Hazard was better to watch but Salah gets much better numbers and is more effective.
Prime Hazard or Prime Salah?
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Salah is twice the player Hazard ever was.
This is such a ridiculous question, it literally isn't even close.
This is such a ridiculous question, it literally isn't even close.
Lukaku is a world class striker.
I would take 2014-15 Hazard over any version of Salah. But just that one season. For every other season I would take Salah without question.
Salah 2017/18 can only be compared to Ronaldo Suarez and Henrys best seasons
Yeah, when dining out on the riff raff. Tonight will probably be the prime example, he'll get 3-4 and everyone will go 'ohhhh, look, Lukaku has 6-7 goals this season in 9 games. Goal machine'.
Where do you rank prime Ribery between them?
Messi's entire career = Hazard's prime dribbling + Salah's prime finishing.
Ribery 2013 is definitely above both of them.
I may be biased being Dutch but for me Robben is above all three of them.
+ De Bruyne passing
If we are going for absolute prime (and not taking into consideration injuries etc) and focusing on footballing ability then I think you have to go Hazard. If your going for prime career then it is Salah.
Shouldn't even be a question really. Hazard isn't in that elite bracket for me, doesn't score enough goals or get enough assists. Salah is genuinely top five in the world
If i was a neutral and wanted to watch an entertaining game it would be prime Hazard. If it was my team and I wanted to win trophies, Salah all day.
All at a level higher. Messi's dribbling is level above Hazard's, his finishing shouldn't even be compared to Salah. Salah is average finisher but great at creating chances for himself.
Salah is a terrific finisher. Not Messi good but who is.
Salah is 29 and Hazard is 30 and this is their respective trophy haul:
Salah - 2 Swiss leagues, a Premier League and a Champions League.
Hazard - A French League, a Spanish League, 2 x Premier Leagues, 2 x Europa League, a league cup, an FA cup and a French FA cup.
Fair enough if you think Salah is better but the reality is that having prime Hazard gives you more trophies than prime Salah.
I really think these last couple of years have made people forget how good Hazard was. He was dragging Chelsea to trophies and although I'm not going to lie and say I watched any of his french title win at Lille, he did win the league's player of the season so I would imagine he played a big part in that.
None of that is to say Salah isn't an incredible player, he is but lets not pretend he is some sort of trophy machine.
Judging a player purely on statistics is just dumb. Hazard was elite, people think think David Silva was elite, Robben and Ribery too. If you judge those 3 to Hazard on statistics Hazard beats all 3 of them.
Hazard created the most chances in the premier league in his 7 seasons, most man of the matches too.
Wasn't that long ago after Hazard good world cup in 2018 and the way he started the season under Sarri that people were talking about him as the best player in the premier league and in Europe.
Funniest thing is we were told for years stats weren't everything when Lampard was statically smashing even most strikers.
Yeah, if we are going purely on stats people are going to have to probably start naming Lampard as the GOAT CM or at least have him in the top 3 all time.
Salah would have been a revelation for us in a position we literally had nothing since Nani.
Klopp and Salah were signings a club that was on the ball would be making.
Klopp and Salah were signings a club that was on the ball would be making.
I can completely understand people preferring peak Salah to Hazard but the disrespect shown to Hazard here is unbelievable. Hazard achieved incredible things at his peak and people really do play on that one bad injury plagued season to claim he was inconsistent.
There are loads of stats floating around that show that in the last decade only Messi and Ronaldo have more MOTM awards. It's not even close to the next PL player (95 MOTM up to 2020), so people saying he isn't effective or was inconsistent just doesn't ring true. You only had to watch Hazard week in week out to know that, he dragged Chelsea to several trophies and IMO was the best player at the 2018 world cup. He was simply unplayable on his day, hence why teams man marked him to oblivion.
The FA Cup Final v Utd, The EL final in his last game with us, the 14/15 and 16/17 title wins and defining seasons, THAT Arsenal goal, THAT Liverpool goal, THAT West Ham goal.
So yeah by all means go for Salah, i can completely understand as he's a world class player hitting new heights, but at least acknowledge just how good Hazard was and don't judge by today's Eden
There are loads of stats floating around that show that in the last decade only Messi and Ronaldo have more MOTM awards. It's not even close to the next PL player (95 MOTM up to 2020), so people saying he isn't effective or was inconsistent just doesn't ring true. You only had to watch Hazard week in week out to know that, he dragged Chelsea to several trophies and IMO was the best player at the 2018 world cup. He was simply unplayable on his day, hence why teams man marked him to oblivion.
The FA Cup Final v Utd, The EL final in his last game with us, the 14/15 and 16/17 title wins and defining seasons, THAT Arsenal goal, THAT Liverpool goal, THAT West Ham goal.
So yeah by all means go for Salah, i can completely understand as he's a world class player hitting new heights, but at least acknowledge just how good Hazard was and don't judge by today's Eden
You have Salah scoring 3 goals in the last 3 games that probably rank as high as anything Hazard did all his career.
You get triggered when someone praises Hazard.
Prime Hazard was definitely better on the eye, but there's no doubt prime Salah is/was a far more decisive player. Unless Hazard manages to turn around his "faltering" career and solve the countess injury issues he's currently plagued with, there won't even be a comparison between the two in the years to come.
Yeah, most of what you said is true but it's not surprising to see Non EPL fans not rating Hazard highly. His CL record is poor for his standards and I dont think he had a memorable (or defining) season in CL.
Especially his first touch is mint.
Not even true, Hazard scored a better goal against the Dippers at Anfield in the same bit of the pitch Salah did against City:
He also scored this against them and some of them gave him a round of applause:
Then the one against West Ham:
Then there was his one where he ran the pitch against Arsenal and I sure I remember a few others but cannot remember the teams he did it against.
Saying Salah's last three goals are better than anything in his career is just plain nonsense.
You are right
There is no issue calling Salah the better player, but there is some serious underestimating of how good Hazard was in this thread. I imagine if you had prime Hazard and current Salah in the same team, you would run the ball down the left just as much as the right/ Remember that Liverpool's set-up has Salah as the most likely to score, whereas Hazard usually played with one or two strikers who he was to make space for by drawing so many players out of position as they tried to stop him. I would wager that over the course of their career, Salah has attempted significantly more shots at goal than Hazard, and significantly less successful dribbles. Whilst Salah has become more clinical (and you get the impression he wants to be top scorer in the league every season) I don't think Hazard ever had a desire to be a 20 goal a season player. What he did was effective, and so much of what he was good at cannot be quantified by the statistics we currently use. If there was a metric for XG based on drawing players out of position, Hazard would rank top.
What will likely set Salah apart when we come to analyze their careers 10 years from now is his greater goal record, but it also has to be noted that he has devoted himself to the game more than what it appears Hazard has, whose time at Real Madrid does not paint a pretty picture of his professionalism. Personally, I think playing against prime Hazard would be tougher on a defender, but you could make the case that on their day, both are capable of embarrassing every defender in the world.
It would be hard to argue against a front 3 of Salah, Aguero and Hazard being the stand-out front three of the last 10 years in the PL. People can have their preferences, but do not diminish what is undoubtedly one of the premier leagues finest ever imports in the Belgian.
What will likely set Salah apart when we come to analyze their careers 10 years from now is his greater goal record, but it also has to be noted that he has devoted himself to the game more than what it appears Hazard has, whose time at Real Madrid does not paint a pretty picture of his professionalism. Personally, I think playing against prime Hazard would be tougher on a defender, but you could make the case that on their day, both are capable of embarrassing every defender in the world.
It would be hard to argue against a front 3 of Salah, Aguero and Hazard being the stand-out front three of the last 10 years in the PL. People can have their preferences, but do not diminish what is undoubtedly one of the premier leagues finest ever imports in the Belgian.
It is one of the weaker points of a very good player.
Prime Salah, because as well as his work at the top end of the field, he does put a shift in when defending.
Chilwell's goal tally in his last four league games matches Shaw's career tally.
So by the logic of many in this thread Ben is miles clear
So by the logic of many in this thread Ben is miles clear
Salah is far superior.
Salah without a doubt
Salah
Better question is if he is better than Bale or Neymar. At, the moment it's a no for me.
Better question is if he is better than Bale or Neymar. At, the moment it's a no for me.
Hazard could’ve had 2 champions leagues if his timing was better. Joined just after your win in 2012, left just before your win last season. Reminds me of Van Nistelrooy at United - an amazing career in a time when we weren’t at our best, bookended by successes he had no part in.
Even if Hazard had 1 CL or 2 people on here would still go for Salah because he scores more goals.
Easily better than Bale but not Neymar.
And R9 aside from that night in Old Trafford didn't have another memorable match in CL, wether because he was overweight or underperforming for RM.
He gets outscored in CL by a large numbers or strikers such a Dzeko,Roy Maakay, Kluivert, etc......are they better R9? I don't think so.
Thing is people is biased cause Salah is now having better seasons than declining Hazard, so they have the fresh memory of Hazard struggling in Madrid and Salah scoring for fun at Liverpool.
I don't think peak Salah is that much superior to peak Hazard, people is making it looks as if the gap is massive, and peak Hazard was just a good player like Lacazette or Richardlison.
Peak Salah is better for me, but the gap isn't big by any means.