Eden Hazard

[iseah100 5,612]

Hazard is the face of this club, only on here do people blame a loss on the star player because he didn't defend. He's paid to score goals and create chances.

[ZOS 580]

it was Jose's fault, more than anyone else ... it was quite clear our left was exposed. Had he put Azpi in-front of Cole and went 433, none of these would've happened plus Hazard and Willian would've way more influence on the game

[SoulTaker 46]

First post, I might say things you don't like but don't be too harsh on me .

For a start Hazard surely has fault on the 1st and 3rd goal just like Cole for the 1st who has too afraid to put an OG and didn't go for the clearance and Azpilicueta on the 3rd who, for whatever reason, was on the right. It's really a collective mistake..

But what I would like to point out its that it's also a tactical mistake. Too many people fail to understand that one can fulfill it's " defensive " duty and actually being more useful to the team by staying high; When you look at the game, Atletico FB were both allowed to come help their forward on -almost- every single occasion and they could do that only because Chelsea defended so deep leaving Torres alone up there, if William or Hazard were allowed to stay high it would never happen and if it actually did happen it would meant a possible 2 vs 2 on the counter.

When people think about Hazard they think about it's ability to get past defender but this is thanks to its pace and close control, tool that are deadly when given space hence why he should be allowed to stay higher on the field and if you actually remember Mourinho allowed it on the City away game... And how it went ? Do I need to make you remember that's also how the goal was created ?

Ofcourse Hazard could do more but you can also see that he need more support from the team, almost every single time he's on his left side and receive the ball and there's 2 to 3 defenders close to him you can see him stop, wait a bit, and then do a pass, I read some people complaining about this here but I guess what I see from this must be different, what I see is a player waiting for movement around him, waiting for someone to get into the space, someone to play 1-2 with after drawing players to him but it almost never happen yet when it does happen it almost always actually lead to a dangerous situation. So why ?

What chelsea really lack right now isn't a striker, it would help ofcourse but it's in the collective play it's really lacking and if you remember the few games at the start of the season ( and on a few occasion after that ) the team had that but lost it somehow.

[bluesman2610 1,341]

No. Their attacking mids were not defending in their own box, why would they when our players barely breached it from open play, and when our fullbacks were barely overlapping to begin with? Modern football does not say, "get your most creative player to come and defend the overlap 10 yards into his box".

Hazard made mistakes yes, no one is denying that but what you're saying is false on modern football simply because Dortmund nor Atletico do that. Certainly not with their most talented forward player.

What game was that cause I saw Arda Turan tracking back kicking the piss out of Hazard and Koke tracking back on Willian.. Listen I get it there was a lot of knee jerk reactions after the game about Hazard and I get why it seems easiest to just write off what happened in the match tactically but face it Atlético wide players did their job the whole match the only time we got loose on the flank was for the goal we scored.. And for the record I didn't say modern football asks most creative player to defend overlap I said modern football asks players to play two ways... When a player becomes bigger then the team that's when we have an issue... And if you watched that match again you would see what I was talking about but I doubt that you will

[Reddish-Blue 2,345]

First post, I might say things you don't like but don't be too harsh on me .

For a start Hazard surely has fault on the 1st and 3rd goal just like Cole for the 1st who has too afraid to put an OG and didn't go for the clearance and Azpilicueta on the 3rd who, for whatever reason, was on the right. It's really a collective mistake..

But what I would like to point out its that it's also a tactical mistake. Too many people fail to understand that one can fulfill it's " defensive " duty and actually being more useful to the team by staying high; When you look at the game, Atletico FB were both allowed to come help their forward on -almost- every single occasion and they could do that only because Chelsea defended so deep leaving Torres alone up there, if William or Hazard were allowed to stay high it would never happen and if it actually did happen it would meant a possible 2 vs 2 on the counter.

When people think about Hazard they think about it's ability to get past defender but this is thanks to its pace and close control, tool that are deadly when given space hence why he should be allowed to stay higher on the field and if you actually remember Mourinho allowed it on the City away game... And how it went ? Do I need to make you remember that's also how the goal was created ?

Ofcourse Hazard could do more but you can also see that he need more support from the team, almost every single time he's on his left side and receive the ball and there's 2 to 3 defenders close to him you can see him stop, wait a bit, and then do a pass, I read some people complaining about this here but I guess what I see from this must be different, what I see is a player waiting for movement around him, waiting for someone to get into the space, someone to play 1-2 with after drawing players to him but it almost never happen yet when it does happen it almost always actually lead to a dangerous situation. So why ?

What chelsea really lack right now isn't a striker, it would help ofcourse but it's in the collective play it's really lacking and if you remember the few games at the start of the season ( and on a few occasion after that ) the team had that but lost it somehow.

Stick around the forum...nice first post!

[The Skipper 20,593]

I agree that he shouldn't have to track all the way back but based on the away games at Atletico and Liverpool, I think that would have been his role, especially after taking the lead. Whilst the full backs tucked in effectively to give 4 centre backs and no space in the middle, forcing the opposition out wide where our wingers drop back to become the full backs. It's not great and not his strength but it's the semi final of the champions league for fucks sake. So if that was his role, I'm just saying he should have executed that as Jose has requested and he's not above doing that for the team, like some people seem to be insinuating with their comments on here. The way some people have been talking on here hazard is being put on a pedestal bigger than the club which is so wrong.

He obviously did try to do what Jose asked of him though - only he made mistakes and unfortunately those led to goals. If Jose wanted his winger to track back like that he should've started Schurrle there who's perfect in situations like that. As you said, it isn't anywhere near one of Eden's strengths so it was the wrong gamble from Mourinho - if he was going to play Eden he should've asked him to stay forward more and maybe that would've forced Juanfran to stay deeper because of the counter attack - that is the best way to get them to stop overlapping when you have an attacking talent as impressive as Hazard.

And yeah, obviously Hazard isn't bigger than the club but personally I'm just ignoring those comments.

[bluesman2610 1,341]

First post, I might say things you don't like but don't be too harsh on me .

For a start Hazard surely has fault on the 1st and 3rd goal just like Cole for the 1st who has too afraid to put an OG and didn't go for the clearance and Azpilicueta on the 3rd who, for whatever reason, was on the right. It's really a collective mistake..

But what I would like to point out its that it's also a tactical mistake. Too many people fail to understand that one can fulfill it's " defensive " duty and actually being more useful to the team by staying high; When you look at the game, Atletico FB were both allowed to come help their forward on -almost- every single occasion and they could do that only because Chelsea defended so deep leaving Torres alone up there, if William or Hazard were allowed to stay high it would never happen and if it actually did happen it would meant a possible 2 vs 2 on the counter.

When people think about Hazard they think about it's ability to get past defender but this is thanks to its pace and close control, tool that are deadly when given space hence why he should be allowed to stay higher on the field and if you actually remember Mourinho allowed it on the City away game... And how it went ? Do I need to make you remember that's also how the goal was created ?

Ofcourse Hazard could do more but you can also see that he need more support from the team, almost every single time he's on his left side and receive the ball and there's 2 to 3 defenders close to him you can see him stop, wait a bit, and then do a pass, I read some people complaining about this here but I guess what I see from this must be different, what I see is a player waiting for movement around him, waiting for someone to get into the space, someone to play 1-2 with after drawing players to him but it almost never happen yet when it does happen it almost always actually lead to a dangerous situation. So why ?

What chelsea really lack right now isn't a striker, it would help ofcourse but it's in the collective play it's really lacking and if you remember the few games at the start of the season ( and on a few occasion after that ) the team had that but lost it somehow.

Welcome and great first post... And you are so right in terms of the collective play decline we have become to reliant on the counter that it's messed with the team flow as well I feel too much of the attacking responsibility was given to Eden. Looking at the last game almost every attack we tried to start through him and Atlético knew it was going to happen hence two and three players mugging Eden when he got the ball

[The Skipper 20,593]

What game was that cause I saw Arda Turan tracking back kicking the piss out of Hazard and Koke tracking back on Willian.. Listen I get it there was a lot of knee jerk reactions after the game about Hazard and I get why it seems easiest to just write off what happened in the match tactically but face it Atlético wide players did their job the whole match the only time we got loose on the flank was for the goal we scored.. And for the record I didn't say modern football asks most creative player to defend overlap I said modern football asks players to play two ways... When a player becomes bigger then the team that's when we have an issue... And if you watched that match again you would see what I was talking about but I doubt that you will

Tracking back 10 yards into their own box? Or just tracking back outside of it?

There's a huge difference between the two. Again, if you read my post above your initial one you'll see that I'm not saying Hazard should not track back - just how far he tracked back is what I'm disputing. As I said before, I'm not advocating that he shouldn't track back but making a player like Hazard track back 10 yards into his own box is nonsensical. The Atletico wide players did their job well because they were used well and they had a more cohesive system than ours. Hazard wasn't, and our system wasn't cohesive enough. Schurrle would've been the much better option for the role Hazard played in that game. Yes, modern football requires more from both ends of the pitch, I completely agree with you on that aspect but you have to be smart with it, not that extreme. I've watched the game 3 times since, so I know what I saw.

I'm not even discussing him being bigger than the club either - I'm merely stating that it was tactically wrong to put Hazard in such a role.

[Superblue 6,370]

He obviously did try to do what Jose asked of him though - only he made mistakes and unfortunately those led to goals. If Jose wanted his winger to track back like that he should've started Schurrle there who's perfect in situations like that. As you said, it isn't anywhere near one of Eden's strengths so it was the wrong gamble from Mourinho - if he was going to play Eden he should've asked him to stay forward more and maybe that would've forced Juanfran to stay deeper because of the counter attack - that is the best way to get them to stop overlapping when you have an attacking talent as impressive as Hazard.

And yeah, obviously Hazard isn't bigger than the club but personally I'm just ignoring those comments.

Agreed, and Jose needs to take some criticism and responsibility too. I think losing away to stoke and Newcastle earlier in the season pushed Jose into taking a much more conservative approach and building from the back which on the large has served us well this season. With a couple of additions, namely a striker and somebody deeper in midfield who can play we will hopefully play more expressive L, front foot football next season with a much more confident defence after this season's performances. This will hopefully get more out of hazard and willian.

My comments haven't been to knock hazard because he has worked hard on.his defensive game, it's knocking the people on here who cannot accept any bad word or criticism for him. Just as ridiculous are the people who say stupid things like sell him!

[bluesman2610 1,341]

Tracking back 10 yards into their own box? Or just tracking back outside of it?

There's a huge difference between the two. Again, if you read my post above your initial one you'll see that I'm not saying Hazard should not track back - just how far he tracked back is what I'm disputing. As I said before, I'm not advocating that he shouldn't track back but making a player like Hazard track back 10 yards into his own box is nonsensical. The Atletico wide players did their job well because they were used well and they had a more cohesive system than ours. Hazard wasn't, and our system wasn't cohesive enough. Schurrle would've been the much better option for the role Hazard played in that game. Yes, modern football requires more from both ends of the pitch, I completely agree with you on that aspect but you have to be smart with it, not that extreme. I've watched the game 3 times since, so I know what I saw.

I'm not even discussing him being bigger than the club either - I'm merely stating that it was tactically wrong to put Hazard in such a role.

and that's a fair assessment but maybe I'm being overly sensitive as a defender having an attacking player who doesn't follow his assignment was always my biggest pet peeve.. But going back to the root of the manager asks you to complete a task you gotta make sure you do this.. Not saying that the instructions weren't flawed to begin with cause like you had said above having him further up the pitch may have kept juanfran back but as I have been watching Atlético more recently because of Costa and Thibault their fullback get forward to pin you back and if you don't follow them they will hurt you like was done on Wednesday.. It was a lose-lose situation for Eden really probably came up against the wrong opponents at the wrong time.. Matic in that game as the left midfield shield would have made a world of difference to how Eden would have lined up on the defensive side of the ball

[The only place to be 11,313]

Some people are not getting it... No one is saying that Hazard shouldn't track back and no one is saying that he wasn't at fault for the goals (it wasn't just him though there were a lot of players at fault for both goals, just bad goals to concede as a team in general), but asking your winger to track the run all the way into their own box is ridiculous.

It's not ridiculous in the slightest, especially a few minutes before half-time when the emphasis has to be on maintaining a lead going into the break. Col got caught out of position tracking a run, but JT actually shifted along the line because in a TEAM you cover one another. Hazard knew Juanfran was his man because he looks at him at least twice. He fucked up and it cost us a goal. That doesn't mean the loss was his fault but people who are trying to excuse him don't know the first fucking thing about sport in my opinion.

There's a huge difference between the two. Again, if you read my post above your initial one you'll see that I'm not saying Hazard should not track back - just how far he tracked back is what I'm disputing.

Oh, so he should track players runs but only up to about 20 yards from goal....and then stop?? Juanfran was his man. He should've tracked the run as far as he needed to. JT even points to him and tells Eden to watch him.

But maybe JT is wrong about this.

[The Skipper 20,593]

It's not ridiculous in the slightest, especially a few minutes before half-time when the emphasis has to be on maintaining a lead going into the break. Col got caught out of position tracking a run, but JT actually shifted along the line because in a TEAM you cover one another. Hazard knew Juanfran was his man because he looks at him at least twice. He fucked up and it cost us a goal. That doesn't mean the loss was his fault but people who are trying to excuse him don't know the first fucking thing about sport in my opinion.

If you read what I said I'm not saying he did not make mistakes.

[The only place to be 11,313]

If you read what I said I'm not saying he did not make mistakes.

No, you're saying that a player like Hazard shouldn't be asked to track runs into the box from a full-back in the 44th minute of a second-leg when we're looking to go into the half-time break with a lead.

[The Skipper 20,593]

No, you're saying that a player like Hazard shouldn't be asked to track runs into the box from a full-back in the 44th minute of a second-leg when we're looking to go into the half-time break with a lead.

Yes, exactly that, because Hazard isn't a natural defender and he's bound to make a mistake that way, especially when he isn't 100% sharp. I'd much rather Cole stay a little bit wider with eyes on the left channel, and stay cautious of the overlap (it isn't something new Atletico have implemented they've been doing it all season) and one of the midfield men picking up the winger that has drifted inside.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Yes, exactly that, because Hazard isn't a natural defender and he's bound to make a mistake that way, especially when he isn't 100% sharp. I'd much rather Cole stay a little bit wider with eyes on the left channel, and stay cautious of the overlap (it isn't something new Atletico have implemented they've been doing it all season) and one of the midfield men picking up the winger that has drifted inside.

Schurrle, Salah and Willian aren't natural defenders either. They aren't being asked to stand in the six yard box and clear crosses for 90 minutes, just to track runs from full-backs like he has done many times this season.

He fucked up. That doesn't mean he's a bad player and it doesn't require people to leap to his defence for the most bizarre of reasons, but when you're assessing why we conceded then it's an obvious error. Atletico did very well to spread the play and move us around, but you simply can't make mistakes at the top level like he did and not expect to be punished.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Schurrle, Salah and Willian aren't natural defenders either. They aren't being asked to stand in the six yard box and clear crosses for 90 minutes, just to track runs from full-backs like he has done many times this season.

I'll only speak about Schurrle because he's the only one that could've replaced Hazard on Wednesday - he's far more adept at playing in the role that Hazard was asked to simply because he's played in a similar system and role for years at Leverkussen. Hazard on the other hand has played as a creator for his whole life, always in the final third of the pitch, never really had much to do defensively. He's done very well in general this season at defending and holding the correct shape but when he isn't 100% sharp it's obvious he'll make mistakes like that because that isn't what he's done regularly, it doesn't come naturally to him. That's what I'm trying to convey.

He fucked up. That doesn't mean he's a bad player and it doesn't require people to leap to his defence for the most bizarre of reasons, but when you're assessing why we conceded then it's an obvious error. Atletico did very well to spread the play and move us around, but you simply can't make mistakes at the top level like he did and not expect to be punished.

I'll say it again... He did make the mistakes, I'm not denying that at all. I'm not disputing any of the above you've said... All I'm saying is that it was bound to happen given the scenario and that a player that has spent much of career not really worrying about defending, has been out for a while, obviously not 100% sharp will make mistakes like that in the 18 yard box.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'll only speak about Schurrle because he's the only one that could've replaced Hazard on Wednesday - he's far more adept at playing in the role that Hazard was asked to simply because he's played in a similar system and role for years at Leverkussen. Hazard on the other hand has played as a creator for his whole life, always in the final third of the pitch, never really had much to do defensively. He's done very well in general this season at defending and holding the correct shape but when he isn't 100% sharp it's obvious he'll make mistakes like that because that isn't what he's done regularly, it doesn't come naturally to him. That's what I'm trying to convey.

Under Benitez he improved dramatically when it came to defensive positioning. I think people are underestimating his ability to do a job defensively, or simply rewriting history to cover his arse.

He made a mistake. People make mistakes, especially when they're young. I don't think anyone is saying he should be sacked or flogged for it, but simply that it should be acknowledged. I guarantee the coaching staff will make it very clear to him, because that's how people learn from mistakes.

I'll say it again... He did make the mistakes, I'm not denying that at all. I'm not disputing any of the above you've said... All I'm saying is that it was bound to happen given the scenario and that a player that has spent much of career not really worrying about defending, has been out for a while, obviously not 100% sharp will make mistakes like that in the 18 yard box.

And I disagree that it was bound to happen - if it was bound to happen then he wouldn't have been trusted in that position. It was a one-off mistake, I don't think he's a brainfart machine like David Luiz.

I don't really think a lack of match-sharpness is the cause either. He knows exactly where his man here but he simply doesn't track it for some reason.

The discussion about it makes it seem like a far bigger deal that it is. It was a mistake so why people feel the need to defend it or the fact he was put in that position is bizarre to me.

[SoulTaker 46]

Schurrle, Salah and Willian aren't natural defenders either. They aren't being asked to stand in the six yard box and clear crosses for 90 minutes, just to track runs from full-backs like he has done many times this season.

He fucked up. That doesn't mean he's a bad player and it doesn't require people to leap to his defence for the most bizarre of reasons, but when you're assessing why we conceded then it's an obvious error. Atletico did very well to spread the play and move us around, but you simply can't make mistakes at the top level like he did and not expect to be punished.

What you're saying is true but it's also true that the fact Hazard was there ( in his own box ) is circumstantial and mistakes are bound to happen in case like that. Mourinho put him in this role knowing it isn't its forte. Was hazard at fault ? Yes, no doubt about that. Could he have done better ? Yes, no doubt about that either. Was he the man for this kind of situation ? No.

In the end Hazard was nothing more than a part of the gear that led to the goal.

What I think it's that Hazard is misued right now. A player like Hazard who has the potential to be a worldbeater should be trained and played in a way that would bring his skills set to their paroxysm it would be way more efficient for him and for Chelsea than to try to make him an all round player ( at least I'm under the impression that's the way it is right now ).