Gotta shove Mbappe in there somewhere if we're including those who played for us as kids.
Prime Hazard or Prime Salah?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Its hazard and by far for me. Hazard vs salah is literally messi vs Ronaldo before messi won the world cup. People quoted a huge bunch of ronaldo stats etc...but the eye test never lies...messi was ahead and hazard was ahead of anything salah has done.
Hazard is the only player who was completely resistant to any style of play...whether you pressed him aggressively or you man marked him or closed his options down etc...with him, it was like messi, there is no game plan that works...all you can do is hope and pray.
Hazard is the closest thing to messi the EPL has every seen. We have seen many salahs or players who play his style. Hazard is among those few players who was beyond the stats....like ronaldinho or r9, he transcends that basic argument
Hazard is the only player who was completely resistant to any style of play...whether you pressed him aggressively or you man marked him or closed his options down etc...with him, it was like messi, there is no game plan that works...all you can do is hope and pray.
Hazard is the closest thing to messi the EPL has every seen. We have seen many salahs or players who play his style. Hazard is among those few players who was beyond the stats....like ronaldinho or r9, he transcends that basic argument
Hazard by far for me too. No doubt.
Hazard's goal scoring isn't comparable to Messi's.
I would argue Hazard might be a better player than Salah but I wouldn't base it on stats. I believe they have different roles and positions despite some similarity. I believe Hazard can be more influential through his general play.
I would argue Hazard might be a better player than Salah but I wouldn't base it on stats. I believe they have different roles and positions despite some similarity. I believe Hazard can be more influential through his general play.
Salah for the numbers and he’s clearly also more than just numbers… but there was something majestic about Hazard running with the ball and beating defenders, his touch, control turn etc.
It’s something stats won’t ever tell you. You have to see it to realise it.
It’s something stats won’t ever tell you. You have to see it to realise it.
Nonsense. Hazard was prettier to watch but that's about it. The reason you're saying he was 'beyond stats' is because Salah totally outstrips him on that front and you prefer Hazard's style of play. Salah has been MUCH more effective, for a longer period of time and more consistently. As for 'there is no game plan that works...all you can do is hope and pray', I think a number of players, our own Herrera among them, would beg to differ.
And on the flip side, Hazard was world class from a teenager and Salah didn't even become on people's radar until mid 20s!
Works both ways!
It literally "worked" once, and even then Hazard lifted the title weeks later.
Jose tried the same thing the very next time we played and Hazard tanned his backside.
But to say that he can't be nullified just isn't true. Great player but come on...
Salah on a different level to Hazard.
Well said. And you only have to consider which players won way more MOTM awards without scoring goals or assists because of how much they affected the game - Messi, Hazard. Hazard has about as many career assists as Iniesta, one of the greatest midfielders in football history, playing in arguably the best team in history (Pep's Barca) - while Hazard played with Barkley, Morata, and Drinkwater...
Honestly, other than Salah, I can only think of one player in all leagues over the last few years that plays wide right and affects the game with consistent scoring and assisting. I'm not comparing the two, but to say that we have seen many players like Salah is not correct.
You could flip it, playing devil's advocate, and say that in a league that has seen effective left sided dribblers such as Bale, Giggs, Ginola, Pires, McMamaman, Hazard is not that unique.
Out of curiosity, who are you thinking of?
We have seen these salah-like kind of players in the league over and over again. Right now saka is doing what Salah was doing...leave the numbers out of it but look at what they do for their teams (I know people are preparing stats to show he hasn't scored/assisted like Salah etc). Before Saka and before Salah, Mahrez was doing it for Leicester, Robben was doing it for Bayern, bale for Madrid, etc. I could go on and on...salah is great, statistics wise, he is amazing...but if I need a player who can play in whatever system there is and deliver...its always hazard, it is always Messi...a friend of mine called them the real-life football equalizers (from the Denzel equalizer movies).
Basically, these are players who can change the dynamic of a game no matter how good the opposition is or how bad their team is. They tilt the balance of the scales just by their talent in the weaker team. Their talent carries the whole team and puts them on the podium. If Thanos existed, he would look to wipe those kinds of people out first because they defy logic...and can't be contained in some box or by some game plan
But...you can't just leave stats and productivity out of it. You want to because it suits your argument, but it makes no sense to. You compare hazard to Messi as a player that transcends stats yet Messi put up generational stats year after year. You just like the way hazard plays because it looks prettier.
Hmm, yes you can. You are missing my point. Stats are not the deciding feature between players...the all-time players are beyond their stats ie they already have good stats but their contribution is beyond that. Using stats, People were still dismissive of Messi before he won the World Cup. Others have dismissed Maradona based on those same stats because he didn't win as many world cups as Pele. Based purely on stats Salah is a better player than R9 and Ronaldinho...but the reality is, a great player is beyond his stats...and hazard is absolutely that player.
Players like Hazard or Messi make weak teams strong, and strong teams great...salah makes strong teams stronger...in weak teams, he doesn't really make a difference (Look at his effect on the national team).
To use your words, you too want to use stats purely because they suit your argument...you don't want to consider things beyond the stats like the eye test or hear from other players who have played both in their prime
Messi is a weird example to use when the entire system has been built around him for years. No one outside the Pl would ever compare the two.
I know this one. What are... things that happened only in Mwooyo's head?
Did you ever see him play? As a teenager he was the best player in France, years in a row. In England he was just electric. Football isn't all about stats you know. Well, sadly it has become just that.
Hazard gliding across the field, running at defenders, was something else.
Hazard. This still hurts
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Robben, Salah, Bale, Hazard fairly easy for me.
Salah is clear and comfortably so, Hazard might be one of the most overrated players of last decade though.
Hazards career would have looked no different because he wasn’t limited by his talent or by managers or teams. He was just lazy and lacking the elite mentality. It was clear as soon as he said he had no interest in matching Ronaldo and Messi’s numbers that he lacked the top mentality and that’s been proven completely true at Madrid. Salah in comparison has proven to be a much mentally tougher player who is far more professional thus making this a non contest. Too many people value pretty dribbling over mentality.
So basically you just like dribblers? Why don’t you just admit that rather than pretend it’s anything like a fact.
Salah by some margin.
Hazard was a joy to watch in his prime.
Ah, what a glorious time. We won the CL and we get this beautiful tweet 9 days later.
Kane and Salah are creators with scoring.
To sum it up - Salah in his worst season was overall better than Hazard in his best
Prime Salah, and this isn't even a debate for me. It's not to say Hazard isn't amazing but Salah has been consistently amazing so much so that people take it for granted. Look at the records he's broken, and he should have arguably won the Ballon D'or although I'd never say that in public.
Salah by a wide margin. Hazard was a brilliant player and one of the best in the world on the eyes, but Salah is a level above production wise while also being great to watch.
Hazard
Belgium: 126 games, 33 goals
Chelsea: 245 games, 85 goals
Salah
Egypt: 91 games, 51 goals
Liverpool: 226 games, 142 goals
Salah is only a year younger than Hazard too so Hazard was basically finished at Salahs current age. Not to mention Salah was much harder working on and off the pitch.
Salah is obviously better. At best you can say Hazard was more talented but it didn't show on the pitch.
Belgium: 126 games, 33 goals
Chelsea: 245 games, 85 goals
Salah
Egypt: 91 games, 51 goals
Liverpool: 226 games, 142 goals
Salah is only a year younger than Hazard too so Hazard was basically finished at Salahs current age. Not to mention Salah was much harder working on and off the pitch.
Salah is obviously better. At best you can say Hazard was more talented but it didn't show on the pitch.
Messi?
It could be Messi v Ronaldo….except Messi’s stats basically kept up with/even surpassed Ronaldo’s, on top of the aesthetics argument? Whereas Hazards stats is nowhere near Salah’s?
It's a close call. Closer than Messi and Ronaldo. Scary thing is, they both could have been playing for Chelsea at the same time!
Seriously I will pick Prime Salah over Prime Hazard. In the end as an attacking player, goal and assist matter.
Prime Salah 52 games 44 goal, 16 assist 17/18
Prime Hazard 52 games 21 goal, 17 assist 18/19
23 goals difference can be a deciding factor for winning the league.
They both once scored against Arsenal in the same game.
Thanks for letting me know.
Putting Hazard in sentences with Messi does not make Hazard like Messi.
Hazard could dictate the game. Salah would decide it. That's the difference between the two.
Hazard embarrassed us many times and with Herrera in the side also.
Hazard was absolutely unstoppable at his peak, majestic to watch. Salah was never that kind of individual, just the tip of the attacking sword at Liverpool.