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

kaiser1 said:
Silva and Iniesta were midfielders, Hazard was an attacker. in a 433, Silva and Iniesta are in the middle 3, Hazard in the front 3 in every team he played for. Belgium Chelsea or Madrid
Click to expand...

Both players have played on the wing though, Iniesta has many performances playing from the left (he has some great performances here, especially after Alba came in), and that’s generally the point I’m making. He didn’t function in the role in the way that Son does for example, and he had completely different responsibilities. If you were to assess his performance there solely through the prism of goals and assists he’d look completely underwhelming.

When Chelsea won the league in 2015, Hazard was the third highest in the squad for passes per game, joint first for key passes, first for dribbles (4.8, next highest was 1.8), most fouled (a big part of their approach play). It was very much the same in 2017, where he topped the key passes, against made a large quantity of passes per game, and dwarfed the rest of the team when it came to carrying the ball.

Functionally the role he carried out is very different to a lot of the players he gets compared to in the league. Salah, Son, Bale, Mane etc, his role was completely different, the numbers he puts up, especially when progressing the ball (and basically carrying the Chelsea attack and instigating moves), is so vastly different to these players that assessing him solely on productivity is a massive disservice to him. He wasn’t an inside forward in the usual sense, he was a wide playmaker.
 
kaiser1 said:
Silva and Iniesta were midfielders, Hazard was an attacker. in a 433, Silva and Iniesta are in the middle 3, Hazard in the front 3 in every team he played for. Belgium Chelsea or Madrid
Click to expand...
By your logic Lampard and Gerrard changed the game and midfielders must be judged on goals now.
 
His brother Thorgan has invited Eden to join him at Union St Gilles. Would be funny to see him play in their tiny stadium in Brussels. Not completely unthinkable either. Verthongen, Alderweireld and others have also returned to Belgium recently.
 
So young still. That injury killed his dribbling ability. Awesome player.

Guess he's made enough that he doesn't even need a Saudi retirement.
 
Rnd898 said:
His time at Madrid has been a sad end to the career of a wonderful player. If I had to guess he'll retire either next summer if he feels he doesn't need the money, or in 2024 if he wants to milk Real Madrid for every last penny. Either way I don't think he'll play football after Real Madrid.
Click to expand...

Called his retirement almost a year ago. Never seemed like a player who'd want to keep playing just for the money when his passion for the game had obviously gone following his constant injury problems over the last few years.

Eden was hands down my favorite player of the 2010s, a real joy to watch. Wishing him a happy retirement.
 
One of the best players I’ve ever seen in terms of impact on a football pitch over 90 minutes.
 
kaiser1 said:
If you are an attacker. It helps a lot to put goals and assists on the board

Can you name a highly rated attacker who doesnt score? Football is not gymnastics you need goals to win
Click to expand...

Iniesta for one, Ronaldinho for another. Zidane would another. Hazard was that type of player on the pitch. He was an artist and could create magic and was often marked by two or more.

He is one of greatest dribblers of all time. Just a shame he and KDB didn’t stick together at Chelsea as I firmly believe it cost Belgium the WC in 2018.
 
kaiser1 said:
If you are an attacker. It helps a lot to put goals and assists on the board

Can you name a highly rated attacker who doesnt score? Football is not gymnastics you need goals to win
Click to expand...

Literally loads..... Zidane, Okotcha, David Silva, Antonio Valencia, Pires, Stanley Matthews, Figo, Giggs.

They all had comparable goal scoring or worse to Hazard.
 
Hughes35 said:
Literally loads..... Zidane, Okotcha, David Silva, Antonio Valencia, Pires, Stanley Matthews, Figo, Giggs.

They all had comparable goal scoring or worse to Hazard.
Click to expand...

All these are midfielders in a 442 setup. Valencia actually played as a Right back for a portion of his career

Hazard for most of his career played in a 433 and was one of the front 3 guys. So is there any attacker in a 433 that is considered elite who didn't score bucketload of goals?
 
By the way, the ball boy kid opened up his own Vodka company and has a net worth of £150m.
 
Bale Bale Bale said:
By the way, the ball boy kid opened up his own Vodka company and has a net worth of £150m.
Click to expand...
He's done very well for himself. His dad is loaded which obviously propelled him but he's done well regardless of that.
 
kaiser1 said:
All these are midfielders in a 442 setup. Valencia actually played as a Right back for a portion of his career

Hazard for most of his career played in a 433 and was one of the front 3 guys. So is there any attacker in a 433 that is considered elite who didn't score bucketload of goals?
Click to expand...

You make it seem like Hazard only did some fancy tricks and only had a nice touch. He still scored or assisted in double figures almost every season? His goals + assists per season isnt that much different from Ribery i believe?
 
kaiser1 said:
All these are midfielders in a 442 setup. Valencia actually played as a Right back for a portion of his career

Hazard for most of his career played in a 433 and was one of the front 3 guys. So is there any attacker in a 433 that is considered elite who didn't score bucketload of goals?
Click to expand...

Ribery.
 
JJ12 said:
He's done very well for himself. His dad is loaded which obviously propelled him but he's done well regardless of that.
Click to expand...
It’s easy mode when your dad removes the many unknowns about going in to business and there’s no financial risk. Seen it multiple times from those with parents in business.
 
AllezLesDiables said:
Iniesta for one, Ronaldinho for another. Zidane would another. Hazard was that type of player on the pitch. He was an artist and could create magic and was often marked by two or more.
Click to expand...
You can be serious? his stats are even better than Hazards. Ronaldinho scored 70 in just 145 games for Barcelona + 50 assists and 46 G&A - 70 games for Milan. Zidane played manily as an "attacker" only for France.
 
Not that he wasn't great on his day, but his performances over the years are insanely overrated. He burnt out his candle faster than Ronaldinho.
 
JJ12 said:
He's done very well for himself. His dad is loaded which obviously propelled him but he's done well regardless of that.
Click to expand...

They marketed the feck out of a mediocre at best product that then became trendy because it was everywhere, largely thanks to yep, money they already had.
 
NotChatGPT said:
Not that he wasn't great on his day, but his performances over the years are insanely overrated. He burnt out his candle faster than Ronaldinho.
Click to expand...
It's not true.

Ronaldinho Prime was from 2003 to 2007; Hazard was from 2013 to 2019. If you wanna take into account Ronaldinho's run at PSG, you should also consider Hazard's at Lille.
 
devaneios said:
Not really.

Ronaldinho Prime was from 2003 to 2007; Hazard was from 2013 to 2019. If you wanna take into account Ronaldinho's run at PSG, you should also consider Hazard's at Lille.
Click to expand...

Ronaldinho was in his prime over consecutive years, Hazard wasn't and neither does he come anywhere near the levels that Ronaldinho displayed.

I was gutted we didn't sign Hazard when he left Lille, great player, but people are putting him in a bracket he didn't even come close to. .
 
kaiser1 said:
All these are midfielders in a 442 setup. Valencia actually played as a Right back for a portion of his career

Hazard for most of his career played in a 433 and was one of the front 3 guys. So is there any attacker in a 433 that is considered elite who didn't score bucketload of goals?
Click to expand...

Moving the goal posts but ok - DI Maria, Ajen Robben.........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.