Eden Hazard

[17. Eden Hazard 30]

There's something wrong with those stats, because he was dispossessed quite a few times. I don't blame him -- like all of our attackers, he often had little options, since we were sitting in our half -- but he certainly wasn't dispossessed only once. Sometimes stats can be incomplete.

Yes stats often don't mean much but there's little to no ambiguity about the ones I posted. Dispossessed in this context means "Being tackled by an opponent without attempting to dribble past them" (Whoscored). He lost the ball a few times when trying to dribble past defenders as well but not an abnormal amount of times. Point is he wasn't wasteful by any means yesterday.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I thought he had a very good game. A close second for our MOTM after Azpi. He carried our attack single-handedly for most of the match. He's miles ahead of all of our AMs in terms of end product.

[Styles 9,790]

I agree that we have no reason to complain about Hazard's performance, because we played so defensively yesterday, but he's been hardly carrying most of our attacking threat this season, unlike last season. That's an exaggeration. Costa and Fabregas have been doing their share of attacking this season and without them we certainly wouldn't be topping the table now. Hazard has been as important as them, but he's not doing all the work this season.

Yesterday's performance shows that in the big games that 1) Costa is going to be isolated 2) Fabregas is going to sit deep and play a disciplined role 3) Ramires will play as a defensive winger.

Meanwhile Hazard has to carry the ball, be our biggest offensive threat, run the entire length of the field with the ball to relieve pressure...oh and don't forget to cover the fullback (who gives him virtually no support when going forward) when out of possession, thanks.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Yesterday's performance shows that in the big games that 1) Costa is going to be isolated 2) Fabregas is going to sit deep and play a disciplined role 3) Ramires will play as a defensive winger.

Meanwhile Hazard has to carry the ball, be our biggest offensive threat, run the entire length of the field with the ball to relieve pressure...oh and don't forget to cover the fullback (who gives him virtually no support when going forward) when out of possession, thanks.

Hazard was pretty isolated, like most of our players, and largely ineffective because of our tactics -- we couldn't commit players to support him in attack. That's why our strategy in big games needs to change, IMO.

[laeth 527]

Hazard was pretty isolated, like most of our players, and largely ineffective because of our tactics -- we couldn't commit players to support him in attack. That's why our strategy in big games needs to change, IMO.

Last season's results in big-games says we really shouldn't change. We had a unbelievable record against our rivals last season, why change?

[Daniel1980 1,425]

Last season's results in big-games says we really shouldn't change. We had a unbelievable record against our rivals last season, why change?

There's always room for improvement, IMO. I already expressed by opinion on that in Jose's thread.

[laeth 527]

There's always room for improvement, IMO. I already expressed by opinion on that in Jose's thread.

That's fair enough; for me as long as we don't lose away and win at home (against top four anyways), all is well in the world.

[Tchekitchek 37]

Seems like Kompany knows that Hazard hates defenders rushing on him; everytimes Kompany plays with Hazard, he is very aggressive and tough-tackling, instead of being in "anticipation". I really feel that it was kinda the key to stop Chelsea; just constantly make a foul on Hazard to stop the flow of Chelsea attacks by rushing toward him like a rugby player. The difference being that this season, creativity can pass through Fabregas.

[remains of the day 564]

The comment about Cesc and Costa carrying our attack is interesting - couldn't 'disagree more with it. Sure they've been key players for us but it's hazard that has actually been the catalyst in the majority of our attacks. It was his dribble that opened up the space for our equalizing goal against Burnley; against Leicester we struggled in the opening mins when hazard was largely anonymous but once he grew into the game we immediately became more threatening, exactly the same thing happened against Swansea, and against Schalke and City it was Hazard that created both goals. Cesc and Costa have gotten the headlines but this kid has been a massive influence in our attacks.

[iseah100 5,612]

Even with the new attacking talents, he is still asked to carry the team. Doing a damn good job this year too.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

The comment about Cesc and Costa carrying our attack is interesting - couldn't 'disagree more with it. Sure they've been key players for us but it's hazard that has actually been the catalyst in the majority of our attacks. It was his dribble that opened up the space for our equalizing goal against Burnley; against Leicester we struggled in the opening mins when hazard was largely anonymous but once he grew into the game we immediately became more threatening, exactly the same thing happened against Swansea, and against Schalke and City it was Hazard that created both goals. Cesc and Costa have gotten the headlines but this kid has been a massive influence in our attacks.

Read carefully. I didn't say Costa and Cesc were carrying our attack. I said Hazard wasn't the only one carrying our attack. He played an important part in most of our attacks, but so did Costa and Cesc, and without Costa and Cesc we wouldn't be where we are, and it's wrong to say Hazard is still doing all the offensive work this season, which is clearly not the case. The trio of Cesc-Hazard-Costa were essential to us this season, all three of them, in different ways.

[DYC. 7,542]

Yesterday's performance shows that in the big games that 1) Costa is going to be isolated 2) Fabregas is going to sit deep and play a disciplined role 3) Ramires will play as a defensive winger.

Meanwhile Hazard has to carry the ball, be our biggest offensive threat, run the entire length of the field with the ball to relieve pressure...oh and don't forget to cover the fullback (who gives him virtually no support when going forward) when out of possession, thanks.

If people expect Eden to shine in big games, the game plan has to change. No player in the world can produce top performances with little to no support.

Football is really simple when it comes to these matters. If you play offensive football, offensive players shine and defensive players don't look as good. If you play defensive football, defensive players shine and offensive players don't look as good.

Barcelona, Bayern, Real defenders get a lot of stick but they have acres of space behind them and don't receive a great deal of protection. I can't imagine Terry and Cahill in such circumstances. Their attacking players look absolutely fantastic though.

And personally I thought Hazard did well considering the circumstances. Costa and Willian looked much worse, which was not surprising.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

I think Jose needs to be more creative in the ways we use him. Look at the amount of roles Klopp deploys Reus in or Rodgers with Sterling at Liverpool. At Lille under Garcia, he played a variety of roles that kept defenses and managers guessing, limited the amount of defensive duties he was given and gave him as much space as possible to maximize his gifts.

Unless you have a Bale, Robben, Neymar etc on the other side of the pitch you don't want your best player tracking back to the byline so much. I mean we still don't even play an attacking fullback to offer him as much options as possible. It's still, give Hazard the ball and lets see what he can conjure up.

[remains of the day 564]

Read carefully. I didn't say Costa and Cesc were carrying our attack. I said Hazard wasn't the only one carrying our attack. He played an important part in most of our attacks, but so did Costa and Cesc, and without Costa and Cesc we wouldn't be where we are, and it's wrong to say Hazard is still doing all the offensive work this season, which is clearly not the case. The trio of Cesc-Hazard-Costa were essential to us this season, all three of them, in different ways.

I guess it depends on your definition of "carrying our attack." He's not doing all the offensive work but there were times where costa and cesc had no influence in the game until Hazard did something that allowed them to get a foothold in the game. I don't think half of the assists Cesc has made so far this season would have come about without Hazard's contributions. He's been such a huge catalyst and it's not an exaggeration ( to use your words) to say that he's been carrying us. That's not to say that there aren't other key players but Hazard' has been pivotal in these past 6 games.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

I guess it depends on your definition of "carrying our attack." He's not doing all the offensive work but there were times where costa and cesc had no influence in the game until Hazard did something that allowed them to get a foothold in the game. I don't think half of the assists Cesc has made so far this season would have come about without Hazard's contributions. He's been such a huge catalyst and it's not an exaggeration ( to use your words) to say that he's been carrying us. That's not to say that there aren't other key players but Hazard' has been pivotal in these past 6 games.

I think you should read the comment I was responding to. You're taking my words out of context. The comment I was responding to said that most of our attacking threat is carried by Hazard this season and without him we'd be nowhere, which I can't agree with, despite being Eden's huge fan. He's been very influential, but other players haven't been any less influential. Hazard could have made 20 dribbles in a game, giving other players space to use, but if the final ball or finishing lacks, we wouldn't have gotten any points for Hazard's dribbles. I'm not disputing that Hazard is very important for us. I'm saying the other two players are as important if not more. Saying that Hazard is doing most of the work is strange, to say the least. All three of them contributed to our points. All three of them were important, in different ways. It's not a competition.