Eden Hazard

[bababoom 4,478]

If he signs a new contract he wont leave anytime soon, we're not Liverpool (Suarez) we can keep our top players.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

If he signs a new contract he wont leave anytime soon, we're not Liverpool (Suarez) we can keep our top players.

Signing a new contract means very little these days, though. It would just mean we wouldn't have to sell him for cheap. Ultimately, it depends only on Eden. If he really wants to play for RM and they want him, he might ask to be sold and there's very little we can do about it.

[termninja 5,290]

Yeah Ronaldo and Messi score like crazy, but when they were younger there were playing more like Hazard with less direct position in team and more focus in wing play and crossing.

I love it how Messi's and Ronaldo's goalscoring record is used to lower Hazard's success, but the fact that PL defenses are much tougher to break gets somehow forgotten...

Hazard will get there, just watch him set the world on fire.

I'm scared of losing him, especially after Mourinho's financial comments. If we are going to sell him, then i want 100m the least if Real even want to talk. I hooe he signs a new long term contract in 2015.

[WhatsTheMatic? 28]

This thread is very doom and gloom. What ever happens we know the board and Jose will make sure Chelsea continue to become better if thats with Eden or without him

[ParNolio7 285]

I love it how Messi's and Ronaldo's goalscoring record is used to lower Hazard's success, but the fact that PL defenses are much tougher to break gets somehow forgotten...

No reason to overestimate the EPL defences. Just look at our last match against Everton for example. Ronaldo also scored very easily in his last seasons for Man United. And I'm pretty sure Messi could easily score 30 odd goals a year in EPL as well.

Still I think you're right Messi and Ronaldo's phenomenal goal scoring shouldn't be abused to downtalk Hazard. But EPL defending is not the correct argument imo, rather the fact that Hazard has other qualities.

[Weckerz 3,781]

Some of you are worrying so much about what level he will reach eventually that you seem to forget what a quality player he is today..

He'll probably never be as good as Messi or Ronaldo, so what? Enjoy him while you can tbh.

[nyikolajevics 2,697]

Some of you are worrying so much about what level he will reach eventually that you seem to forget what a quality player he is today..

He'll probably never be as good as Messi or Ronaldo, so what? Enjoy him while you can tbh.

Not to mention we bought him for 32 million pounds.. Players like James Rodriguez(twice) Özil, Di Maria or David Luiz were more expensive than him.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

It wasn't Eden who said it, he would never say something like that. It was someone here (just before my post). What I said about him is that I think is that sometimes his speeches don't match.Saying he wants to win the Balon d'Or and be the best player in the world and work hard for it to happen is something he's said in the past and without sounding arrogant. It showed ambition and I liked it. Now saying he's seemingly happy that someone else has to step up - it doesn't matter if scoring or assisting - doesn't match the first speech. Can you see a discrepancy between those two speeches and his goals? Nobody has to be Messi or Ronaldo talent-wise, scoring-wise, but everyone can step up to be their team's star and the man who wins them matches. I do think he lacks a bit of drive, but he's young, and I'm willing to wait, I just said I'm not too emphatic about my predictions about him because I don't know if he has the mentality a player like Cris and Messi have. I was comparing their attitude, I didn't touch talent (said many brazilians were talented and never reached their potential because they had the wrong mentality), I didn't touch goal scoring (never even mentioned it in any of my posts), it was all about having the mentality in addition to the talent (his relief about not being the guy that will win matches is worrying for his development). I see much less talent in Bale, but also much more hunger and balls.

My point about his bad form at the end of the season (and early in the season too) is just so people can be a little more realistic about him - I never meant we lost the league because of him, but when we needed him the most, he wasn't there. So wasn't Oscar, so wasn't Ramires, so weren't our strikers (those had never been there anyway). The way people talk here it was as if Hazard has done his part and the rest of the team didn't and THAT is ABSOLUTELY unfair. He did his part, but only for a while - as did many others - but he didn't do it consistently - as didn't many others. He didn't have a great season. He had a great streak between November/December until early February (do people even realize that this doesn't correspond to even half of a season?). From March on he wasn't productive, he slowly faded until he go injured around mid-April.

If someone who's never watched Chelsea in their life came to this forum, the feeling they would get from most posts here would be: Hazard was a hell of a player, carried the team and we didn't win the league because we didn't have strikers, because Oscar had a horrible second half of the season, because Ramires had a terrible second half of the season, because our FBs didn't support the attack, because Cech had some important failures, etc... Those things are true, but the Hazard part is a lie. I know it's something new for some people and many others don't accept it at all, but Hazard has flaws just like any other player and addressing them isn't a sin or a crime and shouldn't led people to be lectured. A lot of people are saying we should read Excalibur's post, but I didn't and I won't. I know there's probably a lot of right things there, but the problem is Hazard became a myth in this forum that can't be ever criticized without people overreacting.

The rest of the team had ups and downs, but Hazard - because of the mouthwatering style - is always labeled as this amazing, complete player, when he isn't yet and he gets credit for a lot of things he didn't do - such as having an amazing season. I want more from him this season, the same way I want from Oscar, Schurrle and Willian. They can - and hopefully - will be more productive and consistent. I even said in my second post that if he checked all the right boxes and still didn't win the award, it'd be okay. I don't think he's going to be a scoring machine, but at this point, based on his previous season, he won't be an assist machine either. He needs to step up and be more consistent, like all our young players. And it's okay to demand that from the others, but it causes a problem every time someone mentions the same about Hazard...

No i don't. Again i think you're just reading waay too much into it. Hazard never said that he didn't wanna score anymore just that with Costa up front he can focus more on assists. To me that means that he thinks Costa is a better finisher then our strikers last season and that he'll be able to get more assists this season.

"his relief about not being the guy that will win matches is worrying for his development" Honestly where are you getting this ? I've read that interview 10 times and can't find a single thing about Hazard saying he feels pressure or that he feels relieved not being the guy that will win us matches.

"The way people talk here it was as if Hazard has done his part and the rest of the team didn't and THAT is ABSOLUTELY unfair" But it is fair to single out Hazard and say "when the team needed him the most in the title run he went MIA" ?

If you're gonna single out Hazard then i'm definitely going to bring up the fact that the rest of our attacking players went MIA for most of the season.

Hazard has flaws just like any other player and addressing them isn't a sin or a crime and shouldn't led people to be lectured. No one is saying Hazard doesn't have flaws and addressing them isn't a sin or a crime however you should have realized by now that people have different opinions. What you find a flaw other people might not. Hazard's mentality for example you find it a flaw, i don't. Difference of opinion.

No one is lecturing anyone. People are debating, this is a forum after all.

"A lot of people are saying we should read Excalibur's post, but I didn't and I won't" Don't you think it's kinda insulting to be ignoring someone's post just because you might not like what they have written down ? It's was a good post with good argument. It's worth reading.

"the problem is Hazard became a myth in this forum that can't be ever criticized without people overreacting." Please, Hazard gets plenty of criticism. Only difference with other player topics is that here when you criticize you have to be capable of actually backing it up with facts.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

The only player who perfectly played no. 10 position in every match is Tsubasa Ozora. No one else can.

[Styles 9,790]

Some of you are worrying so much about what level he will reach eventually that you seem to forget what a quality player he is today..

He'll probably never be as good as Messi or Ronaldo, so what? Enjoy him while you can tbh.

He's already better than Ronaldo in certain aspects in my opinion. Ronaldo is a great goalscorer but as an all-round footballer I think Hazard is better than him at plenty of things - but then nobody really cares because Ronaldo scores 50 a season.

[Tomo 21,751]

The under appreciation off Hazard by some people on here is criminal.

[Styles 9,790]

The under appreciation off Hazard by some people on here is criminal.

It really is. I'm becoming a bit of a fan-boy simply because of the way some people talk about him sometimes.

[Stingray 9,441]

The under appreciation off Hazard by some people on here is criminal.

Very true .... I really don't get it tbh. Also, it has been this way ever since he got here - nagging galore.

[sutro 1,026]

Very true .... I really don't get it tbh. Also, it has been this way ever since he got here - nagging galore.

double standards all over the

place.....

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He's already better than Ronaldo in certain aspects in my opinion. Ronaldo is a great goalscorer but as an all-round footballer I think Hazard is better than him at plenty of things - but then nobody really cares because Ronaldo scores 50 a season.

He's already a far better dribbler than ronaldo will be. He's a better passer and has more vision.

All he needs is to maintain direct dribbling into the box and get 20goals 20assists and I'm satisfied.

Not everybody has the determination of ronaldo and messi to score 2 or more every game

[Madmax 9,219]

Premier League TV says Hazard faces a late fitness test because of an achilles problem.

[Barbara 15,149]

No i don't. Again i think you're just reading waay too much into it. Hazard never said that he didn't wanna score anymore just that with Costa up front he can focus more on assists. To me that means that he thinks Costa is a better finisher then our strikers last season and that he'll be able to get more assists this season.

I meant life/career goals, as in objectives, not goal scoring. What does his ambitions have to do with goal scoring? Goals isn't only a football related word.

"his relief about not being the guy that will win matches is worrying for his development" Honestly where are you getting this ? I've read that interview 10 times and can't find a single thing about Hazard saying he feels pressure or that he feels relieved not being the guy that will win us matches.

If he's relieved that now he doesn't need to be the man, then that's where I read it. I read that same interview in three or four different sources, all of them headline he's relieved Cesc and Costa are here... Which as I said isn't a problem for Chelsea. Cesc and Costa will benefit from Hazard feeling more free. Chelsea will benefit from the three of them offering goals and assists. The only one who doesn't benefit from it all is Hazard - in a career view.

"The way people talk here it was as if Hazard has done his part and the rest of the team didn't and THAT is ABSOLUTELY unfair" But it is fair to single out Hazard and say "when the team needed him the most in the title run he went MIA" ?

If you're gonna single out Hazard then i'm definitely going to bring up the fact that the rest of our attacking players went MIA for most of the season.

That's the thing YOU assumed I singled him out. Was I talking about us as a team? Was I talking about who's responsible for us losing the league? NO! I was talking about Hazard in his thread. I said the same about Ramires and Oscar in their threads last season. I've criticized Cech in his thread last season. So because YOU think I singled him out, it doesn't mean I did. Should I bring everyone else to a discussion about Hazard just to level it out? Please...

Hazard has flaws just like any other player and addressing them isn't a sin or a crime and shouldn't led people to be lectured. No one is saying Hazard doesn't have flaws and addressing them isn't a sin or a crime however you should have realized by now that people have different opinions. What you find a flaw other people might not. Hazard's mentality for example you find it a flaw, i don't. Difference of opinion.

No one is lecturing anyone. People are debating, this is a forum after all.

And I'm all for different views and opinions and I love a discussion - as if it haven't been clear yet. The thing is discussing things in this thread unless is sucking Hazard up isn't productive in general. There's always the lecture, always, always, always. We can't talk about his poor WC - because guess what, it wasn't poor. We can't talk about his inconsistency, because guess what, he isn't inconsistent, we can't talk about his apparent lack of hunger, because guess what, he's very hungry. We can only talk about how awesome he is and post vids of his flicks. Anything else we get lectured right and left.

"A lot of people are saying we should read Excalibur's post, but I didn't and I won't" Don't you think it's kinda insulting to be ignoring someone's post just because you might not like what they have written down ? It's was a good post with good argument. It's worth reading.

Did you purposefully didn't copy the rest of that sentence because it didn't fit your agenda or did you missed the part where I said with all words that I'm sure I would have agreed/liked with most of what he said? I don't need to read something that is meant to be a lecture about something I already know. Knowing his age, his potential, his talent, knowing that isn't fair to expect him to be a score machine or to compare him to Cristiano and Messi is obvious, an understatement that I don't need to read for the 100th just because someone dared to say Hazard isn't this complete player, just behind both Cris and Messi as some here think. I only compared their attitude... something you can see for example in Schurrle. The interview Madmax (I think) posted yesterday in SChurrle's thread is a testament to hunger, bite, drive. Coincidently enough we've NEVER read or watched Hazard saying those sort of things... actually he once said he doesn't like to train...

"the problem is Hazard became a myth in this forum that can't be ever criticized without people overreacting." Please, Hazard gets plenty of criticism. Only difference with other player topics is that here when you criticize you have to be capable of actually backing it up with facts.

Oh, right, your opinion is a fact right? You, the one defending that forums are discussion places, where people are showing different views, now is talking about facts. Your opinion is a fact, the disagreement isn't. Yep, I got it. Marvelous theory. But as I can't have an opinion and discuss it, I can only have facts (despite your opinion automatically being a fact), I'll provide you a few.

The stats I posted a few weeks back when I broke down Hazard's contribution to the team month by month that shows clearly he only had a hot streak between the end of november and early february didn't have people quoting me with their facts. Said break down shows he was inconsistent - like many of our players - and normally nobody quotes you saying otherwise, because guess what, that's a very tangible, undeniable fact. When I say Hazard's never given an interview like Schurrle did normally doesn't have anyone quoting me with their facts (this isn't the first time I point out Hazard seems to be quite comfortable with his talent). Stating the OBVIOUS that Hazard doesn't have a mentality and a drive such as Schurrle, Bale, Cristiano (in his United days, to make it fair and put him in the same age bracket as Hazard), Costa, etc.. doesn't have people quoting me with the interviews where Hazard is in theory showing that.

So, mate, could you please give me the facts I've missed? Or are you going to only give me your opinion, advocate that people should have opinions in a forum and then tell me my opinion isn't valid because I don't provide facts? I'm sort of confused between the free opinion and the fact thing.

I'll settle to disagreeing to your facts. That's my invalid opinion.

[Barbara 15,149]

He's already a far better dribbler than ronaldo will be. He's a better passer and has more vision.

All he needs is to maintain direct dribbling into the box and get 20goals 20assists and I'm satisfied.

Not everybody has the determination of ronaldo and messi to score 2 or more every game

tbh what I think he should maintain is the same level throughout most of the season, regardless of how many goals/assists he ends up with. As someone said - I guess it was Bir_CFC - it's too much to ask him to play what he did in December for a whole season because he's still young, inconsistency is part of the package. But sometimes he goes through a few matches contributing with too little except a few dribbles that don't lead to anything concrete. I mean a player of his talent and ability should be able to offer more than a few dribbles in a streak of matches. That's what I hope he improves this season, he's becoming 24 in January, there's still time to polish his game afterwards, but he's been inconsistent imo, I'd rather somewhere between his peak and his average matches at most of the matches rather than 7-8 matches a season when he's unstoppable and then 20 matches where he's okay and 10 matches where he does effectively nothing. Putting it in rating system (a real, fair rating system, not that whoscored bullshit) I'd rather 30 matches rated 8.0, helping the team win - even if it's with the pass before the assist (he doesn't need to assist and score at all times), rather than 7-8 rated 9.5/10, 20 rated 7.0 and 10 rated 6.0. Hazard isn't Ramires... we should have a different standard for him because he's a special player, I can't have the same expectations for Ramires and Hazard. The only players in the team I expect the same as I expect from Hazard are Costa and Cesc - not that they're as talented, but they're too determined and also very good footballers that I think can pave our path to the title more than others. I expect the same from Hazard, the rest of the team isn't as talented as those three, so of course, I won't expect as much from them, but I'm sure some of them will surprise me along the way.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

He is awesome today, very lively.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He's been fantastic. Dribbling left, right and center. And more importantly dribbling into the box