He was mentally under a lot of pressure during the World Cup and the ending weeks of last season because too many people expected too much. Admittedly, I was one of those.

 

Hopefully the additions of Fabs and Costa will take some pressure off his shoulders and allow him to be just the genius that we all know he is. Still the most important player for me.

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/8/4/5963205/unlocking-eden-hazard

An interesting article on Eden Hazard in WAGNH today.

Its a massive season for him. He needs to pull his socks up and do more this season.

Hes far too hit or miss for me, and at times lazy.

I fear he might become just another one of those overrated potentials who never make the heights people thought they would.

I hope its a magical season for him though.

Its a massive season for him. He needs to pull his socks up and do more this season.

Hes far too hit or miss for me, and at times lazy.

I fear he might become just another one of those overrated potentials who never make the heights people thought they would.

I hope its a magical season for him though.

 

You make it sound like he had a terrible last season. There's only so much he could do on his own every time.

 

 

Of course he didn't have a terrible season, but if he wants to be thought of as one in the same league as Bale, Ronaldo etc he needs to do it every week.

He's only 1 and a half years younger than Bale, so age isn't be a factor, but mentality might be.

I really hope he improves his mental and physical game with more consistency.

Agree with Zola he needs to show more consistency as his standards are so high.

We know he can be a genius on his day, I want to see that more often next season if we are to class him as truly world class.

With the additions of Cesc and Costa the stage is set

Maybe he needs to play in the middle to show all his qualities? Defenders are starting to double up even more on him and he was taken out of games last season when he was on the left.

Hopefully we won't rely on him as our sole creative outlet for the entire upcoming season.  Glad we're adding around him, and glad we've got a striker who will now make the runs that he can feed.

Its a massive season for him. He needs to pull his socks up and do more this season.

Hes far too hit or miss for me, and at times lazy.

I fear he might become just another one of those overrated potentials who never make the heights people thought they would.

I hope its a magical season for him though.

 

Well he was voted 2nd best player in the league, behind only someone who was probably the best player in the world last year.

 

Hardly someone who didn't reach a high level.

 

But I do agree he has the ability to go further, but a lot of that hinges on people like Oscar and Costa taking some of those double teams off him.

Considering that Torres blew about 30 potential assists by Hazard, his stats are very impressive. With a more efficient striker and a handful of goals more he'll be player of the year this time for sure.

Of course he didn't have a terrible season, but if he wants to be thought of as one in the same league as Bale, Ronaldo etc he needs to do it every week.

He's only 1 and a half years younger than Bale, so age isn't be a factor, but mentality might be.

I really hope he improves his mental and physical game with more consistency.

To be fair to him, where was bale at eden's age? Hardly anyone had heard of him. I doubt even ronaldo was putting in great performances week in, week out at 22/23 years of age. Look at how good robben and ribery are; the latter being a late bloomer. I think he'll get better with age tbh. He still is a magnificent player, but last season was a long, hard slog, and we relied too much on hazard to create out of nothing.

Bale is only a year and a half older than him, and to be fair he'd been doing it week in week out for a few years at spurs.

The difference right now is Bale, Ronaldo etc find a way to make their impact every week no matter how well they are marked.

If Eden is to get to that level he has a lot to do.

Maybe this season he will get closer..

I agree with Zola on the consistency thing, he needs to do it over a full season to be up there with the best, and I think he will. I'm not so sure it will be this season though, after a world cup usually sees quite a few players struggle. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I guess so, but real madrid have never relied entirely on the one player as they have the likes of di maria, isco, benzema, even ramos to come up with goals; hell they have talent all over the field tbh. Last couple seasons we had no reliable strike force so had to rely on goals from midfield mainly, so a lot of our creativity came from eden (mainly), oscar and mata. At least this season we have costa and fabregas to help relieve the workload off hazard. I am hoping oscar, schurrle and willian step up too with the goals & assists as well next season. We still have passengers in the team who leave the work to others, but they all need to step up.

Edited August 5, 201411 yr by enigma

Bale is only a year and a half older than him, and to be fair he'd been doing it week in week out for a few years at spurs.

The difference right now is Bale, Ronaldo etc find a way to make their impact every week no matter how well they are marked.

If Eden is to get to that level he has a lot to do.

Maybe this season he will get closer..

I disagree about bale, he was just as inconsistent as hazard at the same age. It was only the second half of his last season at spurs, (which is how old hazard is now) that he was putting in match winning performances week in, week out. I remember quite a few people on here, described him as a kick an run specialist, and questioned whether he was worth £40m, the summer before he went to madrid.

I think it's also worth pointing out, how much of a physical specimen bale is. He has grown up playing in English football, Hazard has had 2 years of it.

As long as he keeps on improving, then we've got to happy. I wouldn't be suprized if it took him til around 27/28 to reach full potential.

Don't agree Big Blue, Bale was a match winner long before his last seaosn at Spurs.....

He got them into the CL place (which we took with joy) so you can't say he wasn't a match winner then because it was pretty obvious he was.

Don't agree Big Blue, Bale was a match winner long before his last seaosn at Spurs.....

He got them into the CL place (which we took with joy) so you can't say he wasn't a match winner then because it was pretty obvious he was.

He scored 9 in 36 in 2011/12 season. Yes he had a good games, but he wasn't any more consistent than what hazard was last season.

Edit: I didn't say he wasn't a match winner. My argument is the fact he wasn't world class week in week out.

I'd also argue hazard, is the better player now than Bale was at the same age. Hazard has won every individual award in France, young poty, and 2 team of the years in England.

Edited August 5, 201411 yr by big blue

To be fair to him, where was bale at eden's age? Hardly anyone had heard of him. I doubt even ronaldo was putting in great performances week in, week out at 22/23 years of age. Look at how good robben and ribery are; the latter being a late bloomer. I think he'll get better with age tbh. He still is a magnificent player, but last season was a long, hard slog, and we relied too much on hazard to create out of nothing.

Ronaldo scored scored more than 40 goals and 31 of them in the league at the age of 23 and also won the ballon'd or.

Don't agree Big Blue, Bale was a match winner long before his last seaosn at Spurs.....

He got them into the CL place (which we took with joy) so you can't say he wasn't a match winner then because it was pretty obvious he was.

 

He was but he also worked in spurts.  He went for half a season being anonymous the season before he left if I remember correctly.  Then he exploded into form after Christmas.  Hazard is generally more consistent over a season than he was, but Hazard isn't the goal scorer he is/was either, not yet.

 

If you watch Hazard highlight reels on YT, there are a shed load of incredible runs he makes only to have his outlet (often Torres) fluff the chance, or find nobody has made a run into the box leaving him with no options.  To get the best out of Hazard he needs a reliable outlet, and hopefully that outlet is Costa.  The addition of Fabregas also takes creative responsibility off his shoulders.  Many times last season it seemed like Hazard felt he had to do everything himself.  He starts on the left wing but often ended up moving around to attack from all sides, and to drop into CM to create; all while doing his defensive duty down whatever flank he was manning.  

 

Hopefully he won't have to take all that on himself any more and he can focus on driving at players from the wings since Fabregas can take those playmaking responsibilities and someone can pick him out for a change.  We were almost asking him to fulfil two or three roles at once.  This is why I was originally annoyed with Mata leaving, it just put a bigger burden on Hazard since Oscar isn't the silky passing type.  Those two used to combine often, with great results, and hopefully we get that back with Cesc.

Why do you guys refer to youtube when someone's skills are concerned?

Even Fernando Torres(Chelsea) looks one of the deadliest strikers in it. Lol

Why do you guys refer to youtube when someone's skills are concerned?

Even Fernando Torres(Chelsea) looks one of the deadliest strikers in it. Lol

 

Because we watch these players every week, we know what's accurate.  Too many of Hazard's highlights for us involve nothing becoming of the great chances he creates.

I just giving a general view. It's not about Hazard.

It's probably the only form of evidence you can judge on without watching full games of awful teams like spurs.

Why do you guys refer to youtube when someone's skills are concerned?

Even Fernando Torres(Chelsea) looks one of the deadliest strikers in it. Lol

 

To be fair, when it comes to Hazard Youtube is a good source. Some players are overhyped because there is literally one footage which shows all the good moments they ever created. But when it comes to Hazard, he literally creates 20 minutes worth of highlights every year that get an awful lot of views.

Moreover, everyone who watched our games last season will know that his impact on our game is just as big as Ronaldo's and Bale's impact was when they were his age - if not even bigger. He was almost always somehow involved in any good situation that we created last season, be it through a clever flick, a swift turn, a darting run or simply by drawing opposition players at him and creating space. 

 

The presence of Costa and Fabregas will do him good, and hopefully next season his stats will reflect just how amazing he is.