This also.
Eden Hazard | "It's time to enjoy life drinking beers"
- Thread starter Samid
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No one has ever called David Silva the best player after Messi and Ronaldo No one ever. That is part of the overrating
If youre doing something good, there will be a stat to show it. How highly do you rate St Maximin?
An attacker had a good game without a goal, an assist a key pass not even a shot on target. So what was he actually doing on the field?
Stats or it didn't happen.
Winning huge swathes of territory by retaining the ball and being fouled to relieve pressure on a defense under siege?
Or do you actually think all the nuances of football can be completely captured via statistics?
So perhaps you should concede that you are hardly an authority on how good he was if you didn't watch ~85%+ of his matches?
So if a player loses the the ball every time he gets it but the scores a tap in the 90th minute he had a good game?.
Thats not what im saying, People claim Hazard was inconsistent, didn't get enough G/A didn't perform in the CL. Yet everyone loves David Silva but dont use the same metrics when judging him.
The underlying metrics all universally point to him being bonafide world class.
Even in 15/16 he was creating over two chances a game.
If you read carefully you'll see I never tried to diminish his exploits against West Ham or Stoke, because I was talking about the CL.
Yes and if you take a step back you'll see that I am discussing the (apparently far-fetched) alternative reality where the CL isn't the end-all be-all of determining player quality.
Hazard played his prime in a team where he was the best attacking player by a fecking mile. Is it beyond the realms of comprehension to suggest that better sides in the CL could take more risks and use more players to stop him because his teammates were mediocre?
I do admire the way Bale and Hazard took Real Madrid for an absolute ride. Hazard did nothing there but took their money while Bale was openly using them as a training ground for international duty for years.
What will you say about an attacker for your team lacking in goals assists key passes and shots on target just does what you posted above
Forgive me, but I'm more interested in this reality.
Haaland vs Leipzig 7 touches 5 goals. Guess who was the best player on the field? Football is an output game
David Silva for most part plays in midfield as part of the midfield 3, Hazard in attack as part of the front 3. So they have different demands of them. Attackers are judged by goals. If an attacker is having the same goals output as a midfielder then he isnt doing enough
Which happened to be the 6yrs stretch where Chelsea was very terrible in the CL, First year crashed out of the groups. Made the semi final 1 time, others got their asses handed to them by everyone who cared even 10men PSG. Immediately he left they won.
If my team is winning like Belgium did I'd be fecking thrilled?
Got it. So Jorginho was the 3rd best player in the world in 2021 because CL performances mean everything, Ballon d'Or voters focus on CL performances and therefore are correct, etc.
Let's go year by year, if you insist:
12/13: Criticizing Hazard as a 21 year old who joined 3 months earlier is a bit much, but sure. Would definitely put this down to Di Matteo (spoiler alert) not actually having a clue what he was doing since the win the year before was more or less managed by our senior core of players. Won the EL for what it's worth
13/14: Made the semis, lost to Atletico Madrid. Mourinho played Azpilicueta at left wing for the second knockout leg for some reason
14/15: Mourinho had the team play like cowards from the jump going for 0-0. Never went for the win even against 10 men. Hazard probably could have done better, still scored a penalty at least
15/16: Hazard was hurt most of the year, basically a write-off
16/17: Not in the CL (see above)
17/18: Tie vs Barca was lost in the first leg when Willian hit the post 3 times. Tie was especially lost when Courtois the snake let a comically easy goal through in the 3rd minute in the second leg. Don't know how you fault Hazard for this...?
18/19: Not in the CL, won the EL
Feels pretty harsh to say he was terrible when he had far fewer opportunities to play in the CL than you'd think given he spent 7 years at Chelsea. Even Willian as referenced elsewhere has more than 1000 extra minutes in the CL than Hazard does.
That's not true at all, David Silva was always attacker, either as attacking mid or right winger.
Right. I don't think I have to explain to anyone that the WC and EC have a similar (or better) standing as the CL. Fortunately for this discussions Hazard largely maintained a consistent level between all three of them.
I used the word "largely" for a reason.
Right winger? Are we talking about the Same David Silva or you meant Bernardo?
Under Pep, Silva played in a 4-3-3 and was always part of the midfield 3.
Is it because you've swilled too much haterade?
Looking at the WCs and Euros for Belgium for Hazard:
2014 WC - lost in QFs to finalists (and obviously better side) Argentina
2016 Euros - lost to Wales in QFs. This is the one to hold against him - but at the same time Marc Wilmots is perhaps the worst manager I've ever seen at any Euros ever, and he willingly chose to play Jordan Lukaku and Jason Denayer in a back 4.
2018 WC - Hazard won silver ball, finished 3rd place
2020 Euros - Hazard injured, doesn't play
2022 WC - Hazard is a shell of himself physically and can barely play
Again, hardly the CV of a regular choker?
I can't tell if you're purposely being dense or you just forgot what was posted. We are talking about levels, as in Messi and Ronaldo on level, then Hazard falling in a level below, presumably with another group of players. Your response is just a lazy strawman that breaks this down to useless numerical rankings. There is nothing crazy about thinking Hazard (2X FIFA Pro Team of the Year) was in a level directly below Messi and Ronaldo.
Got to admire kaiser's dedication though: 150 posts belittling Hazard is a lot of belittling 
I bet you're the type that would have switched Firmino for Lukaku if you were Liverpool manager a few years ago.
David Silva played before Pep, he played as RW for Spain too.
Even under Pep it was very aggressive 4-1-4-1 with both KdB and David Silva as AMs.
Was Belgium actually winning? Maybe they would have won if their captain and attacker was shooting more rather than hugging the ball and drawing fouls
Jorginhos performance in Euros and CL got him that award. Jorginho was UEFA men player of the year
Hazard as the marquee signing did what in that campaign? Nothing
Why is Azpi at LB an excuse when he played LB for the entire season?
Our best attacker playing vs 10men scored a penalty. Kudos. Player of the year worthy
Was he? He played over 3000minutes in 15/16 in all competitions
16/17: Not in the CL (see above)
While Willian was hitting the post 3 times, What was Hazard their best attacker doing BTW? Okay wining fouls, holding balls. Seems those don't make teams win as much as scoring and assisting
Actually Willian played the same CL minutes for Chelsea as Hazard had for Chelsea. Willian had extra minutes from Shaktar.
All those excuses can be written for any player who failed at the top. Pick any player and we can do this same exercise
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Firmino was making their attack play better and helping Salah get more goals which led to the team dominating Europe
Hazard not so much, Those ball holding, drawing fouls didnt help his team
Our manager for of that season confirmed he was.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...d-s-dip-injury-best-insists-Guus-Hiddink.html
You've been banging on about how stat padding is the be all and end all, don't move the goalposts!
Is Stat not the all be all and end all. There is a reason why Salah was winning POTY, Mane making TOTY and not Firmino. I guess those goals really matter
He played over 3000 minutes.
One season Injury, One reason Dimatteo, 1 season Azpi at LB, 1 season Mourinho, 1 season Willian hitting post
TBH I havent seen a player who gets more excuses than Hazard
Yes and he was playing through a hip injury, as per comments by Guus Hiddink, who's word I'd trust over yours, no offense.
Yes? They scored twice in the first 30 minutes.
And 3rd in the Ballon d'Or. Which has been cited as an unimpeachable process.
The team was completely overhauled post CL win, but ok. If Chelsea as a whole were dependent on a 21 year old making a difference 3 months after arriving (which could well have been the case), that's on Chelsea and not on Hazard. He was genuinely excellent in the EL (again obviously a lower standard of competition but once he'd settled).
Left wing, not left back. Both Azpilicueta and Cole played down our left for god knows what reason.
Yes he was - and this was the crux of the issue. Mourinho kept playing him even though he had a chronic hip problem that hampered him significantly because Mourinho wanted to keep his job and he had no attacking plan beyond "Hazard does stuff". Once Hazard took an extended break from playing after Mourinho was fired and came back for the last month of the year, he was right back to his best (see that iconic goal vs. Tottenham to seal the title for Leicester).
Hazard assisted Willian's goal and assisted two of the post strikes?
This is a good point - should have filtered. Doing so however completely eliminates any advantage Willian had in terms of G+A in the CL versus Hazard, however.
Isn't it curious how every season had an excuse of why Hazard failed and they all had to do with someone or something else, Never Hazard himself. Just like his CL entire career
Yeah it is super curious why a player who was a one-man attack who played for conservative managers without cohesive attacking structures for his entire prime struggled against teams who could set up to specifically stop him with limited downside given the quality of his attacking teammates
So others doing the heavy lifting while Hazard just gets to enjoy himself dribbling holding ball and falling
Kind of higher than anything Hazard ever did in NT or club.
Its curious that Hazard best seasons in European competition were when he played the EL. Okay Hazard did well in a lower standard competition after failing in a top tier. Sounds more like the summary of his career
Did you factor that Hazard was the main penalty taker for Chelsea and not Willian. Half of those Hazard goals for Chelsea in the CL were penalties
We have had attackers who excelled playing under Conte Mourinho even Simeone.
Belgium is attacking he achieved nothing beyond those foul draws
The moment Hazard got to an attacking team in Madrid then another set of excuses started for 4yrs