Eden Hazard

[Atholy 1,293]

I have only seen yesterday's first half. So I cannot judge on the second one...

But I cannot understand people who are saying Hazard didn't show up, had an awful game, etc... If there would be any scouts in the stands, I'm 100% sure ALL of them would have written in their little notebooks: #10 of the blue team is very special.

Because even in a 'terrible game from him':

• He's literally involved in ALL our attacks.
• He comes to look for the ball all over the pitch, even on our own half.
• He's the guy who speeds up the game with a little flick or diagonal pass.
• It might look that he slows down play because he chooses for the safe passes. But this is because he thinks way more quickly than all us together. Because if he sees an opening, he always passes diagonally, after which he normally makes a good run to receive the ball back. 
• Not too many take on's yesterday, correct. However there were 9 Hull players behind the ball all the time... so it makes no sense to want him dribbling around 3-4 players all the time. He would literally lose the ball several times (he's not a robot) and then people would say he cannot go past defenders anymore :). 
• Matic, Alonso, Kante, Moses (somewhat less) are all looking for him to break the dead lock.
• His only creative link-up options are Costa & Pedro (Fabregas if he's playing) => this is our main problem!!!! 

IMO yesterday was a difficult game because Hull was parking the bus... But more over because almost every creative spark depends on Eden (or Costa)!!  The rest of the team is just passing around and looking for them. The bottle neck in Build up yesterday for me was Alonso. A lot of fluent attacks ended with him getting stuck. Also his crosses never reached target in the 1st half. You could blame the other for not being in the 16 yard box... but I think a player should know NOT to cross when only Diego is in a box together with 6 Tigers!!

 

So when we are dissapointed with a game like this from Eden... when ALL scouts would put him in there booklet. We just have to realize that we are so spoiled!!!! I think we will only realize once Eden is not on our pitch anymore. And if he would ever play at Barcelona (for example)... I'm afraid we will see him at full potential in creativity and our jaws will drop down again! 

Until then... cherish the fact we have Eden Hazard playing in our Chelsea kit !!! Because OH MY he will be missed so much once he would be gone!

[Unionjack 7,531]

15 minutes ago, Atholy said:

• His only creative link-up options are Costa & Pedro (Fabregas if he's playing) => this is our main problem!!!! 

IMO yesterday was a difficult game because Hull was parking the bus... But more over because almost every creative spark depends on Eden (or Costa)!!  The rest of the team is just passing around and looking for them. The bottle neck in Build up yesterday for me was Alonso. A lot of fluent attacks ended with him getting stuck. Also his crosses never reached target in the 1st half. You could blame the other for not being in the 16 yard box.

Yes. agree mate. We very much lack any creativity either in CM or CB which are where our breaks are starting.  The only one that can do anything with the ball centraly is Cescy who is a magician. But because hes not as fast as we need him to be or defensive as we would like him to be he gets left on the bench. But if he gets the time and space he needs he could feed all the front line.

Luiz is our best ball player in defence. Maybe if we utilize him more as a deep pocket playmaker as well, let the CDMs guard him with the 2 CBs he could do 2 jobs. He was always good as a midfielder and now his heads on proper he might just be better.

But either way we do need to be looking for more creative players for the bus park.

Alonso did a great job ast week tho. He got the crosses in fine. Yesterday there was nobody there to meet them alot of the times.                                                  

[FabHazard 655]

Disappointed with his mood and attitude in recent games..He was poor defensively against Hull and left his area open for Hull to attack..In attack he was below average and lost possession so many times which is normally unusual for a player like him ...What i did not like about him is lack of pressing from him and playing with lacklustre attitude..It was no surprise for me to see him get substituted by conte..if he plays like this against Liverpool and Arsenal we will get battered.. I want him to go to the next level but he always seems to lack killer instinct to get to that potential

[Tomo 21,751]

2 hours ago, Atholy said:

I have only seen yesterday's first half. So I cannot judge on the second one...

But I cannot understand people who are saying Hazard didn't show up, had an awful game, etc... If there would be any scouts in the stands, I'm 100% sure ALL of them would have written in their little notebooks: #10 of the blue team is very special.

Because even in a 'terrible game from him':

• He's literally involved in ALL our attacks.
• He comes to look for the ball all over the pitch, even on our own half.
• He's the guy who speeds up the game with a little flick or diagonal pass.
• It might look that he slows down play because he chooses for the safe passes. But this is because he thinks way more quickly than all us together. Because if he sees an opening, he always passes diagonally, after which he normally makes a good run to receive the ball back. 
• Not too many take on's yesterday, correct. However there were 9 Hull players behind the ball all the time... so it makes no sense to want him dribbling around 3-4 players all the time. He would literally lose the ball several times (he's not a robot) and then people would say he cannot go past defenders anymore :). 
• Matic, Alonso, Kante, Moses (somewhat less) are all looking for him to break the dead lock.
• His only creative link-up options are Costa & Pedro (Fabregas if he's playing) => this is our main problem!!!! 

IMO yesterday was a difficult game because Hull was parking the bus... But more over because almost every creative spark depends on Eden (or Costa)!!  The rest of the team is just passing around and looking for them. The bottle neck in Build up yesterday for me was Alonso. A lot of fluent attacks ended with him getting stuck. Also his crosses never reached target in the 1st half. You could blame the other for not being in the 16 yard box... but I think a player should know NOT to cross when only Diego is in a box together with 6 Tigers!!

 

So when we are dissapointed with a game like this from Eden... when ALL scouts would put him in there booklet. We just have to realize that we are so spoiled!!!! I think we will only realize once Eden is not on our pitch anymore. And if he would ever play at Barcelona (for example)... I'm afraid we will see him at full potential in creativity and our jaws will drop down again! 

Until then... cherish the fact we have Eden Hazard playing in our Chelsea kit !!! Because OH MY he will be missed so much once he would be gone!

Thankyou, i was looking for his stats on the game, many times he has a 'poor' performance on the naked eye but then looking at the after match stats he has actually been very productive.

[quickpassnmove 924]

the nimble-footed centre back was prepared to take on any attacker (Harry Maguire). Maguire and Courtois were MotM. Maguire snuffed out Hazard any time he was near.

I'm not criticizing Hazard.  We all know he's not a player that puts many good shots on frame. We need people to score other than Diego but I don't think Hazard was ever that kind of player.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

6 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

the nimble-footed centre back was prepared to take on any attacker (Harry Maguire). Maguire and Courtois were MotM. Maguire snuffed out Hazard any time he was near.

I'm not criticizing Hazard.  We all know he's not a player that puts many good shots on frame. We need people to score other than Diego but I don't think Hazard was ever that kind of player.

There was a time this season that I was beginning to think that he's become that type of player. In October and November was one of the best performances from any winger in the world. Actually hazard was playing like a top 5 world player. But since the Everton match his shot ratio has reduced and while he's had fantastic performances against mancity, bournemoth and some other team, it's not as consistently daring like before(dribbles and shots have gone way down) and he's not fabregas, so I'm not expecting him to suddenly start giving defence splitting passes and getting assists but I miss his October and November form. 

Pedro started playing this season in October rotating with Willian, he has that goalscoring quality (has scored 7 goals, 2 behind Hazard who has 9 in all competitions) but Pedro has poor matches where his first touch let's him down a lot, which harms the team’s gameplay and Willian doesn't score more than 10 open play goals a season in his life so we need a daring, consistent goalscorer to take the pressure off hazard and take us to the next level when we enter the Champions League. Basically combine willian's ball control under pressure with pedros runs off the ball and goalscoring and we have a perfect right winger to complement hazard.

[Thor 2,701]

Teams are sitting back more against us, and it is becoming harder for us to break down defences. To add to that, we don't have the quality around Hazard to help him to create and kick it up another gear. Our link up play is great when the game is open, but we aren't good enough in closed down games because we don't have the players for it.

 

He is a top 5 player in the world. Teams load up against him. More so than other top players, because he simply doesn't have the talent the other 5 have around him. Easier to shut down Hazard when he is one of the few you have to concentrate on. Not so much the case for Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Saurez, etc. 

[quickpassnmove 924]

12 hours ago, Thor said:

Teams are sitting back more against us, and it is becoming harder for us to break down defences. To add to that, we don't have the quality around Hazard to help him to create and kick it up another gear. Our link up play is great when the game is open, but we aren't good enough in closed down games because we don't have the players for it.

 

He is a top 5 player in the world. Teams load up against him. More so than other top players, because he simply doesn't have the talent the other 5 have around him. Easier to shut down Hazard when he is one of the few you have to concentrate on. Not so much the case for Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Saurez, etc. 

That's exactly right. I would still prefer to talk less about Hazard's shortcomings and more about the fact that the CM and LB near him don't present any consistent, high-paced threat for combination play. Hazard is still being attacked on his own island there, on the right. Passes between Matic, Hazard and Alonso will never produce a great threat against sides that sit back so much and focus on Eden.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Matic just behind in black cleaning up after hazard 

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

4 hours ago, kellzfresh said:

Matic just behind in black cleaning up after hazard 

Matic has nice style. Much better than Ivanovic's lol.

[Chelsea? 892]

What's wrong with him lately. Playing like he needs a few weeks off. Think he's the reason our attack seems stale lately 

[Blue Armour 4,439]

Thought he did really well, considering how little he got of the ball in the first half and early parts of the second. Him and Moses on the right were the main reasons why we had any sort possession in the game, and of course it was the foul on Hazard that led to the Luiz's free kick.

Having said that, I don't think he enjoys playing in this kind of game. Team is on the defense, and Matic/Alonso are struggling to get the ball to him. Barring Willian on the other end, he has no one to really link up play and create the chances. 

I think he has better time combining with Pedro and Fabregas. The only other person thinking as quick as Hazard on the  pitch was Kante.

Also, I hope he stays on the pitch longer than he has for recent games. Like Ballack remarked, I think he is a confidence player and he likes to be acknowledged for what he contributes. Of late, the spotlight has been on Costa. It's far cry from the last couple of seasons, were everything HAD to go through Hazard.

I could be wrong, but my guess is that Conte was going for a draw by withdrawing him and Willian for Pedro and Cesc. And saving Hazard to be fresh for the game against Arsenal. 

 

[manpe 10,861]

That last ditch tackle he made in the box though followed by Firmino's derp... dope And I did notice him trying to create something out of nothing, but the problem was that we were too few and limited in attack. He had only Costa and Willian to combine with, who were not on the same wavelength with him. In the end they neutralized him pretty effectively because we simply can't handle intense pressure with composure.

[Styles 9,790]

Hard for any attacker to play well when your team plays shit on a stick football, can't build play and you have a striker with the first touch of a brick wall. I could see how frustrated he was last night and you can't blame him.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He had only one dribble completed against liverpool. As I said before, any match he's playing average, it means he wasn't on his dribbling best. 

I think we're too harsh on him. We're expecting him to play well even when the rest of the team isn’t. 

Hazard isn't the type of player to do it by himself, he isn’t messi, Ronaldo or Suarez. Or he also isn't like bale who can have a poor game and and score a goal to win the game. He needs the whole midfield and attack performing to help him play well. He doesn't have high energy like Sanchez to try and make things happen every single time he touches the ball, and he's not strong enough to shrug off tackles and still dribble through. This is making it difficult for him.

Hopefully we get a midfielder who can create, can spot runs and still defend so that Hazard can have someone better than Matic behind him.

[FabHazard 655]

I would not be surprised if hazard loses his first team spot. .Conte does not like players who do not press the opposition...as long as hazard's attacking play compensates his defensive play he will start. . I know that I am too harsh on him. . .I don't like this excuse that his team mates are not good enough. . . Every player has limitations. . Matic and Alonso could argue that hazard's pressing and defensive play is not good enough and they have to work twice as hard. . I hope that hazard improves  and fires us to the title 

[Amblève. 4,995]

1 hour ago, FabHazard said:

I would not be surprised if hazard loses his first team spot. .Conte does not like players who do not press the opposition...as long as hazard's attacking play compensates his defensive play he will start. . I know that I am too harsh on him. . .I don't like this excuse that his team mates are not good enough. . . Every player has limitations. . Matic and Alonso could argue that hazard's pressing and defensive play is not good enough and they have to work twice as hard. . I hope that hazard improves  and fires us to the title 

Hazard had his probably best defensive game for us ever yesterday. Clyne didn't do anything all night long because Hazard was doing his part closing out and blocking passing lanes.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

The skill he pulled off when he was surrounded by 3 or 4 Liverpool players and he just flicked the ball from the outside of his boot for Matic who had tons of space was absolutely class.

[Roquila 1,335]

3 hours ago, Mufassir08 said:

The skill he pulled off when he was surrounded by 3 or 4 Liverpool players and he jut flicked the ball from the outside of his boot for Matic who had tons of space was absolutely class.

Yeah man, what a total highlight of the match. /s

[Chelsea? 892]

He'll get back on form when the weather improves. Flair players enjoy warm weather.