Eden Hazard

He didn't really do anything, his dribbling got him nowhere.
I'm sure Lukaku etc appreciated not getting any service as they watched Eden try to go around 17 players.
 
Typical Hazard, easy on the eye but will never hit the numbers that the big dogs do. Expect another season of 15 goals and 15 assits.
 
Rozay said:
Hazard isn’t a centre midfielder though. His job isn’t to control a game. With the gifts he has, his job should be to win them.

And I think you’re placing too much stock in the fact that Kevin had a poor game tonight. Believe me, I’m not a stats fanatic, quite the opposite. But there are some realities that can’t be avoided. Ronaldo became a better player when he realised he could use his gifts for more than just making opposition defenders look stupid. He began deciding games weekly, then went full circle to the point where he didn’t give a shit if he was makin defenders look silly at all - he just wanted to win games.

I think Hazard could honestly be the Messi of the PL. He’s that good. He needed to join United and play for Sir Alex.
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You can only do that if you have the luxury of leaving these responsibilities to your team mates while you stay up front. It is funny that you mention Messi because he was actually doing the exact same thing that Hazard did for Argentina in multiple games this tournament. If his mates weren't able to create dangerous situations in the final third, he dropped deep and did it himself, just like Hazard against France. And it is not like he was nowhere near the penalty area. Yes, he had many dribblings in the midfield far away from the opponent's goal but he also made his way into the box multiple times, assisted the dangerous shot of Witsel, played crosses and should've gotten at least one additional free kick in a superb situation.

And as I said, the final two to three contacts before a goal are not the only way to win games. I wonder since when this has been the case, honestly. Don't think Hazard plays further away from goal or less direct than someone like Zidane or Ronaldinho. Wouldn't even say Messi does.


charlenefan said:
Give up watching football, you haven't got a clue
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Maybe I should focus more on watching match highlight videos, apparently this is enough to judge a player on. Not important what he does apart from scoring or assisting, I guess.
 
It seemed like he was auditioning for real Madrid more than trying to help belgium. He is a top player, but too selfish for my liking.
 
I'm one of his biggest critics on the site, but he's won me over with his performances this World Cup.
 
Maybe lower your expectation. Fantastic dribbler who creates enough. He isn’t going to be a Ronaldo.
 
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The endless debate says its all about Hazard for me, because he has all the talent in the world to end the debate, but he just doesn’t. My biggest issue with him, has and always will be his real lack of penetration/turning up when it REALLY matters. I still believe that too many people get sucked into his incredible (maybe best in the world) dribbling and the way he beats players, but if you actually take a step back at the each and every game you’ll find he doesn’t actually create that much, either for himself or his teammates. He’s the kind of player that will beat a man, then beat them again just for the fun of it- great to watch, but ultimately pointless.

He wasn’t bad at all against France and probably did look one of Belgium’s better players, but he just doesn’t have that extra mentality to go and do something special. Even if it’s not him directly, go and spur on your team to get that extra 5%. He’s now at a point in his career where he is what he is and he isn’t going to change and I think ultimately that’s a shame because people will look back at the end of his career and think about the what ifs.
 
People who called him a slightly quicker and more productive Isco have nailed it.

Though I think Isco has shone in the CL(specifically 2016-2017) whereas Hazard hasn't, however I think he's been Belgium's best player at the WC arguably.

It'll look pleasing on the eye and his dribbling is truly top notch, better than Messi's atm and on par with Neymar's imo or thereabouts. But he just doesn't do enough.

Don't expect him to bag 40-50 goals like Ronaldo/Messi, but he should be more productive for his talents and more of an impact in the biggest games.
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
People who called him a slightly quicker and more productive Isco have nailed it.

Though I think Isco has shone in the CL(specifically 2016-2017) whereas Hazard hasn't, however I think he's been Belgium's best player at the WC arguably.

It'll look pleasing on the eye and his dribbling is truly top notch, better than Messi's atm and on par with Neymar's imo or thereabouts. But he just doesn't do enough.

Don't expect him to bag 40-50 goals like Ronaldo/Messi, but he should be more productive for his talents and more of an impact in the biggest games.
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It’s a good comparison. I also think I’d take the KDB over Hazard and the James Rodriguez over Isco, given the chance.
 
GledTheRed said:
Typical Hazard, easy on the eye but will never hit the numbers that the big dogs do. Expect another season of 15 goals and 15 assits.
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Hazard's record number of assists in a Premier League season was 11, and that was in his first season at Chelsea back in 2012/13 in which he scored 9 goals. His record goalscoring season in the PL was 2016/17, when he managed 16 goals but only 5 assists.

Yesterday was a great example of his game, and why he is so frustrating a player who will never rack up the numbers to be considered truly top-tier; yes he is great at dribbling, but he plays far too much with his head down, and after doing what should in theory be the hard work of getting in to great positions for a shot or pass he invariably either fluffs his lines, or wants to still keep dribbling and thus eventually gets crowded out or over-runs the ball. The average shot he had straight at the keeper, while Lukaku was standing un-marked with a tap-in had Hazard lifted his head up was a case in point.

Were I to pick a Belgian player, I'd still go for de Bruyne.
 
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There is no one in world football with a bigger discrepancy between hype and actual end product
 
"I'd rather lose with this Belgium team than win with this France team," Hazard added in his interview after the game. Can someone explain how is it [France defending] different from what they did after they got 2 goals up vs Brazil. I remember the entire Belgium team trying to defend their lead and see the game through with Hazard being their counter attack outlet. France we superb in transition from defence to attack yesterday. Except for the first 15 min of the match where France were penned down my Belgium wave of attacks, only one team looked a threat. Even Courtois has commented France as Anti-Football team. Anyways now i support two Anti-Football teams then (United and France)
 
cyberman said:
He didn't really do anything, his dribbling got him nowhere.
I'm sure Lukaku etc appreciated not getting any service as they watched Eden try to go around 17 players.
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Hazard was belgiums best attacker last night by a far distance.

Lukaku was dire last night, they would have had a much better chance of winning if he had even played remotely well.

Was non existent and poor when on the ball, poor with his half chances too.
 
GledTheRed said:
He's often talked up that way, his output will never see him reach such levels. Brilliant player all the same.
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Nobody talks about him being even close to the greatest of all time (other than one poster on the previous page who said he should be reaching peak Messi levels).

The most people will say is that he should be up there with Neymar as the best of the rest, ready to take over as the big two finally come to an end. Nobody expects him to reach where those two were at their peak. We probably won't see somebody push that level again for a couple of decades, let alone Hazard.
 
Hazard ended up playing extremely deep whilst others filled in out wide. Belgium players looked to him last night whilst De Bruyne was nowhere to be seen. The result was that he spent less time around the box but he was evading challenges and beating the press, opening up space for other players to put balls into the box.

He was very good last night and showed me a side I didn't think he had.
 
Much better than De Bruyne...


In fact his performance was equivalent to Messis, a lot of good dribbling and penetration but people expect them to be Maradona and top the good dribbling off with a worldie finish.
 
And when he goes Madrid he will be very close to the best players in the world, the group of Salah Hazard CR7 Messi are pretty close as it is.
 
mystarrocks said:
"I'd rather lose with this Belgium team than win with this France team," Hazard added in his interview after the game. Can someone explain how is it [France defending] different from what they did after they got 2 goals up vs Brazil. I remember the entire Belgium team trying to defend their lead and see the game through with Hazard being their counter attack outlet. France we superb in transition from defence to attack yesterday. Except for the first 15 min of the match where France were penned down my Belgium wave of attacks, only one team looked a threat. Even Courtois has commented France as Anti-Football team. Anyways now i support two Anti-Football teams then (United and France)
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Really wish he hadn't said that. Just makes you look like a sore loser. Particularly as a Chelsea player he should embrace France' tactics.
 
he shouldnt be playing very advanced to me. I think he would be ideal b2b/CAM in a Pep team, more like a playmaker David Silva plays, he would always keep possession and dribble through the middle and make the pre final pass and had an occassional go and still score a lot but you wouldn't expect ronaldo numbers for him. He should transform into a midfielder for me or he will always be bellow top winger or average striker. Never a Ronaldo replacement for me
 
mystarrocks said:
"I'd rather lose with this Belgium team than win with this France team," Hazard added in his interview after the game. Can someone explain how is it [France defending] different from what they did after they got 2 goals up vs Brazil. I remember the entire Belgium team trying to defend their lead and see the game through with Hazard being their counter attack outlet. France we superb in transition from defence to attack yesterday. Except for the first 15 min of the match where France were penned down my Belgium wave of attacks, only one team looked a threat. Even Courtois has commented France as Anti-Football team. Anyways now i support two Anti-Football teams then (United and France)
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It's just sour grapes from Belgium. They parked the bus in the 2nd half against Brazil and still conceded enough chances to lose the game. If Brazil were clinical they could've at least taken it to ET. France were totally superior yesterday , didn't allow Belgium any opportunities, and created more quality chances with more shots despite having less of the ball. They had the perfect balance between defence and attack throughout the game. It's not their fault if other teams can't match that level of efficiency.
 
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TheFlagStaysDown said:
he shouldnt be playing very advanced to me. I think he would be ideal b2b/CAM in a Pep team, more like a playmaker David Silva plays, he would always keep possession and dribble through the middle and make the pre final pass and had an occassional go and still score a lot but you wouldn't expect ronaldo numbers for him. He should transform into a midfielder for me or he will always be bellow top winger or average striker. Never a Ronaldo replacement for me
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Always felt he would be sensational in a formation that actually has a 10 position just behind the strikers, CAM.

This would make use of his ability perfectly.
 
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