Eden Hazard

[zolayes 14,489]

We used to have Lamps capable of saving our ass ,,and Drog when the chips were down ,,, I am starting to worry ,,where are our ass savers.

seems we rely on mistakes from opposition defenders

[The_Flash 1,144]

He wasn't great today but noone was

[Magic Lamps 11,677]

We used to have Lamps capable of saving our ass ,,and Drog when the chips were down ,,, I am starting to worry ,,where are our ass savers.

seems we rely on mistakes from opposition defenders

Well, Hazard did save our ass today and he did vs Norwich.

[zolayes 14,489]

Well, Hazard did save our ass today and he did vs Norwich.

Ramires saved our ass

[Magic Lamps 11,677]

Ramires saved our ass

Practically Andre Marriner did, but few players can score such a crucial penalty with that coolness. Without Hazard we would not have even scored the first goal. I don't contest that Hazard's ass-saving competence is not as developed as Lamps's and Drogba's of old but he is what gets closest to that atm.

[bababoom 4,478]

I remember when people on here last season was saying he's better than Bale... I'm sorry but Bale for spurs was a BIG GAME player, last season how many times did he get them three points? Hazard has glimpses in most matches but after awhile he goes quiet again.

The reason why we expect so much from him is because we know he has the potential, i'm not hating, it's just that i know what he's capable of and it's so frustrating not seeing him take the game by the scruff of the neck.

[DJames 729]

We used to have Lamps capable of saving our ass ,,and Drog when the chips were down ,,, I am starting to worry ,,where are our ass savers.

seems we rely on mistakes from opposition defenders

Don't forget the goalies

[DJames 729]

We used to have Lamps capable of saving our ass ,,and Drog when the chips were down ,,, I am starting to worry ,,where are our ass savers.

seems we rely on mistakes from opposition defenders

Ah! Bitten by the double post bug

[yuvala 2,167]

Whatever happened to this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weAk99XMD6A

[sutro 1,026]

Whatever happened to this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weAk99XMD6A

Sometimes i wonder if he's still allowed to do this kind of actions, could be tactics from mou

[TrippingStep 336]

Whatever happened to this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weAk99XMD6A

Benitez is gone

What happened to Luiz, Mata, to a lesser extent Ramires, Azpi, even Oscar lately has not performed very well.

All the important players that were performing in the Benitez system are underperforming this year.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Benitez is gone

What happened to Luiz, Mata, to a lesser extent Ramires, Azpi, even Oscar lately has not performed very well.

All the important players that were performing in the Benitez system are underperforming this year.

Not Oscar. But you're right, every other important player for us under Rafa can't get into the team now, or are playing weird.

[Beigl 1,387]

Calm down.It´s a dip of form,every player has that no matter how good they are.Our team doesn´t play too well either,so wait until we start playing better he will be on-fire again

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Calm down.It´s a dip of form,every player has that no matter how good they are.Our team doesn´t play too well either,so wait until we start playing better he will be on-fire again

I don't even feel as if its bad form. I feel it has to do with confidence and decision making.

Even against westbrom, he was missing in the first half till he decided to dribble his fullback and fire a shot(purely his decision or sudden rise in urgency) which led to the goal.

So if he can stay confident that he can do that a lot, he will still be the same person as last season. Schurrle is not as talented as hazard but has confidence to run at defenders, hell even townsend runs at defenders far more than hazard which is strange. If he attempts to run and is stopped then I can understand. But now he rarely attempts to run at all which means its looking like a confidence problem than form. The fact that Last season he averaged 5-6 dribbles per game, but this season its dropped to 2 dribbles per game. Massive difference.

[Barbara 15,149]

I don't even feel as if its bad form. I feel it has to do with confidence and decision making.

Even against westbrom, he was missing in the first half till he decided to dribble his fullback and fire a shot(purely his decision or sudden rise in urgency) which led to the goal.

So if he can stay confident that he can do that a lot, he will still be the same person as last season. Schurrle is not as talented as hazard but has confidence to run at defenders, hell even townsend runs at defenders far more than hazard which is strange. If he attempts to run and is stopped then I can understand. But now he rarely attempts to run at all which means its looking like a confidence problem than form. The fact that Last season he averaged 5-6 dribbles per game, but this season its dropped to 2 dribbles per game. Massive difference.

and somehow people blame this on the defending responsibility he's assumed this season and I just can't link one thing to another...

The only problem a player who isn't used to press can have once they start doing it, is getting tired faster or more than they usually did. Hazard is supposed to be one of our faster players, so if he's pressing someone in the first third, maybe he won't be where he usually was (waiting in the second as he watched the game), but he's fast, he can win the ball in the first/second half and run with it, or he can receive a pass from who intercepted it. That (and getting tired) should be the only detractors on his play because he's defending.

What does defending have to do with the horrible ball control he showed in the perfect pass Oscar gave to him? I see people blaming Willian - who is short and not used to heading the ball - missing a sitter header, but I literally saw no one complaining about the ball that Hazard received that could have won us the game... but his first touch was so poor, that the only time in the match we actually had one splitting pass from our AMs was completely wasted.

I agree he's facing some confidence issues. I've touched that weeks (I guess months) ago in this thread when I said I wish he was more like Neymar in that aspect: just tried the dribble, if he misses a few of them, it's part of risk and the game, he'll probably be successful in a few others. When he receives the ball and does nothing with it, but pass backwards or to the side it has nothing to do with the defending responsibility he now has. And I can't think why pressing would affect his confidence either, so I think the problem is more on Hazard than on the tactics, but lately almost everyone blame the tactics and the manager for the players poor form. I'm not exempting Mourinho, it's part of his job work with his players for them to improve their form, but it's also laughable exempt a player like Hazard from his own bad shape. He's been average at most this season and maybe, just maybe, his defensive responsibility affected that, but it's not the biggest cause imo because it makes no sense. He continues to receive a huge amount of passes in the final third. Against Newcastle no other player received more passes in the final third than Hazard did (others matches too) and except those two occasions he and Mata pretended they were playing for Barcelona, he produced nothing... how can we blame that on defending responsibilities or tactics?

[kellzfresh 7,229]

and somehow people blame this on the defending responsibility he's assumed this season and I just can't link one thing to another...

The only problem a player who isn't used to press can have once they start doing it, is getting tired faster or more than they usually did. Hazard is supposed to be one of our faster players, so if he's pressing someone in the first third, maybe he won't be where he usually was (waiting in the second as he watched the game), but he's fast, he can win the ball in the first/second half and run with it, or he can receive a pass from who intercepted it. That (and getting tired) should be the only detractors on his play because he's defending.

What does defending have to do with the horrible ball control he showed in the perfect pass Oscar gave to him? I see people blaming Willian - who is short and not used to heading the ball - missing a sitter header, but I literally saw no one complaining about the ball that Hazard received that could have won us the game... but his first touch was so poor, that the only time in the match we actually had one splitting pass from our AMs was completely wasted.

I agree he's facing some confidence issues. I've touched that weeks (I guess months) ago in this thread when I said I wish he was more like Neymar in that aspect: just tried the dribble, if he misses a few of them, it's part of risk and the game, he'll probably be successful in a few others. When he receives the ball and does nothing with it, but pass backwards or to the side it has nothing to do with the defending responsibility he now has. And I can't think why pressing would affect his confidence either, so I think the problem is more on Hazard than on the tactics, but lately almost everyone blame the tactics and the manager for the players poor form. I'm not exempting Mourinho, it's part of his job work with his players for them to improve their form, but it's also laughable exempt a player like Hazard from his own bad shape. He's been average at most this season and maybe, just maybe, his defensive responsibility affected that, but it's not the biggest cause imo because it makes no sense. He continues to receive a huge amount of passes in the final third. Against Newcastle no other player received more passes in the final third than Hazard did (others matches too) and except those two occasions he and Mata pretended they were playing for Barcelona, he produced nothing... how can we blame that on defending responsibilities or tactics?

You know I completely forgot about that poor control that could have put us 2-0 ahead.

We were 1-0 ahead so it didn't seem so important, that's why we all remember willian's header bcos it was when we were loosing.

Thank goodness I wasn't the only one that was noticing this, shurrle is not half the dribbler hazard is, but at least he has a go at the defenders and forces them back if possible. If hazard drives in instead of passing back, that way we don't have to pass to ivanovic to cross all the time (:banghead:)

If hazard was doing that more, we could see more of the first goal against westbrom or the two goals against bayern munich.

[Hamilton 2,120]

Imo that ball was perfect for a one time killer shot iirc..

But indeed Barbara, that first touch was awful..

[Barbara 15,149]

Imo that ball was perfect for a one time killer shot iirc..

But indeed Barbara, that first touch was awful..

I won't blame the defeat on him because I think every player will make a mistake like that... but I feel like he's slower this season to find his best form and I don't think his form in the attack has much to do with his overall form. His overall form is good imo, he's working hard, he's pressing, he's presenting himself and moving around to receive the ball. He does seem to be lacking a bit of confidence though and that's why I think we haven't seen him explode this season yet.