Eden Hazard

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

Link?

I saw it on SSN, tried looking for a link, no luck though.

[Igi26 346]

Honestly, there is something wrong with the people on here

For me he is already our player and will be confirmed sooner or later.

[daBlackMamba7 174]

If you guys want the links, you need to go back to like page 400 or something....Some people flick through pages and end up sounding ignorant in the end....SMDH...He is signing, check his twitter....Or just type Eden Hazard on twitter and check the pictures on the side and also check who he is following....Damn people

[jjd06e 37]

For me he is already our player and will be confirmed sooner or later.

Agreed, he is signing Chelsea kits, wrote on his twitter he will be signing with Champions of Europe, every major media source has reported it...I dont know what else people want.

I can understand a little hesitation on the Hulk front since he hasn't said anything but Hazard seems to be nothing to worry about.

[Dec 33]

I can confirm he is following Chelsea, Mata and Luiz on Twitter and can provide a picture if needed.

Also I remember reading on Sky Sports they had an interview with Mignolet (Sunderland and Belgian goalkeeper) and he mentioned Hazard signing for Chelsea with our name involved and not just "Champions of Europe".

[RollingPapers 194]

He is also following Wiz Khalifa :wub:

[The Big Drog 1,110]

A fair and balanced article on Hazard's performance against England, from The Guardian.

Eden Hazard's assignment, on his first appearance in a senior fixture on an English pitch, was to confront two men with whom, at the start of next season, he should be sharing a dressing room. Aided by a tactical plan that made England's attack look medieval, he gave John Terry and Gary Cahill plenty of problems in the opening minutes.

Hazard is not yet a Chelsea player. The medical examination has still to take place before Roman Abramovich can sign the cheque that will deposit £32m in the coffers of Lille. But after being in receipt of advances from the two Manchester clubs and Arsenal, the 21-year-old Belgian prodigy appears to have put an end to a very public courtship by choosing to join the champions of Europe. He will be expected to inspire the kind of flamboyant football the club's owner hopes to be watching as they mount a defence of their trophy, by contrast with the brave but dour stuff with which they won it.

From the kick-off, Hazard took up the centre-forward position, which was a surprise since he measures just over 5ft 7in. Behind him, in line astern, were the 6ft 4in Marouane Fellaini of Everton and Fulham's Moussa Dembélé, with Dries Mertens of PSV Eindhoven on the right and Kevin Mirallas of Olympiakos on the left. The plan, it became clear, was for Hazard, Fellaini and Dembélé to interchange on the vertical axis, occasionally venturing wide when the two nimble wide players moved inside.

An interesting and novel formation, it demonstrated thought and originality on the part of Marc Wilmots, Belgium's new manager, who was promoted to take over from Georges Leekens a fortnight ago. Wilmots was selecting a team for only the second time at this level, following last week's 2-2 draw with Montenegro.

Half an hour into this match the spectator could only feel that if there was a golden generation in show at Wembley, it was not England's. For Belgium, the failure to qualify for the Euro 2012 finals under Leekens must have been only slightly less traumatic than a similar experience four years ago for their hosts. From 1972, when Belgian football belatedly embraced professionalism, they reached the quarter-finals of four successive European championships, and in 1980 they made it all the way to the final, where they were beaten by West Germany.

They were also present at six successive World Cups between 1982 and 2002, and the squads of 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 featured Enzo Scifo, the Belgian player probably closest in style to Hazard: a deft, perceptive playmaker, a couple of inches taller than his successor in the No 10 shirt but of similar gifts and instincts.

There were moments in the opening passages when Belgium's five forward players seemed to be toying with England, passing the ball to and fro across the face of the home team's penalty area while searching for the glimmer of an opening for the final thrust. The image of bright, progressive football was tarnished in the 17th minute, however, when Mertens stupidly pushed Cahill into Joe Hart as he chased a through ball, costing the Chelsea defender any further involvement in the match.

Hazard's skill with the dead ball came to the fore in the 26th minute. An inswinging free-kick from the No 10 caused problems for the defenders and was touched out for a corner on the right, which Hazard hit long to Guillaume Gillet, waiting beyond the far post to apply a header that was eventually cleared.

That the Chelsea players in the England defence were not about to treat their prospective team-mate lightly was emphasised when Ashley Cole chased Hazard down just after the half-hour mark and halted him with a painful trip.

By now it was apparent that, for all their delightful approach work, Belgium lacked a cutting edge and England's goal, beautifully worked by Steven Gerrard, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck, changed the complexion of the match. Belgium's interplay was no longer as smooth and assured, and the 25-yard drive that Hazard sent narrowly over the bar shortly before the interval seemed an indication of changed priorities.

The No 10 was quiet until, just past the hour, he measured a left-foot shot from 20 yards that Hart caught comfortably enough. A minute later he and Fellaini exchanged passes inside the penalty area, the goalkeeper dropping on the Everton man's clipped effort.

The arrival of Romelu Lukaku, yet another Abramovich employee, offered Hazard a further glimpse of his future at club level, and the two combined in the 76th minute as the burly 19-year-old ran on to a square pass and unleashed a shot blocked by Cole. The England left-back was in action again a few minutes later, once more required to get his body in the way of a shot, this time from Fellaini after one more exchange of passes with Hazard.

If the prospective £32m man had failed to produce the sort of lethal opening familiar to the fans of Lille, then at least he had demonstrated to any watching Stamford Bridge season-ticket holders that he is more than capable of forming a constructive partnership with Juan Mata, Ramires and Fernando Torres as Chelsea get their rebuilding programme under way. Whoever their manager turns out to be, he will be pleased with what he saw.

[zolayes 14,489]

fair analysis

[jjd06e 37]

Not to mention that Lampard has commented on the signing.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1082962/frank-lampard-delighted-with-eden-hazard-addition-at-chelsea?cc=5901

There is plenty of evidence that this is all but done. Dont get all the freak outs on here still

[fAnta 107]

Hazard was out of position today but displayed virtuoso characteristics. Very impressive could've easily had 3 assist today. England look poor though Belgium didn't penetrate too strongly until Lukaku came on as a striker in some form causing more problems. It's a shame we're going to be missing this team in the Euros it really is. They have some exciting player. Is it true Gerrard got MOTM I didn't see after game. That would be disgrace if it is.

[fAnta 107]

Hazard himself said he's signing for the European champions, he was pictured signing a Chelsea shirt for a fan, SSN showed video footage of a fan welcoming him to Chelsea and Hazard replying thank you. He's also following Chelsea FC, Mata & Luiz twitter. Hint much

So stop with the negativity!

I use as signature

[Kojo 4,676]

I'm so pissed off, i was waiting for Saturday for ages, and then it turns out Hulk and Hazard haven't even signed...

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

The Telegraph also wrote a fair article:

Having talked the talk over the last few weeks – with his Twitter teasing, his declarations and very public courting from a host of Premier League clubs – Hazard walked the walk. He was, on occasions, a class apart from England.

Playing as a ‘false No 9’, the role taken with such accomplished élan by Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Belgium’s No 10 showed why comparisons with the Argentinian are premature but not outlandish. Technically, tactically with speed of thought and flight of foot, he provided numerous problems for his opponents.

In a sense, this was the perfect workout for England and for the Chelsea-dominated defence – even right-back Glen Johnson used to play for the club – fielded by manager Roy Hodgson. It would appear to be the combination the manager is heading towards when he puts his team out against France in that first Euro 2012 group game in just eight days’ time.

England lost one of those players, Gary Cahill, early on after a clash with Joe Hart when he was pushed into the goalkeeper, but they also, at times, lost their sense of equilibrium. For all the defensive rigour and team shape demanded by Hodgson, this England were too rigid, too formulaic and not able to comfortably deal with the fluidity of their opponents whose crime was to lack a cutting edge.

Like England’s forthcoming opponents France, with Franck Ribéry, and Sweden, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Belgians possessed a ‘special player’ in Hazard. How would England cope? The Belgium coach Marc Wilmots initially set the 21 year-old in that relatively unfamiliar position of being the furthest forward. It was the first time he had played there for his country but he took to it with ease, interchanging across the front-line and dropping off to damaging effect.

They call it playing ‘between the lines’ and it is the most dangerous place to play. Unfortunately England are short of players who can fulfil that function and despite Hodgson’s protestations, they do not appear to be encouraged to do so either with this approach.

It remains a very flat 4-4-2 so when Hazard played up through the middle he was dealt with easily by John Terry — with one strong challenge early on — but when he slipped out wide he skipped around first Johnson and then Ashley Cole. Moments later Cole, as a form of retaliation maybe, hacked him down. Welcome to Chelsea, Eden.

Hazard’s danger had been recognised even before the game kicked off. His name was roundly booed when it was read out but he brushed that aside with an air of a young man who knows how good he is. In movement and in possession he exuded that sense of confidence and the words of his now former Lille team-mate, Joe Cole, rang true. “Hazard is different class,” Cole said. “He’s still only 21 and has definitely got another few gears to go up. He’s got the same attitude as Wayne Rooney at that age – he’s fearless. He knows how good he is.”

In style, even in gait and appearance, Cole may indeed be the closest England possess to Hazard, although he is not as quick and does not move the ball as intelligently as when the Belgian opened his opponents up with a wall-pass to Marouane Fellaini or delivered a superb weighted pass into the path of Dries Mertens.

England went ahead but it was hugely flattering. In fairness, Belgium lacked that goal threat and paid for it, just as they had in not qualifying for Euro 2012 and although Hazard took to his new role, he was more effective when he dropped deeper. His team needed another striker but it was a problem position for them as it has been for England.

That lack of a finisher was shown early in the second half, when Hazard teed up Fellaini, after he again ran at the England defence, only for the midfielder to shoot weakly at Hart. Again the weight of pass had created the opportunity.

As prettily as they played, Belgium struggled to get in behind England. That was partly because Hodgson’s tactics meant his defence, in particular, dropped very deep while Scott Parker appeared to be struggling for fitness and the rest of the midfield was overly concerned about stopping their opponents who patently dominated possession and used the ball more cleverly.

England’s approach to the forthcoming European championships is clear. They will sit back, they will protect their goal, soak up pressure and even allow their opponents to take more possession — and then try and counter quickly and directly.

Belgium altered things by pushing Fellaini furthest forward and allowed Hazard to be the team’s creative hub. However, Hazard’s and Belgium’s neat build-up play continued to go unrewarded.England became increasingly stoic and the only criticism of Hazard might be a concern over whether he has the physical strength to break down such rugged defending. That will be the hope that England take with them to Poland when they prepare to face other special players such as Ribéry and Ibrahimovic.It won’t be pretty but it might be effective. Hazard, meanwhile, has the capacity to be both.

Even Dail Fail were pretty fair:

His style is more Joe Cole than Luka Modric but Eden Hazard did everything he could to prove his worth at Wembley.

The stats added up for the attacking midfielder in his first performance after saying he is joining Chelsea from Lille, too, but an end result was missing:

Hazard took 90 touches in his 90-minute appearance, 27 more than the busiest England player.

Attempted and completed more passes than any other player - 62 of 71 on target.

Fired the most shots - with two on target and two wayward.

Created six chances as he roamed around the England half.

The Mirror on the other hand:

Hazard warning: Wonderkid fails to shine at Wembley

The title says it all, they are a bunch of clueless idiots.

[Dec 33]

It is jubilee weekend and both Hazard and Hulk are on International duty. Hazard played today so unless it was going to be done after the match then of course he wouldn't sign today (by this time it would be about 9 and too late to call a press conference), Hulk is also with Brazil and expected to play for Brazil against Mexico tomorrow in Dallas, USA.

[Dec 33]

What did you expect? Both are on international duty and for all we know haven't got permission from their countries to speak with the club. Hulk is currently in Dallas, USA and expected to play against Mexico today at 8:00pm BST, while Hazard was playing at 5:15pm BST yesterday so wouldn't have gotten to Chelsea until about 8pm and that is too late to call a press conference even without doing a medical.

Edit: Sorry didn't think my other post came though so I wrote this one, my apologies.