Eden Hazard | "It's time to enjoy life drinking beers"

Adisa

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For somebody that so badly wanted his move to Real Madrid he sure doesn't seem to take it seriously.
It's disrespectful if you ask me. You pay obscene amount for a player and he doesn't have the decency to turn up fit.
 

izec

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The problem was known before, they still took the plunge. Should have bought him from Lille, but they had Ronaldo on the left.

Big money signings for players at/past their prime don't pay off usually
 

Kentonio

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Wonder when they'll turn on him and start dishing out the hate like they do with Bale, as once ok, but 2 yrs running showing up looking like Billy Bunter is a total lack of respect.
If they turn on him he could be out quickly. Eden is one of those players who plays well when he's happy, he's not the 'I'll show the feckers!' kind of guy (based on his time at Chelsea anyway).
 

giorno

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Wonder when they'll turn on him and start dishing out the hate like they do with Bale, as once ok, but 2 yrs running showing up looking like Billy Bunter is a total lack of respect.
About 2 weeks ago i'd say
 

DWelbz19

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But did this happen at Chelsea too? I have a very different impression of the Chelsea Eden and the Real Madrid Eden so far.

And whats that with the frogs and scorpions btw?
Hazard was always like this at Chelsea. It’s just he was comprehensively their best player and would have the game time and fan support to play through his patches of form.

It’s the fable of how the scorpion wishes to cross the river and can only do so with on the frogs back. The frog accepts but only on the condition that the scorpion doesn’t sting the frog on the back. The scorpion agrees, but stings the frog anyway. Moral is that the scorpion will always sting the frog because that’s what it’s nature is — even though by stinging the frog both the scorpion and frog will die.

The analogy @duffer was making is that Hazard has always had this nature — he’s never wanted to push himself to be the very best; he’s a great player and he’s happy with that, which is mostly natural talent. There’s that one specific quote that always rings in my mind where he said something about how he has no interest in the Ballon d’Or because he has 3 of them at home (his children). A lovely touching statement, but ultimately shows his desire was never to be the very best.
 

Orc

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Loved him to bits and he's one of my 3 favorite ever Chelsea players. But it certainly appears we've come out the better in this deal. We've been able to completely overhaul our team with young talent mostly because of his fee.

I wouldn't really worry about him showing up out of shape. He did that all the time here and quickly trimmed down. He's clearly one of those people whose weight fluctuates very easily.

If he stays fit he'll be awesome again. I want to see him do well.
 

carvajal

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He's getting a lot of stick these days. I imagine it will be routine from now on.
More concerning than his weight seems to be his ankle, which continues to bother him.
If he does not play good games at the beginning, it will start a debate about why he is still in the line up while Vini is on the bench.
 

Bebestation

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Someone said it perfectly already -

When the team is built to get the best around Eden Hazard then that's when he will prosper.

When he is just a side profile of many world class players told to do 11 world class things he doesn't look that good.

Same thing happened with Coutinho's spells at Liverpool vs when he goes to Barcelona.

His weight is probably an issue on top of the fact that the team isnt buit around him so he has lost some motivation.
 

Zehner

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He's getting a lot of stick these days. I imagine it will be routine from now on.
More concerning than his weight seems to be his ankle, which continues to bother him.
If he does not play good games at the beginning, it will start a debate about why he is still in the line up while Vini is on the bench.
Have there been any attempts to fit both into one line up?

Vinicius, Hazard and Rodrygo really is a bit of an overkill on the left wing.
 

carvajal

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Have there been any attempts to fit both into one line up?

Vinicius, Hazard and Rodrygo really is a bit of an overkill on the left wing.
They played a post-covid match, with Vinicius on the left and Hazard in the middle. Hazard was very lost. The experiment did not go well.
Although Rodrygo has played something on the left, I think he will have to compete with Asensio on the right.
 

Irrational.

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I said this the day he signed for Madrid: Chelsea are laughing all the way to the bank. Absolute daylight robbery for a vastly overrated player who only thrived because he was the big fish in a small pond and the whole team was built around him.

Full credit to Chelsea for milking Madrid for every last penny. I have no sympathy for that circus. Match made in heaven.
 

Untd55

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Honestly, I think he has just gone into retirement mode. When I saw him play against City, he looked like he couldn't be bothered. He didn't try to dribble a player once during that match.

Great player, but turning out to be a bad signing for Real Madrid.
 

Grande

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Hazard was always like this at Chelsea. It’s just he was comprehensively their best player and would have the game time and fan support to play through his patches of form.

It’s the fable of how the scorpion wishes to cross the river and can only do so with on the frogs back. The frog accepts but only on the condition that the scorpion doesn’t sting the frog on the back. The scorpion agrees, but stings the frog anyway. Moral is that the scorpion will always sting the frog because that’s what it’s nature is — even though by stinging the frog both the scorpion and frog will die.

The analogy @duffer was making is that Hazard has always had this nature — he’s never wanted to push himself to be the very best; he’s a great player and he’s happy with that, which is mostly natural talent. There’s that one specific quote that always rings in my mind where he said something about how he has no interest in the Ballon d’Or because he has 3 of them at home (his children). A lovely touching statement, but ultimately shows his desire was never to be the very best.
Thanks!

Interesting to interpret in relation to his name ...

of course, a man who loves his kids more than anything, has three of them, and still has a couple of league wins, a European trophy and a WC final to his name hasn’t done too bad for himself in life, one could argue.
 

Santoryo

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Been a shocking transfer so far.
His attitude is a disgrace.
No offense but people love throwing this word so casually. You see it on the Caf and the likes of Gary Neville labeling everything and everyone a disgrace. I think people need to pump some break at times.
 

Acheron

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He needs to do better this season, otherwise it's going to get nasty for him if the fans turn on him.
 

Adisa

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No offense but people love throwing this word so casually. You see it on the Caf and the likes of Gary Neville labeling everything and everyone a disgrace. I think people need to pump some break at times.
I don't think it's an extreme description. I could understand it happening at Chelsea where he is the club's best player and the fans worshipped the ground he walked on.
Here, the club have paid a maximum of £135m for him, he has it all to prove then he turns up overweight two summers in a row. It doesn't speak well of him.
 

Zehner

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They played a post-covid match, with Vinicius on the left and Hazard in the middle. Hazard was very lost. The experiment did not go well.
Although Rodrygo has played something on the left, I think he will have to compete with Asensio on the right.
Do you think Zidane will give it another try? I'd love both in one line up and Hazard on the 10 could definitely work in genrral, IMO.
 

JPRouve

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But did this happen at Chelsea too? I have a very different impression of the Chelsea Eden and the Real Madrid Eden so far.

And whats that with the frogs and scorpions btw?
He has always been like that, it was the case with Lille. There is even that one time where he left a game for Belgium, after being subbed off, to eat burgers. When he retires Hazard is going to balloon like no other player has.
 

Skills

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He has always been like that, it was the case with Lille. There is even that one time where he left a game for Belgium, after being subbed off, to eat burgers. When he retires Hazard is going to balloon like no other player has.
Sneijder?

 

carvajal

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Do you think Zidane will give it another try? I'd love both in one line up and Hazard on the 10 could definitely work in genrral, IMO.
I imagine so, but how?
I don't know if in the long term and stronger teams Zidane will want to play with two in the middle,as he did in that occasion(4231 against Mallorca)

If he plays 4411, with Hazard behind Benzema, he takes Valverde out of position, moving him to the right, which darkened him a lot in the post covid.
It could work perhaps with Kroos, Casemiro, Valverde+ Hazard+ two forwards, but I don't see it as a solid plan for Zidane either.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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Hazard has been used plenty of times as a #10, but he just never plays well there.

Also I'm pretty sure he complained when Sarri used him there too. He said he prefers operating from the left.
 

Nani Nana

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At some stage we will have to talk about Real Madrid's absurd standards. Bale scores winning goals in a Champions League final, twice, and will apparently go down as an average squad player.

Cristiano Ronaldo left and it was almost as if no one cared. Raul their best ever scorer left without fanfare and almost received more deference when later parting ways with Schalke 04.

Not saying that makes Hazard a good player for them, just that their standards are absurdly high.
 
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Bwuk

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He was never worth the fee, and the fact they’ve got so many young players ready for the first team, I reckon they’ll try to move him on in summer 2021.
 

MalcolmTucker

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No offense but people love throwing this word so casually. You see it on the Caf and the likes of Gary Neville labeling everything and everyone a disgrace. I think people need to pump some break at times.
It is a disgrace with considering the amount of money he is getting paid. Plenty of people have year round body fat of ~12% without being able to afford personal chefs who can cook delicious healthy food or a full gym in their house and without a professional obligation to do so. Especially when he has come from a disappointing season after his club has paid an eyewatering amount of money for him.
 

simplyared

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Our own Roy Keane singled him out for having the wrong attitude during his time at Chelsea. People think Keano is over the top but he sees things that others don't.
 

GatoLoco

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He's getting a lot of stick these days. I imagine it will be routine from now on.
More concerning than his weight seems to be his ankle, which continues to bother him.
If he does not play good games at the beginning, it will start a debate about why he is still in the line up while Vini is on the bench.
He went under surgeon in March, if he's still feeling pain in September then I'd lose all hope already. Smells of Kaka in 2009 and 2010 to me. He depends on having his best shape to shine, he is not recovering well from injuries and is not young anymore.

On the top of that if he doesn't know how important reducing body fat is for a player his age at this stage, I don't think there is much that can be done. He was criticized last season and he's repeating the same errors again. The lack of awareness is very concerning, I just hope Zidane knows better.