It feels like his dream / ambition was getting to Real Madrid, but not playing well for them.
Weird one.
Weird one.
Eden Hazard | "It's time to enjoy life drinking beers"
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On that basis John Obi Mikel was better than many great midfielders due to his performance in the 2012 final.
You missed where I said I think Bale's 2015-2016 season is better than any of Hazard's?
The Inter games were mentioned to dispel the notion that Bale's iconic moments in the CL were all because he played for Real Madrid.
I was referring more to the Spurs version of Bale sorry should have made that clearer.
I'll accept his CL record for Real ranks him higher in the overall picture but not a snowball in hells chance was the Spurs version better than him.
I don't think Bale at Spurs was better than Hazard at Chelsea, but he still had 2 performances that were better/more iconic than any of Hazard's in the Champions League.
I think Hazard has personally underachieved in his career, but the stories about his mentality make it obvious why he has. He has more natural talent than Bale, but has failed to maximize it IMO.
Reading from Sid Lowe that Casemiro is Real's second highest goalscorer this season really brought home just how big a void Hazard flopping has created in the team. It really is Benzema or nothing in terms of attacking threat.
They aren't rated because they can/could dribble, they are rated because of everything they brought to the game. And yeah, there's a tendency to overrate dribbling.
The Ronaldo vs Messi is a good example of that, one decided to sacrifice dribbling from his game, the other used/uses dribbling to create dangerous opportunities. In the end, both had/have a similar output in terms of game effectiveness.
Being a great dribbler doesn't make you a great player, the same way not being a great dribbler doesn't make you a bad player.
I really like Hazard but based on his current performances, he would struggle to be in the first eleven of any mid-table team. Between injuries and lack of dedication, he's barely a shadow of the player he once was
Is this worse than Sanchez level decline? At least United got him on a free!
On the way to Top5 worst transfers of all-time.
I think it’s already there when you consider they paid big-ish money for him and the fact everybody assumed he would be awesome for them.
Ive always had a few question marks over Hazard and his character/determination to be the best.
At his best he was the best player in the PL (at that time.). But I never had the feeling he would kick on to another level or even sustain that form.
Few things he said and his apparent happiness on the pitch to win fouls more than forcing things to win games was at least how I interpreted his game whilst in the PL.
Worst one I've ever seen is Essien, he was genuinely lower league standard come the very end.
What happened to him in the end and why? He was great
Madrid and barcelona probably have the top 5 worst signings covered in the last few years itself.
His injury's took away his agility and lateral movement and he unfortunately didn't have the level of technique to compete at this level without his athleticism.
Multiple catastrophic knee injuries that he rushed back from - did he ACL twice and I believe both times came back within 6 months.
Yeah alot can be down to injuries and the nature of them. I'm interested to see how VVD returns as he may lose some of his key attributes.
Fati is the other one I'm quite concerned about - they took the whole meniscus out of his knee apparently; that dramatically accelerates decline in joint function.
CL record for Chelsea:
Hazard: 8 goals 11 assists in 2928 minutes
Willian: 10 goals 8 assists in 2944 minutes
If we subtract penalties:
Hazard 4 goals 11 assists in 2928 minutes | 195 minutes per G/A
Willian 10 goals 8 assists in 2944 minutes | 163 minutes per G/A
Maybe Hazard always was a bit of a flat track bully against PL fodder?
Hazard: 8 goals 11 assists in 2928 minutes
Willian: 10 goals 8 assists in 2944 minutes
If we subtract penalties:
Hazard 4 goals 11 assists in 2928 minutes | 195 minutes per G/A
Willian 10 goals 8 assists in 2944 minutes | 163 minutes per G/A
Maybe Hazard always was a bit of a flat track bully against PL fodder?
Jesus really? I didn't know. That's very young to have that injury. Usually hits in your 30s. I wonder if there's clear growth/technical issues that have caused that.
The bigger issue there is probably Jovic's massive flop.
Hazard needed to generate some assists.
I suggested this but it enraged people
Yeah apparently the joint just didn't recover properly so they've had to take drastic measures - could be due to an underlying physical or inflammatory issue? Hard to say but regardless quite worrying.
So Real have Bale and Eden on their books. How are they going to get rid of both players?
Although players you mentioned have quiet games too, who doesn't?. Most people have RVP ahead of Hazard in premier league legacy and he spent most of his time in the premier league injured the same thing Hazard getting stick for now. Not sure what David Silva did to get ahead of Hazard.
Your prob right, although i thought they played him as a no10 last night because they played a back 5 to match us. Dont Madrid usually play 433? Hazard then goes back on the left.
But we are mainly talking about his time at Chelsea.
Hazard was a very good player no doubt, what I noticed though is he'd have a good 2-3 months, the fanfare would be huge with talk of him close to stepping up into Ronaldo or Messi shoes and one of the PL's best, Jose would be out saying the same and you can understand people trying to encourage it, then it would quickly be put on ice for 5-8 months until the next run where he's really on it and it would all start again. The hype wasn't without merit, he has great ability and this won't always show in stats with assists and goals, it's the fantastic performances in spells and general quality holding on to the ball. Madrid don't even seem to have this player, looks almost bust out there, Perez at Madrid admired him for a long time and it's took too long to actually sign him.
Biggest daylight robbery by Chelsea. Has he even had one good game for Real?
Go back in time and sell them to Ed.
Even Ed wouldn’t bite that bait mate
I suppose consistency is the major question mark you can put on Hazard to question where he is amongst the all time great EPL players. But outside of that he was fantastic, a force of nature when he was on point.
People have to realise that for a significant portion of Hazard's time at chelsea he shouldered the attacking threat. For half a season there was the cesc/Costa combo (but for the second half of that season everyone sat deep and gave the ball to hazard). There was also Conte's first season where Pedro or Willian helped with the burden. Outside of that he's rarely played within a free flowing attack.
Given his carefree attitude and laziness he was always destined for a steady decline but the unfortunate injuries have sped up the decline. He was never going to be at the top level even at 32. Chelsea really played a blinder with this, even if Eden didn't get injured they would have had about 2 seasons of him near his best anyway
People have to realise that for a significant portion of Hazard's time at chelsea he shouldered the attacking threat. For half a season there was the cesc/Costa combo (but for the second half of that season everyone sat deep and gave the ball to hazard). There was also Conte's first season where Pedro or Willian helped with the burden. Outside of that he's rarely played within a free flowing attack.
Given his carefree attitude and laziness he was always destined for a steady decline but the unfortunate injuries have sped up the decline. He was never going to be at the top level even at 32. Chelsea really played a blinder with this, even if Eden didn't get injured they would have had about 2 seasons of him near his best anyway
It has genuinely been that way ever since Ronaldo left. The two biggest goalscorers after Benzema since 2018 are Ramos and Casemiro. Bale could never stay fit/actually bother to play; Isco and James never materialised into players good enough; and the young core of Vinicius/Rodrygo are yet to bring that consistency to their game and provide solid G/A's.
I love his failure. I want more declining players to go to Real and fulfil their dreams. They are also stuck with Bale on mad wages.
Maybe it's hindsight, but Jovic just seemed like a strange fit for Madrid from the start. Not proven at the highest level, neither in the "worth a punt" or "worth it for the name" price range and ye seemed to give up on him almost immediately. Ben Yedder was on the market the same summer for 20 million cheaper if Real just wanted a stopgap while sizing up Mbappe.
Fergie really cursed them with the virus jibe when they tried to take Ronaldo. They've been sick for a while now.
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The true depressing stat is that Hazard was RM's 6th highest goalscorer, only two goals off 4th and 5th.
Breaking on SSN right now is that he's for sale
Edu Aguirre is from the chiringuito but in this case I think it could be truth. He is not hammering all day with exclusives. Since he is a friend of Cristiano he tries to be a more serious journalist
Chelsea aren't going to pay Real's asking price. What a disastrous signing he was - over €100m on a player with one year left on his contract.
Can he play on the right...?!
Never struck me as having the mentality to be among the very best. Too laid back. The top pros, have that drive. That obsession, they are almost sociopaths. This guy doesn't fancy the pressure of playing for Madrid.