Eden Hazard

[meetdoscar 335]

I think he is just going through a rough period as a young player. No goals, no real assists in three games that's poor compared to his standard last season.

[Spyker 27]

Except for his defensive contribution hazard has been quiet meh for some matches now...starting to understand why mourinho wants willian in this team...

[The only place to be 11,313]

Thought he put in an excellent shift last night and loved the way he ran down Valencia. Needs to show more going forward but that will come in time.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He was marked by 2-3 players when going foward. He needs willian to take a couple of them off his back.

I think he links up well with mata more than anyone in our team so far

[Stats 7,136]

He definitely has improved his defensive work rate which Mourinho has helped him with. Had a couple bright sparks going forward and although was not at his best going forward it was United. As the season goes on I am sure he will start playing at his electrifying best. No doubts about it. Has balance, speed, passing ability, just a bit more improvement on finishing/shooting and he will be a complete player.

[Gorando 184]

@EPLStatman

Eden Hazard and Nacer Chadli have created the joint most chances in the Premier League this season (9) #CFC #THFC (@Squawka stats)

even when he is bad he is still among the best

[yorkie 10]

If there is one thing that frustrates me about Hazard right now is the fact that he doesn't get to the byline enough. He's always looking to come inside and not looking to go on the outside and provide us width. We ended up always getting a congested midfield!

That happens when you play without a real CF, Lukaku would of created more depth into the game..

[Stingray 9,441]

It is interesting when you rewatch the game with Eden's performance in mind. Every time he dropped really deep - even coming to the goal area. When we had a break out he often got the ball well on his own half. He chose to play to the CM's a lot, who in turn broke of/slowed down any attack.

It makes me think a lot of Eden (non)performance is due to his tactical instructions. They balance the team defensively, but keeps his distinct threat too far away from the goal. This exemplified by the fact that when he DID get the ball close to goal with Oscar closely, something happened (eg 65th minute where Oscar just couldn't put his foot on that cross). Unfortunately we either didn't get much in that position and when we did, he was double marked the whole time. I keep feeling an in form Mata would have taken advantage of that ...

Ow well .... move on !

[polo 18]

he doen't use his left foot when he has the possibilty(for a centre)

[yuvala 2,167]

I also think that the changes he's going through are because of a different tactic. He's defending much more, and we're not as vulnerable as we used to be.

Also the fact that we don't have a proper striker, so they have like 2-3 men marking Hazard every time.. no need to mark Torres\Ba\Schurrle(when he's a striker).

It might be different with Lukaku upfront, we'll see.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

In games like yesterday when we are playing for a draw and looking to counter. Should start Hazard in the middle. You play him on the wing and they just mark him out of the game.

While Oscar has his qualities he doesn't command as much respect out of the opponents defence as a Mata would. Another reason why they were happy to leave Oscar to mark Eden. They wouldn't do that to Mata. And if they did, well we know what he has done to em.

[Jase 43,479]

That happens when you play without a real CF, Lukaku would of created more depth into the game..

Don't think you can really just put it on the strikers. And this has gone on for awhile now. At the moment, we are just constantly playing through the middle, trying to play intricate passes to open up defences and congest up the midfield. There is not enough width in the team right now to stretch the opposition. No one is getting to the byline, go on the outside of the opposition's defence. When you do that, you are then likely to cause more problems and create more chances through cutbacks and/or crosses for our striker or any midfielders to score. But the thing is, we aren't doing that. If you have noticed, we only won 7 corners in 3 games so far. That is poor. And this issue isn't helped with our current FBs who are dodgy attacking wise.

[Stingray 9,441]

In games like yesterday when we are playing for a draw and looking to counter. Should start Hazard in the middle. You play him on the wing and they just mark him out of the game. While Oscar has his qualities he doesn't command as much respect out of the opponents defence as a Mata would. Another reason why they were happy to leave Oscar to mark Eden. They wouldn't do that to Mata. And if they did, well we know what he has done to em.

Exactly!

[Greyco 143]

Don't think you can really just put it on the strikers. And this has been gone on for awhile now. At the moment, we are just constantly playing through the middle, trying to play intricate passes to open up defences and congest up the midfield. There is not enough width in the team right now to stretch the opposition. No one is getting to the byline, go on the outside of the opposition's defence. When you do that, you are then likely to cause more problems and create more chances through cutbacks and/or crosses for our striker or any midfielders to score. But the thing is, we aren't doing that. If you have noticed, we only won 7 corners in 3 games so far. That is poor. And this issue isn't helped with our current FBs who are dodgy attacking wise.

In modern football it's the fullbacks that provide the width. Yesterday Chelsea was too negative and Cole and Ivanovic hardly pushed high up the field, the few times they did were the best moments in the game for Chelsea.

Thought Hazard wasn't that bad yesterday, just an average day at the office. Was left isolated a lot tho. But when he had the ball, he often did something good with it. The few chances Chelsea had were set up by Hazard with Oscar getting on the end of them.

[Jase 43,479]

In modern football it's the fullbacks that provide the width. Yesterday Chelsea was too negative and Cole and Ivanovic hardly pushed high up the field, the few times they did were the best moments in the game for Chelsea.

Thought Hazard wasn't that bad yesterday, just an average day at the office. Was left isolated a lot tho. But when he had the ball, he often did something good with it. The few chances Chelsea had were set up by Hazard with Oscar getting on the end of them.

That maybe true but it doesn't mean the wide players ahead of them shouldn't be providing the width too and yesterday's game wasn't the first time it has happened. We have seen Hazard causing great damage before when he gets to the byline but he's not doing it enough.