Eden Hazard

[Chelsea? 892]

I think if we stop looking at him as a future balon dor winner, we'd be much happier with his performances. He's great, but not on Neymar (for Brazil) level. Maybe he'll be as good as Robben some day but I think we should reduce or expectations of him.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I think if we stop looking at him as a future balon dor winner, we'd be much happier with his performances. He's great, but not on Neymar (for Brazil) level.

Neymar is not Hazard (for Chelsea) level and that's all that matters for us as Chelsea fans. His performances have been greatly overstated anyway, a couple of goals against a disspirited Cameroon, one of the worst teams in the tournament, but average against Chile and running into brick walls against Mexico. Unfortunately, he is pumped up to look better than he actually is thanks to the enormous marketing campaigns his camp does and his huge "political entourage" (to use a Mourinho term) that is bigger than even those of Ronaldo and Messi. Surely, the quality of players is measured mostly by what they do for their clubs, not how many goals they score in friendlies in the Brazil World Tour against teams like China and Panama.

The World Cup, at least the way I see it should be a crowning jewel for players who are looking to cement their legacy (Ronaldo de Lima / Messi) or players enhancing their reputation (James Rodriguez / Ozil and Muller in 2010).

Can Hazard win ballon d'or? Why not. He is already better than Zizou, Kaka and Ronaldinho were at his age when they won that award later in their careers. I'm not sure why you're discounting him from winning that award.

The question is whether he can win it at Chelsea, an English club. They didn't even give it Henry when he was clearly the best player in the world in his prime.

[Chelsea? 892]

Neymar is not Hazard (for Chelsea) level and that's all that matters for us as Chelsea fans. His performances have been greatly overstated anyway, a couple of goals against a disspirited Cameroon, one of the worst teams in the tournament, but average against Chile and running into brick walls against Mexico. Unfortunately, he is pumped up to look better than he actually is thanks to the enormous marketing campaigns his camp does and his huge "political entourage" (to use a Mourinho term) that is bigger than even those of Ronaldo and Messi. Surely, the quality of players is measured mostly by what they do for their clubs, not how many goals they score in friendlies in the Brazil World Tour against teams like China and Panama.

The World Cup, at least the way I see it should be a crowning jewel for players who are looking to cement their legacy (Ronaldo de Lima / Messi) or players enhancing their reputation (James Rodriguez / Ozil and Muller in 2010).

Can Hazard win ballon d'or? Why not. He is already better than Zizou, Kaka and Ronaldinho were at his age when they won that award later in their careers. I'm not sure why you're discounting him from winning that award.

The question is whether he can win it at Chelsea, an English club. They didn't even give it Henry when he was clearly the best player in the world in his prime.

We'll cross the Balon Dor road when it comes. But Neymar has faced tougher opposition this World cup than Hazard. But Hazard should be in the 'enhance reputation' class right now.

[Korea 734]

Its pretty simple.

The tactics dont favor hazard and he is not their n1 option. Which is why kdb looks like belgium best player every game. At chelsea, the tactics favor him and allow him to be n1 option.

[DoubleO 192]

Wow, he's a totally different player in that Belgium squad. No speed, 1on1-challenging and other things which make him so great at Chelsea. Even though he hasn't had a great World Cup individually, I have no doubts that he will be back to himself as the season in England starts!

[sutro 1,026]

He's growing game after game, we didnt see the last of him yet in this wc.

He worked hard for the team last night

[didierforever 7,349]

He's growing game after game, we didnt see the last of him yet in this wc.

He worked hard for the team last night

next match against zabaleta. i am sure zabaleta would not have forgotten the humiliation at etihad.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

I think Hazard's best position is as a number 10 were he gets more involved in the play, we should move him from the wing imo and put Schurrle on the left wing with Willian or Salah on the right wing, I feel Eden will create and score more from the middle and it would be harder to double team him since he would be constantly moving

[EMK 7]

What I realized about Hazar is that he will never reach Ronaldo or Messi level. He just lacks the killer instinct the ability to be a game changer with goals. He will always be a good player but never 1 of the greats of his era at least. Hipe he proves me wrong.

[ZOS 580]

sick of all the whining... don't know what the fuss is all about, I thought he did alright last night. He doesn't need to prove anything, any football fan can see his talent.... I'll pick him over Neymar every time, especially for a team in the EPL.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Its pretty simple.

The tactics dont favor hazard and he is not their n1 option. Which is why kdb looks like belgium best player every game. At chelsea, the tactics favor him and allow him to be n1 option.

Are you saying that Hazard can shine only if he's #1 option? I really hope you're wrong about that. Next season, he might not be a #1 option at Chelsea, too, with Cesc and Costa's signings. I'm hoping that the opposite would happen--that with having less pressure on him to create, Hazard will improve.

[The Rising Sun 709]

If he doesnt play amazing this world cup, thats actually good for us.

No unnecessary speculation regarding transfers and all that nonsense.

He can come back and shut all the doubters at Chelsea.

Dont care if he plays well for Belgium or not.

As long as he does what he does best at Chelsea, that is all that matters.

Always better to be underrated than overrated.

[Pizy 18,368]

The Belgian side actually reminds me of how we looked at times during the season. A bunch of super talented and brilliant individuals who aren't playing as a single unit. Everyone trying to do it on their own.

Mertens and De Bruyne, while good players, go out for Belgium and act like they're superstars like CR7 and try to do too much. Mertens especially only has one thing in mind whenever he gets the ball and that's to go for a glory goal. Hazard has the same problem that he does here at Chelsea in that he's TOO unselfish at times.

He really could be our Robben if he was just more assertive and selfish. He effortlessly beats his markers and has chance after chance to get a shot away but looks for a pass first.

[bababoom 4,478]

He wasn't that bad, although i was shocked how many times he let the US fullback run past him, Vertonghen literally had to defend against two players... Wilmots should have switched Hazard and KDB earlier.

[Korea 734]

Are you saying that Hazard can shine only if he's #1 option? I really hope you're wrong about that. Next season, he might not be a #1 option at Chelsea, too, with Cesc and Costa's signings. I'm hoping that the opposite would happen--that with having less pressure on him to create, Hazard will improve.

Hazard is not an aggressive player from what I've seen.

Next season, Costa will command the ball go through him moreso than Eden running the show. Also, Cesc will probably require Hazard to start making runs rather than waiting all the time for the ball to come to him and he do his dribbling magic.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Hazard is not an aggressive player from what I've seen.

Next season, Costa will command the ball go through him moreso than Eden running the show. Also, Cesc will probably require Hazard to start making runs rather than waiting all the time for the ball to come to him and he do his dribbling magic.

Yes, the team dynamics next season will be no doubt different, with us finally getting a proper CF(hopefully) and Cesc taking part of the creative responsibility off Eden. It's obvious that Eden will no longer be "go to" option for everyone and won't be running the show on his own. That's why I hope that rather than affect him negatively, our new signings will have a positive effect on Hazard's consistency. It should. Playing with other talented players should only improve him, now that he has Costa to benefit from his passes and Cesc to provide him passes to score. It should work.

[Coop 114]

Hazard will shine VS Argentina.

[iseah100 5,612]

Hazard will always be our main guy.