Eden Hazard

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amolbhatia50k

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Robben and Suarez are the finished article. What I see from Hazard is a breathtaking talent that's improving year on year. I genuinely think he'll win the Ballon D'Or within the next three years*, so the idea of swapping him with another player other than Messi wouldn't make sense to me.

*Just to be clear, I'm in no way saying he will be better than Messi. Messi is to me the greatest player who has ever lived, but that doesn't mean he'll win the Ballon every year as we've seen.
To be fair, it's taken a guy who scores 50-60 goals a season to take it off him two years of late!

But I do think hazard has the technical attributes to win it once. But it takes much more to get ahead of the incredible competition. And that's where I feel he has to improve lots still.
 

Snake Plissken

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Neymar IS a better player but I think Hazard is dynamite too and I'm betting they both end up on the podium at the Ballon D'or ceremony in the future.
 

Kentonio

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To be fair, it's taken a guy who scores 50-60 goals a season to take it off him two years of late!

But I do think hazard has the technical attributes to win it once. But it takes much more to get ahead of the incredible competition. And that's where I feel he has to improve lots still.
He certainly has a lot of room to improve. I just really believe he has the ceiling to do it. I'm more than happy to look like a div if he doesn't btw, but I just think this one is for real. :)
 

amolbhatia50k

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I meant Robben at any age. I think Hazard will become the better player.
Let's see. He'll have done well to do that IMO but he is capable.

The whole discussion I was having was about the here and now.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Neymar IS a better player but I think Hazard is dynamite too and I'm betting they both end up on the podium at the Ballon D'or ceremony in the future.
He certainly has a lot of room to improve. I just really believe he has the ceiling to do it. I'm more than happy to look like a div if he doesn't btw, but I just think this one is for real. :)
I don't disagree.

Right now, post the big two, I'm seeing three contenders - Neymar, Bale and Hazard. Bale I'm having big doubts about given what he's been accomplishing for Madrid of late. Neymar I see as the comfortable front runner. And hazard somewhere possibly in between. I thought gotze had as much potential as anyone a few years back but he's stalled.
 

AshfordLad

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Robben and Suarez are the finished article. What I see from Hazard is a breathtaking talent that's improving year on year. I genuinely think he'll win the Ballon D'Or within the next three years*, so the idea of swapping him with another player other than Messi wouldn't make sense to me.
It does, if you are swapping him for another guy who will certainly win the Ballon d'Or multiple times in future.

I may be totally wrong, but I've always had the impression that if, for example, Chelsea are a goal or two up and sitting deep, they often plan to break and then slow the game down once they enter the final third. The plan isn't always to break and head straight for goal.

I remember them doing this a lot against Arsenal, early in the season. This is where Hazard comes in handy. No doubt he could improve and add directness to his game though.
From the Mourinho teams of past you can see that he likes 3 pacy forwards countering with a couple of decent playmakers hitting long passes. It was the same setup at Chelsea with Duff, Robben and Drogba and at Real with Bale Higuain and DiMaria.

I dont see Hazard as a player that Jose will go out an buy regardless of money, where as Neymar is a player that Jose he would. Obviously Neymar is a cocky fecker so will never be able to work under Jose.
 

BlueCelery

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He's a joy to watch when he's healthy & in form. Best player in the League by a country mile.
 

DWelbz19

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Literally his first top class game in months. This forum has always been overboard with Hazard praise.
 

yumtum

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He's extremely talented but there's obvious question marks over his mentality, as soon as he said that stuff about him never being the goalscorer that Messi and Ronaldo are, you knew he didn't have the drive to become the best, he has the talent to score and effect games as much as they do, but he just goes hiding and shuts down if things don't go right for him, shame really bit he won't be the last.
 

Pink Moon

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Yeah, let's just forget Ozil, Sanchez, De Bruyne etc. :houllier:
Agree that he isn't better than them by a "country mile" but I do think that he's the best in the league when he can be arsed turning up.

Would say that Aguero is better than the 3 you mentioned too.
 

129104946

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When he's at his best he's overrated, but by the same token he wasn't as bad as most thought last season.

Great display today and the best individual performance of the euro so far.
 

Moonred

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Hardly surprising. Hazard is capable of tearing teams apart exactly like this when given space. Have seen many times before. Credit where it's due, he was sensational today.
 

BlueCelery

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Yeah, let's just forget Ozil, Sanchez, De Bruyne etc. :houllier:
Fabulous players but Hazard at his best is a gear those players simply cannot reach. He's a tier below Messi in that exclusive Neymar, Suarez, Ronaldo, Bale bracket.

An injury hit season in an awful team has seemingly made everyone forget just how good he is. He can take teams apart by himself when in form.
 

VorZakone

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Fabulous players but Hazard at his best is a gear those players simply cannot reach. He's a tier below Messi in that exclusive Neymar, Suarez, Ronaldo, Bale bracket.

An injury hit season in an awful team has seemingly made everyone forget just how good he is. He can take teams apart by himself when in form.
Hardly ever did he take somebody apart in the CL. Went out the group stages with Chelsea in 12/13, couldn't make the difference against Atletico in 13/14, couldn't make the difference against PSG in 14/15, and neither this season could he make the difference against PSG. He's also hardly ever in top gear for Belgium where he was regularly outshoned by De Bruyne.
 

Gol123

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Great player. Bad mentality. Needs to be forced by his manager to play at his best. Conte will do that pretty well.
 

Adisa

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At his best, his dribbling makes him impossible to stop. The problem i have is, someone with has talent has to be driving and running at defenders more. Most of the time he seems happy enough to play the simple pass.
 

MounchesterUtd

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With a fantastic man manager, I can see him being a beast. Imagine what this kid could've done under Ferguson. Of course, Mou is great at man managing himself, but I tend to believe that the Chelsea locker room controls the manager anyway.

Obviously both still have a long way to go but I think Martial will be better than him though
 

129104946

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Hardly ever did he take somebody apart in the CL. Went out the group stages with Chelsea in 12/13, couldn't make the difference against Atletico in 13/14, couldn't make the difference against PSG in 14/15, and neither this season could he make the difference against PSG. He's also hardly ever in top gear for Belgium where he was regularly outshoned by De Bruyne.
No player could have helped Chelsea in 12/13. And he was injured against Atletico the next season. He played well against PSG in 14/15, but Mourinho's ineptitude led to their exit, not Hazard's.

He hasn't set the CL on fire, but better players than him in the past haven't either.

Also, he hasn't been "outshone by De Bruyne" for Beligum in quite a while. Evidenced by the fact that Hazard has had a horrible season by most accounts, and De Bruyne a very good one, and he's done better so far this Euro.

*and check my post history, this is coming from someone who said De Bruyne was my pick for player of the tournament.
 

Adisa

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With a fantastic man manager, I can see him being a beast. Imagine what this kid could've done under Ferguson. Of course, Mou is great at man managing himself, but I tend to believe that the Chelsea locker room controls the manager anyway.

Obviously both still have a long way to go but I think Martial will be better than him though
Maybe but i think the way Hazard changes direction makes him a better dribbler. Martial has the better mentality and work rate though.
 

Gol123

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Maybe but i think the way Hazard changes direction makes him a better dribbler. Martial has the better mentality and work rate though.
This. Natural ability Hazard has more of but Martial has a betterror mentality.
 

Lennon7

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I'm actually glad to see Hazard smashing it again, thought it was a shame to see such a talent go down the shitter. Would love him at United
 

BlueCelery

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Hardly ever did he take somebody apart in the CL. Went out the group stages with Chelsea in 12/13, couldn't make the difference against Atletico in 13/14, couldn't make the difference against PSG in 14/15, and neither this season could he make the difference against PSG. He's also hardly ever in top gear for Belgium where he was regularly outshoned by De Bruyne.
Bizarre post.

Literally his first top class game in months. This forum has always been overboard with Hazard praise.
Another weird post. He took apart Liverpool & Tottenham towards the end of the season & leads the Euros in goals/assists but yeah, his only good game in months.

His first poor season in his entire career during an injury hit year for an awful team who are utterly dependent on him & suddenly he's always been inconsistent, poor mentally & Martial's better. :lol:
 
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kafta

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Great to watch when on top form. Where would he play in Conte's 3-5-2 though?
 

jungledrums

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Great to watch when on top form. Where would he play in Conte's 3-5-2 though?
I doubt Conte will play 3-5-2 in the premier league. Chelsea don't really have the personnel for it, because, quite rightly as you said, Hazard wouldn't really have a spot in a 3-5-2. I don't think it's a particularly good way to set a team up against the pace of the premier league anyway, given the power of many teams down the wings. Take Stoke, for example. A mid table team, yet they have, in Arnautovic, a genuinely threatening winger. Juve bosses possession against basically everyone in Serie A, but that won't happen with Chelsea. That's arguably something Serie A doesn't have (talented teams from top to bottom), and yet there are many mid table premier league teams with quality out wide (Redmond, Mane, Montero etc), so I think 3-5-2 wouldn't be particularly applicable for Chelsea. This of course is dependent on signings that Chelsea make.
 

VorZakone

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No player could have helped Chelsea in 12/13. And he was injured against Atletico the next season. He played well against PSG in 14/15, but Mourinho's ineptitude led to their exit, not Hazard's.

He hasn't set the CL on fire, but better players than him in the past haven't either.

Also, he hasn't been "outshone by De Bruyne" for Beligum in quite a while. Evidenced by the fact that Hazard has had a horrible season by most accounts, and De Bruyne a very good one, and he's done better so far this Euro.

*and check my post history, this is coming from someone who said De Bruyne was my pick for player of the tournament.
Weird statement. Chelsea were shit, and Hazard didn't stand out either. So the criticism is fair IMO. He wasn't anything special either against PSG, although you could say Chelsea was very defensive. And this season again he was underwhelming in the CL.
 

129104946

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Weird statement. Chelsea were shit, and Hazard didn't stand out either. So the criticism is fair IMO. He wasn't anything special either against PSG, although you could say Chelsea was very defensive. And this season again he was underwhelming in the CL.
What's so weird about that? When a team is shit it's hard for players like Hazard to play well. Just like when Madrid are shit it's hard for Ronaldo to play well.

He wasn't terrible against PSG either. He was injured a bit and still had 3 goals in 7 games which isn't terrible for a wide player.
 

Womp

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What's so weird about that? When a team is shit it's hard for players like Hazard to play well. Just like when Madrid are shit it's hard for Ronaldo to play well.

He wasn't terrible against PSG either. He was injured a bit and still had 3 goals in 7 games which isn't terrible for a wide player.
Hazard is young and dynamic, he can influence games when he can be arsed, Ronaldo has turned into a world class poacher who relies on his team's service, completely different scenarios. Hazard isn't a poacher, he's a creative playmaker/attacker, hence why the "shit team" excuse isn't as relatable for a player who doesn't purely feed of his team's creativity but who is one of, if not the biggest focal point of creativity for his team.
 

Mr.Kaya

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He was on fire yesterday, really showed he's capable of doing even though the opponent was not the best. Gonna be interesting to see how he does in the quarterfinal against Wales.
 

BlueCelery

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Lad must be loving life under Conte after being forced to play LB for 4 straight seasons



Midfielder under previous managers. Forward under Conte. He'll score 20+ this season.
 

jungledrums

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Lad must be loving life under Conte after being forced to play LB for 4 straight seasons



Midfielder under previous managers. Forward under Conte. He'll score 20+ this season.
Player of the year incoming.
 

Revan

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So that weird Chelsea fine was right saying that Hazard can score a lot of goals if he wants so? Or at least, make a lot of shoots.
 
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