Eden Hazard

[Atholy 1,293]

Nice words on Eden from Thierry Henry:

"On his good days... no one can stop Eden Hazard. He can create chances out of nothing. This is the signature of a special player!"

[DaddysHobby 60]

OK then ... Courtois to win the Ballon d'Or ... 0 goals, 0 assists

[nicol 2]

Bale has only 12 goals , do you know that or not and for Hazard , who causes the penalties , it's him , he dribbles and there is a fault on him ( 3 this season on 5 )

[Rom2013 446]

Bale has only 12 goals , do you know that or not and for Hazard , who causes the penalties , it's him , he dribbles and there is a fault on him ( 3 this season on 5 )

More than Hazard again like all seasons. Last time he was here scored more than 20.

For Bale you use "only 12 in League"... Sanchez has "only 13 goals in League", and Silva 11, Menez has 15 with a lot of penaltys, Callejon has "only 9 goals in League without penaltys", Messi has 32, Ronaldo has 31 Neymar 17, Griezmann 14, Robben 17, etc...

EDIT: Reus 7 goals in 16 league games without penaltys and after a big injury.

The problem of Hazard it's not only that he far from the level of Messi or Ronaldo, it's also that other players that play in similar positions score a consistently more goals than him and in some cases a lot more.

[nicol 2]

He's very far from Messi , Ronaldo , Neymar and Robben , i can't deny that but that's all

[LukakutoStamford 779]

Too much of a FIFA influence in judging players. Take Hazard away and Chelsea is battling for 4th place.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

He's very far from Messi , Ronaldo , Neymar and Robben , i can't deny that but that's all

Troll. He's far away from Messi but he's as good as the remaining 3.

[Rom2013 446]

Troll. He's far away from Messi but he's as good as the remaining 3.

The others are also better, but Ronaldo it's realy incomparable. Neymar and Bale proved it also doing every season what Hazard can't do in one single. And the difference between Hazard and other players like Sanchez and others is slim.

Hazard is a great player, maybe the best we have... bt far from the super star you say he is.

[nicol 2]

for Neymar it's his first season lol

[Gilvorak 3,734]

The others are also better, but Ronaldo it's realy incomparable. Neymar and Bale proved it also doing every season what Hazard can't do in one single. And the difference between Hazard and other players like Sanchez and others is slim.

Hazard is a great player, maybe the best we have... bt far from the super star you say he is.

Watch games instead of obsessing about stats. Hazard is easily better than Bale. He's as good as Neymar, Robben and Ronaldo too.

Ronaldo barely influences games anymore. This isn't 2012.

[nicol 2]

for the ballon d'or , there are only stats

[WNDS 502]

He's very far from Messi , Ronaldo , Neymar and Robben , i can't deny that but that's all

He's still some way off Messi and Ronaldo (and probably Robben as well), but he really isn't 'very far from' Neymar's level. Neymar's attacking stats (goals/assists) ARE better than Hazard's tend to be, but this is because Neymar is a 'finisher', whilst Hazard is an 'initiator'; they are two different types of player and carry out fairly different roles within their teams.

Hazard's technical attributes (ball control, dribbling, long and short passing etc.) are all superior to Neymar's, and he augments these key abilities with his exceptional balance and decent upper-body strength. Hazard is comfortable playing in tight, confined spaces, and is significantly more capable of riding challenges than Neymar is. This means that Hazard is considerably more effective than Neymar at breaking through the opposition's lines in both midfield and wide defensive positions.

Neymar, despite playing in what is nominally the same position as Hazard upon the pitch (LM/LW), plays the role in an entirely different fashion; he is always looking to finish attacking moves, either by getting a shot away, or by providing a square pass/pull-back in the box to a teammate who is in a better position. His dribbling is at it's most effective when he has isolated a member of the opposition back-line in a 1-on-1 situation and has space to run into behind him. He gets into good shooting/finishing positions significantly more frequently than Hazard does, he is a better finisher than Hazard is, he's better at taking direct free-kicks, and he is also faster. In addition to this, he has a superior mental strength to Hazard, and is entirely capable of scoring a goal or two whilst putting in a terrible all-round performance (Hazard rarely seems capable of doing this). This last point is due in part to the pressure he has had to deal with from a very young age as the current 'golden boy' of the greatest historical footballing nation; a pressure far greater than that which Hazard is subjected to as the current 'golden boy' of Belgium, a country of lesser pedigree and with somewhat lesser expectations/demands of it's team and players.

Neymar might well be the 'better'/more effective player of the two at the moment, but Hazard (due to his superior levels of raw technique) has the greater potential; if he can continue to improve his mentality and willingness to take responsibility, then I think he can surpass Neymar.

[Rom2013 446]

Watch games instead of obsessing about stats. Hazard is easily better than Bale. He's as good as Neymar, Robben and Ronaldo too.

Ronaldo barely influences games anymore. This isn't 2012.

This is 2014/2015... for example I don't know what "chances created means" but in those stats we see Hazard creats 2.7 chances per game... multiplied by 29 games he created 78 chances in this season... Cristiano scored 31 goals and assisted 11 a total of 42...just in assists and goals has more than half the chances created by Hazard. Don't say that Hazard is on the level of Cristiano because it makes no sense. Even in the worse moment of Cristiano he is 2 or 3 times better than Hazard ever will be.

I see Crsitiano, Bale, Neymar and Messi a lot... About the 2 Ballon d'Or players it's incomparable... and the other two are more complete players than Hazard and will have a better chance to be the best in the world.

Hazard is really good... but there are other players in the world that are as good or better than him and the over reaction about everything he does it's really unjustified... there are many players doing the same for other teams and some times better.

[nicol 2]

Bale better because he scored more than Hazard when he was at Tottenham ?

[DYC. 7,542]

He's still some way off Messi and Ronaldo (and probably Robben as well), but he really isn't 'very far from' Neymar's level. Neymar's attacking stats (goals/assists) ARE better than Hazard's tend to be, but this is because Neymar is a 'finisher', whilst Hazard is an 'initiator'; they are two different types of player and carry out fairly different roles within their teams.

Hazard's technical attributes (ball control, dribbling, long and short passing etc.) are all superior to Neymar's, and he augments these key abilities with his exceptional balance and decent upper-body strength. Hazard is comfortable playing in tight, confined spaces, and is significantly more capable of riding challenges than Neymar is. This means that Hazard is considerably more effective than Neymar at breaking through the opposition's lines in both midfield and wide defensive positions.

Neymar, despite playing in what is nominally the same position as Hazard upon the pitch (LM/LW), plays the role in an entirely different fashion; he is always looking to finish attacking moves, either by getting a shot away, or by providing a square pass/pull-back in the box to a teammate who is in a better position. His dribbling is at it's most effective when he has isolated a member of the opposition back-line in a 1-on-1 situation and has space to run into behind him. He gets into good shooting/finishing positions significantly more frequently than Hazard does, he is a better finisher than Hazard is, he's better at taking direct free-kicks, and he is also faster. In addition to this, he has a superior mental strength to Hazard, and is entirely capable of scoring a goal or two whilst putting in a terrible all-round performance (Hazard rarely seems capable of doing this). This last point is due in part to the pressure he has had to deal with from a very young age as the current 'golden boy' of the greatest historical footballing nation, a pressure far greater than that which Hazard is subjected to as the current 'golden boy' of Belgium, a country of lesser pedigree and with somewhat lesser expectations/demands of it's team and players.

Neymar might well be the 'better'/more effective player of the two at the moment, but Hazard (due to his superior levels of raw technique) has the greater potential; if he can continue to improve his mentality and willingness to take responsibility, then I think he can surpass Neymar.

What is this? Are you actually analysing the overall game of a player to rate their quality? That's outrageous.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

And the bullshit returns to this thread again. No surprise it was started by a Belgian. You guys don't deserve some of the players you have in your national team, with all due respect.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

And just to add my two cents. The only players Hazard is "some way off" are Messi and Ronaldo, that's it. And that's mostly in terms of goals scored anyway, not quality of performances.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Bale better because he scored more than Hazard when he was at Tottenham ?

It's well worth noting that Bale took 156 shots in the league that season and 225 shots in total and for a total of 26 goals. These are unbelievable amount of shots that most strikers won't even dream of taken.

Hazard has taken 58 shots this season and 68 in total. He took 91 shots in total last season. It's simple common sense that if a player takes more shots, he'll generaly speaking, score more goals. For instance, in Hazard's last season in Lille, he took 121 shots and scored 22 goals in total. Maybe he needs to average more than 2.1 shots per game, but it's also worth noting that he's more of a playmaker first and foremost.

Hazard can't be expected to be the ball carrier and then be averaging 200 + shots a season like Bale, Messi and Ronaldo do. If Hazard starts averaging that many shots, he won't be as effective in the other things he does. That's why I suggested he's moved to the centre, closer to goal, where he can have more shots and less tracking back.

He'll score 5 to maybe 10 more goals a season, but will that make him a better player, us a better team and is it really worth it? At the end of the day, you can't eat your cake and have it to. If some of you can't see that Hazard has become a top 5 player in world football this season, then that's too bad.