Eden Hazard

[Jase 43,479]

thank God he had a poor world cup, for our sake

Rodriguez closes on Real Madrid move

http://www.espnfc.us/story/1954888/james-rodriguez-closes-on-real-madrid-move

Considering Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing a game of 'Who will spend more?' or 'Who will buy the biggest player out there right now?' game every season, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them bid for Hazard next summer or whichever summer in the upcoming years. Whether we accept the bid is another thing but yeah.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

there's a reason I nominated you for newcomer of the year in the forum

My signature - which is a quote by Term-X or Liquidator is mainly because of the chances created stats. There isn't a bigger misleading thing in football and unlike @Dion suggested in his answer to you, many times it has nothing to do with doing the right thing in the final third and I'm not even talking exclusively or mainly about Eden.

By definition chance created is the pass that precedes a shot on goal. It doesn't matter how many dribbles, take-ons, distance the shooter took before finishing, whoever provided that pass will have a chance created to his name. So if someone decides to take a nonsense long shot that made no sense but his lack of brains, whoever passed the ball to him will have a chance created... I can't take this kind of stat seriously because while they represent some of the truth I think they mislead a lot.

It's no rocket science that if Hazard was that far superior creating chances he would have had more assists to his name if they were clear cut chances - or even many of them. Yes, our strikers sucked, but who said they were the only ones shooting? Oscar, Willian, Lamps, Ramires, Schurrle, Salah also received passes from Hazard before finishing. Of course in many times they could have done better, but I can't blame only our bad strikers and unlucky shots on goals for the discrepancy between his CC and assists.

But that's not even the area I think he should improve. I think he's doing just fine there - despite the exaggeration brought by the CC stats. I think he should just shoot more often and have a better decision making when it comes to dribbling, shooting, passing. At some point last season he dribbled when he should pass and passed when he should dribble. That was a picture of his start of the season, then he improved his decision making a lot and had his best months for us. Then he was making bad decisions again and spent the last three months of the season without scoring from open play for us. That's what I want him to improve: consistency on decision making and more shots on goal. The chances he creates - clear cut or not - are just fine on my account.

Yeah, chances created stat doesn't always give a clear picture. But it shows us that Eden was always involved and trying to create something. Creating clear-cut chances isn't as easy as it might seem. Besides possessing great passing skills, a player must be amazing at reading the game for that. Eden is still young and has all the talent. He can only improve his decision-making and final balls. As for more shots on goal... Yeah, I expect more goals from him this season now that he doesn't have the creative burden only on him.

[Jase 43,479]

[laeth 527]

What's going on with his contract extension? I swear he was in talks about it before the world cup.

[LukakutoStamford 779]

A bit misleading, played far more football in that time than both Bale and Robben.

Bale and Robben actually had teammates that could finish

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

[Atholy 1,293]

His hometown has been really supportive and proud about Eden!

Here is to show he's a great family guy who pleases ALL his fans (and not only the TOP models like a lot of players tend to do these days)!

[communicate 2,703]

I agree, but while Eden's number of key passes is nothing short of amazing, it must be said that there's a key pass and then there's a key pass. These stats don't show how many of those chances were clear-cut chances. Some players create fewer chances, but more quality ones. If Eden made 92 key passes, it doesn't mean our finishers could have scored 92 goals if they were better. Far from it. Clear-cut chances stats would be more informative.

Edit: here it is(information on top creators in the EPL, generated on 31 March 2014, but it still gives a more clear picture):

Eden easily had the most total chances created (87), but out of all those chances, only 9 were clear-cut chances. To put things into perspective, the player who created the most clear-cut chances in Europe last season--Cesc--created far less total chances than Eden(less than sixty I think), but almost half of them (27) were clear-cut chances that should have led to a goal. Ibrahimovic is another example of a player who created a lot of clear-cut chances(24). Suarez was the best in the PL in that regard. Liverpool are going to miss his creativity a lot.

That said, Eden's clear-cut chances stat isn't bad at all compared to other PL playmakers'(better than Ozil and Mata), but the stat shows that he isn't that superior at creating goal-scoring chances as his key passes stat suggests, which explains why he has relatively few assists compared to the total chances created.

Damn Suarez was damn good last season

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

Damn Suarez was damn good last season

Easily the greatest season for a premier league striker ever.

Liverpool are fucked.

[Atholy 1,293]

Was in Paris today to watch the final stage of the tour the france!

Enough holidays now... Time to get back to the team... Want to see you on the pitch!!

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Here we go... How long will it take for someone to link him with Paris again?

[DanishBlue 426]

Yeah, no doubt he is there to sign for PSG

[Atholy 1,293]

Here we go... How long will it take for someone to link him with Paris again?

Yeah, no doubt he is there to sign for PSG

I absolutely did not think one second about PSG when posting this. He's just in Paris for fun!

100% sure he will be dancing around defenders in his nr 10 shirt in the EPL soon !!

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

This is too cute to be true, lol

[LukakutoStamford 779]

Kylian made the bench for Waregem today in their league opener, but wasn't used.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Hazard would still need someone world class to play with in attack to fill potential though. Someone who can make one-twos and clever runs, good on the ball etc.

WIllian, Salah, Oscar just dont think on same level as Hazard.

[Bluelsthecolour 61]

Hazard would still need someone world class to play with in attack to fill potential though. Someone who can make one-twos and clever runs, good on the ball etc.

WIllian, Salah, Oscar just dont think on same level as Hazard.

Oscar and Willian definitely fills that critera (imo). Cesc will surely be used as a #10 sometimes so there is another player that can do that.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Oscar and Willian definitely fills that critera (imo). Cesc will surely be used as a #10 sometimes so there is another player that can do that.

They will the criteria, but they dont show it on field. Oscar was hot-cold and more cold for Chelsea since 2014, while Willian is amazing dribbler and runner, but breaks that with poor pass or shot.