it was apparent that, for all their delightful approach work, Belgium lacked a cutting edge and England's goal, beautifully worked by Steven Gerrard, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck, changed the complexion of the match. Belgium's interplay was no longer as smooth and assured, and the 25-yard drive that Hazard sent narrowly over the bar shortly before the interval seemed an indication of changed priorities. The No 10 was quiet until, just past the hour, he measured a left-foot shot from 20 yards that Hart caught comfortably enough. A minute later he and Fellaini exchanged passes inside the penalty area, the goalkeeper dropping on the Everton man's clipped effort. The arrival of Romelu Lukaku, yet another Abramovich employee, offered Hazard a further glimpse of his future at club level, and the two combined in the 76th minute as the burly 19-year-old ran on to a square pass and unleashed a shot blocked by Cole. The England left-back was in action again a few minutes later, once more required to get his body in the way of a shot, this time from Fellaini after one more exchange of passes with Hazard. If the prospective £32m man had failed to produce the sort of lethal opening familiar to the fans of Lille, then at least he had demonstrated to any watching Stamford Bridge season-ticket holders that he is more than capable of forming a constructive partnership with Juan Mata, Ramires and Fernando Torres as Chelsea get their rebuilding programme under way. Whoever their manager turns out to be, he will be pleased with what he saw.

Generally people like that aren't worth talking to or about. Kagawa is a fine, talented player but he isn't a player you can build a team around, Hazard is.

Some of his touches and flicks scream quality, he played quite a few passes to put other players ina scoring position, they just didn't take those chances. We also saw his blistering pace and skill, needless to say Im very excited, I just want us to confirm the deal now as soon as possible.

Not to mention Drogba and Essien.

Wtf? Im not against signing Hulk, infect I'm completely for it, nor gave I ever said anything to make anyone think otherwise, I'm a big fan of Hulk.

I'm not saying we don't and I think Hazard and Hulk (and Marin and De Bruyne) are all excellent additions and should form a potent attack that could lead us to winning the Premier League. I am simply saying that, inevitably, we, like any other side, would have to adopt a more defensive approach than we normally would were we to play Barcelona or Real Madrid.

Sorry some dreadful grammar mistakes there, my phone is messing me up.

Absolutely we bought them to play attacking football and I think we are in for a treat next season with the style of play we will be employing but no to fight fire with fire against Barcelina or Real Madrid is a ridiculous notion. Not both, but definitely 1 if we were to play Madrid or Barca so that we could play with a 3 man midfield with Ramiresorividing vital running duties. If course both Hazard and Hulk could start with Msta being sacrificed by Ramures, either way, if we were to play Madrid or Barcelina you won't see Hazard, Hulk, Mata and Torres all in the pitch at the same time unless we are chasing a goal. That sounds great except Mou has a midfield of Alonso and Khedira and the best player in the world on his left flank, also he has occasionally opted for the defensive route in games against Barcelona. I agree, our attack should be vastly improved and it should concern lots if top teams but, inevitably, Barcelona or Real Madrid would still feel they have the attacking initiative going into a game against us.

Actually yes it was rather effective (with Muller playing ina more attacking role than Kroos). It was that forward line that pressed us into defending so deep, maybe our attack next season might make other teams do the same against us, give us the initiative in the game. I think people are understating Hulk's willingness to work a bit, he is no Ramires but he is also no Robben. Anyway if we are playing against a Barcelona or Real Madrid, the only teams we should have to defend deep against, then you can be confident that Ramires will probably start ahead of one of those 4. Granted the Bayern midfield is stronger than ours, though Mikel has improved and Lampard has developed well into playing a deeper midfield role.

Gomez Ribery, Kroos, Robben Works and is very effective and puts opposing teams on the back foot, why can't our forward line do the same?

Im not great at detecting sarcasm but even my sarcasm alarm was ringing when I read that comment.

Debatable but im confident we are buying Hulk for his football ability not his street fighting.

I completely agree with that, I have total faith in the club. Anyway we are more likely to win things with Hulk than without him, wining things means more money, not to mention Hulk's marketability.

Hero, the word "legend" just doesn't do him justice, everything he has done for the club, goes above and beyond what anyone expected when he first bought us.

Because the philosophy of the club dictates that he play a certain way, Pep just happened to improve upon that philosophy. Also I think some people really are overlooking what the signings of Hazard, Hulk, Marin, Torres, De Bruyne and Mata actually mean. So many mentions of this thread of people afraid of us changing our style of okay, sans Drogba and with those players I mentioned we have no choice but to play flair football, unless you expect Torres to grow into a physical Drogba style monster over the Summer.

Lavezzi was always nailed on to join PSG, no point wasting our time trying to match wages with them. Schurrle is a good player but is nowhere near Hulk's league (at the moment).

Clearly some people here aren't fans of Hulk, I most certainly am and I think that after a few games in a Chelsra jersey he will win round the doubters, the man is genuinely top class and he adds the physicality, directness and unpredictability that we will have lost with Drogba's departure, not to mention Hulk's searing speed and skill.

Of the British papers it is probably the most reliable.

You could, and others probably already have, write a book on how Guardiola has tweaked and built upon the Barcelona philosophy to turn it into the most dominating fom of football ever witnessed, a style that has led Barcelona and Soain to sweeping all before them. Before Guardiola how often did sides have 65-70% of possession in the majority of their games? While Rijkaard's Barcelina was more focused on the individual brilliance of Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Deco ect. Pep's Barcelona was built entirely around the team unit, from Messi to Busquets everybody works towards the greater good. Of course he also introduced the aggressive pressing game. He also even occasionally plays without a striker. There are so many things to mention and view in depth, practically each individuals role on the pitch was heavily influenced by Guardiola's philosophy. If you still have t recognised that Guardiola did a single thing then there is nothing Incan do for you because that is simply ignorance. I don't know if you noticed by Roman is moving away from the physical side Mourinho built to a more technically complete side, the signings of Hazard, Mata, Marin, Torres, De Bruyne and to a lesser extent Hulk(assuming he joins) ate not coincidence, it is a real effort by the club to change the philosophy of the club. If that's what you think then fair enough but the fact that you are either unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the importance of Guardiola to Barcelona suggests you are hardly best placed to make an informed decision on it one way or another.

Of course it wasn't only that, the split in the camp, finishing short in the league and the disasterous 4-1 defeat to Teak Nadrud spelled the end for Rijkaard.