Eden Hazard

[The Chels 2,502]

better definition .. Le chels

All those pills making you mad grandpa?

[zolayes 14,489]

All those pills making you mad grandpa?

go away you annoying little boy..perhaps go back and insult Lampard

[The Chels 2,502]

go away you annoying little boy..perhaps go back and insult Lampard

Quote me one of my 'insults' to Lampard please.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Should not be judged from yesterday performance...

[Special Juan 28,141]

All those pills making you mad grandpa?

go away you annoying little boy..perhaps go back and insult Lampard

Quote me one of my 'insults' to Lampard please.

Stick each other on ignore and do us all a favor please.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Unlocking Eden

Pretty good read if you're bored

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Unlocking Eden

Pretty good read if you're bored

Decision making and confidence will be crucial this year. At times there Hazard hesitates to work the opportunity to shoot for himself. Gareth Bale played eight fewer league games than Hazard, but still had 15 more shots. Marco Reus played six fewer games than Hazard, yet produced 37 more shots. Arjen Robben produced two more shots than Hazard in 12 fewer games. Naturally they are enabled by having superior movement and passing in their sides, but the "eyeball test" on Hazard is one that suggests he passes up far too many shooting opportunities.

Exactly, he doesn't shoot. He needs to give his markers more things to think about when defending him.(dribble/pass/SHOOT)

He also doesn't get into the 18box enough. Even sterling gets into the 18box more, hazard should make more runs into the box now we have fabregas to pick him out.

[The only place to be 11,313]

It is a worry that he doesn't shoot more often, or take it upon himself to run at players more. Ronaldo does it all the time because he's supremely confident that he's 'the man'.

But being 'the man' brings pressure with it. Under-perform and you're going to get stick because you've put yourself in the spotlight, don't put yourself in the spotlight and there's no criticism. Hazard needs to start backing himself and thinking everytime he gets the ball that he's going to score.

Yes he's going to miss a lot, but he'll also score far more. This is the season he either steps up to another level or he's simply a very good player.

[Hutcho 8,443]

I think he will progress well this season.

The addition of fabregas I see as a good thing because it means he isn't as relied upon as much and also if fabre plays deeper then the service into hazard and Co should be better and more efficient.

Add into that the fact that we potentially have a dangerous striker at the bridge again which will make the runs and (fingers crossed) score more goals should benefit him somewhat.

Tbh, I am more interested in seeing how Oscar reacts as I hope to see a little bit more of the talent we know he has come out. Also if Mou is planning on playing fabregas in a 3 in mid or at the CAM then he is in direct completion and it will be interesting to see how Oscar responds to that.

[Footballover 222]

This is the season he either steps up to another level or he's simply a very good player.

I can't understand this ultimatum, you think that this year will be the last in which he will progress? He is only 23, he is still so young and so inexperienced and he may reach his peak only at something like 25, maybe even later. Players such as Ribery, Robben and even Malouda (a beast at his prime) reached their summit at a very progressive age for example.

If you think that Eden will become a Ronaldo v2, I might disappoint you - well, he will most probably won't. I really dought that Hazard will score as much as the Portuguese because he is not a born finisher, both because he lacks certain qualities that great finishers have - shooting and heading especially, but more importantly because he takes different aspects of the game on himself. I agree that he should shoot more but I don't think he needs to become obsessive with it, he can contribute a great deal to the team even if he doesn't score 40 goals a season.

Hazard is a fantastic player already and I personally don't worry about him that much. He will become an even more remarkable player in the future and will be remembered as one of the best even if he won't reach the hights that Ronaldo and Messi reached. If there is a player that we need to worry about it's Oscar, but that's a different discussion...

[Barbara 15,149]

I can't understand this ultimatum, you think that this year will be the last in which he will progress? He is only 23, he is still so young and so inexperienced and he may reach his peak only at something like 25, maybe even later. Players such as Ribery, Robben and even Malouda (a beast at his prime) reached their summit at a very progressive age for example.

If you think that Eden will become a Ronaldo v2, I might disappoint you - well, he will most probably won't. I really dought that Hazard will score as much as the Portuguese because he is not a born finisher, both because he lacks certain qualities that great finishers have - shooting and heading especially, but more importantly because he takes different aspects of the game on himself. I agree that he should shoot more but I don't think he needs to become obsessive with it, he can contribute a great deal to the team even if he doesn't score 40 goals a season.

Hazard is a fantastic player already and I personally don't worry about him that much. He will become an even more remarkable player in the future and will be remembered as one of the best even if he won't reach the hights that Ronaldo and Messi reached. If there is a player that we need to worry about it's Oscar, but that's a different discussion...

I think both of you have good points.

For him to reach his peak as you say that could happen at age 25 or maybe even longer, he needs to do some things now. He won't wake up someday when he's 25 and just reach his peak. There are serious improvements he needs to start doing now if he plans to ever reach his ceiling.

Criticizing Hazard is very complicated on this forum and rarely people accept it, but he's overrated in general (not his potential, but his impact in the team) by people here and I agree about that with Alex a couple of pages ago - which doesn't mean he isn't our best player. He is our best player and overall a great player and stats - as my signature says - don't tell the whole story, but it's hard to ignore them when they are really bad. He was completely anonymous the first months of the season last year (except October), barely impacting any game, and then he exploded and was really good starting in December and then people just assume he was amazing for the rest of the season, but at the end of February he had already faded considerably and his really good matches were far and between. He didn't score from open play since February 8th and he had only 2 assists from February til the end of the season. Still nobody says a word about it and everyone just keeps saying he was amazing last season. Yes, he was insanely great, for three months, average for another four and had ups and downs (mixed with injuries) in the last three.

Does it means he sucks, that he wasn't good enough or any other thing someone may assume I'm saying? No, it means that he hasn't living not even half of his potential. If he doesn't assist and doesn't score enough, I don't give a fuck how many dribbles and 'chances created' (unless they're clear cut chances) he makes (although as I explain below, those things can help a lot, but they can be very misleading too). At the end of the day he isn't effectively helping us win matches the way he could, the way he has potential to do.

I kept defending him and I believe he's Balon D'Or material, but if he doesn't start to step up (mentally above all) now, he could end up being nothing but a very good player as TOPTB said in his posts. I'm quite aware that the stats don't tell the whole story (he could be the guy that consistently gives the pass before the assists, he could be the guy that drags markers and leave others unmarked, even if isn't directly involved in the match stats), but they don't absurdly lie either. Eden Hazard is an amazing player with a lot of talent, and his talent and meaningless stats such as chances created (completely different from clear cut chances) give him a reputation that seems to be much bigger than what he really is at the moment. I want to see him reach his full potential, but he has to start working on that, especially mentally, where I think he lacks, otherwise he will never be the player most of us expect him to be.

His stats by month are (ESPNfc breakdown):

August - 0 assists, 1 goals (Super Cup)

September - 0 assists, 0 goals

October - 1 assist, 4 goals

November - 1 assist, 1 goal

December - 2 assists, 4 goals

January - 3 assists, 1 goal

February - 0 assists, 3 goals (all in the same match and 1 penalty)

March - 2 assists (Galatasaray), 2 goals (2 penalties)

April - 0 assists, 1 goal (1 penalty)

May - 0 assists, 0 goals

[Hamilton 2,120]

With Costa and fab he should do better in most months..

[Barbara 15,149]

With Costa and fab he should do better in most months..

I think the additions will help him a lot, but he needs to step up mentally too. What TOPTB said... maybe he will never score goals like Ronaldo (who does anyway?), but he has to have the same mentality, the same confidence and the same approach. He will improve a lot as a player if it improves.

[Footballover 222]

Barbara,

I get your point and I agree with it partly, but I have to say that you are forgetting one very important and critical issue - last season, Hazard was our only real "executer" in terms of attacking play (not to mention the fact that he needed to defend on top of it all)! The first few months were really problematic and he was actually pretty awful to say the truth, but when he clicked into gear somewhere aroung November he was amazing, as you mentioned. It is a bit simple to say it but with time, teams understood how to stop him and we were practically fucked when that happened. The point is - it's really not fair to judge him conclusively because at times last season, our strategy was to give him the ball and hope for the best. This season though, he will have much much more freedom and help with Luis coming in to loosen him from the defensive job, Costa and Fabregas who should take some of the attacking burden on themselves, and assuming Schurrle, Willian and Oscar will improve, we can all expect him to be better, and I personally believe he will step up to the task.

[Moros 86]

To be honest I think we need a at least one attacking midfielder, before we can play with the real big boys (Bayern, Dortmund, Madrid, Barcça & City). Cesc, Luiz and Costa are very fine additions. But when we talk about AM's (I'm counting Cesc to play in the pivot) we have only one that strikes fear in the other team, that's hazard. Now with Cesc, Costa and Luiz it will be better and Hazard isn't the only threat on the pitch anymore, but if really want him to show his magic we need another guy comming. I really hope that we can land Reus this summer, winter or next summer. Cause then we'll have, as far as I'm concerned, a world class team. And I bet it would make all our current players perform even better.