3 games in after a poor world cup.

He is still the one player in our team who can produce that little bit of magic on a regular basis to break down a defence.

opposition are going 2 men on him most of the game, difficult to find the space.

i agree with most of it, Hazard is overrated but he has huge potential i did think he was quiet against everton. On another note though i think Andre Schurrle is way underrated. Our team dynamic changes enormously with Schurrle in the side. I guess its all subjective as to what kind of plaer you personally like. From our reserves i prefer for example Jeremie Boga where as many prefer Loftus cheek, so its just down to taste.

For me, this is what happens when you have a quality player and the opposition take special care of him by doubling or even trebling up on him

Giggs had it early in his career and people wrote him off as overrated early doors

Our Adnan Januzaj is suffering something similar whereby the opposition are resorting to hacking him down

Rooney has had 2 or 3 players hacking at his ankles for a decade

It basically lowers peoples views on a player when in fact the player is actually creating more space for others in the process.

Hazard is an excellent player. He scares defences and that's what you need if you want players like Costa to find space

Im happy if the other team puts two or even three men on Hazard because it means more space for Fabregas to exploit. I also expect a resurgence from Oscar back to the form he showed from his first season

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comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 34 seconds ago
For his complete lack of effort in tracking Coleman, he probably should be dropped.
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srs?

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it would be a bit rash based off of one game, i'd give him a chance to correct his defending in the next game and then reevaluate from there. His attacking play counts in his favour more so than any of our other attacking mids.

If Hazard is quiet and taking two players out of the game through man marking I’d take that! Even when he’s not at his best he’s such a brilliant counter attack player, not in the Ronaldo dribble the length of the field way but he essentially uses the same move every time, his close ball control leaves opponents powerless to stop it even if they’ve been shown it in videos. Chelsea clear from a defensive position, the team seek Hazard deep on the left, he uses he’s acceleration to get away from the first man, will then get tracked by two as he approaches the half way line, cuts back inside and releases the ball to players now supporting and running on to the ball around the centre circle, this will normally be Scurrle or Willian who’ll have bags of space and a man over. We score from this so often and this will happen 3 times in most games. With Fabregas offering the option of an early longer pass from the midfield and Costa as a focal point this will be even more pronounced this season.

I have noticed though to get Hazard at his unplayable best he does suffer from burn out fairly easily, especially given the other options we now have I’d like to see him rested more often when we can afford to in order to keep him as explosive as possible.

I think we're creating from other areas and not as realiant on Hazard as before. This is a good thing.
There will be games he will win for us. The og he created at Everton and the 2nd v Leicester are evidence he's contributed.

Hazard overrated ??

Wow. If anything he is desperately underrated.

If he had moved to Utd the media would have creamed themselves over him.

Yes he had a poor WC but so do many excellent players.

Lukaku was also crap at the WC and got dropped yet you don't hear many going on about that, especially as Everton shelled out £28 million for him and he is yet to score a competitive goal for them since then.

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I think Hazard has all the potential there, he just doesn't seem to have the consistency or motivation right now. Time will tell.

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comment by Gazza (U1266)
posted 29 minutes ago
2 of their 3 goals came down his side. As did Mirallas' chance. If a player doesn't bother to defend/do his job, they are letting the entire team down.
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Coleman destroyed him, although that wasn't through a lack of effort, he did make a couple of last ditch tackles.

woah touching on nerve here for some fans ronny...remember how they get with their favourite players. The replies have been pretty nice in fairness though.

Hazard only plays 1 in 3/5 games a season. He seems to only be interested when the ball is near him, I wouldnt say he is generally lazy but he seems to lack the belief and/or energy to run at players for 45 or 90 minutes.
What he done to coleman was fantastic with his low sense of gravity but he probably had a 1 on 1 10 times in that game and just passed it back in square...Watch the Own goal goal again, he had the ball 1 on 1, played it infield, we nearly lost the ball, he got the ball back...thought about it, and THEN ran past him...I really don't know why he doesnt do it earlier.

I have been underwhelmed by hazard since he came. I dont think I have seen him play as well for us as I did when he played for lille the few times i saw him so many years ago now.

Its funny how a player quickly is called overrated over night. He was out of his depth against Everton, and its clear to me he struggles most with energetic fullbacks, who have the energy to get back and go forward, putting him on the back foot. Coleman demonstrated it perfectly, and in the past others have done too.

People do forget very quickly that he did have two good games against Burnley and Leicester. He also performs a lot better at home, when we generally have more possession.

For me people need to not forget the fact that out of the top 5 leagues in Europe, last year he created more chances and more dribbles than any other player. That is a STAGGERING accomplishment for such a young player.

I do agree with Nick though, against Everton he got into many positions 1 and 1, and he only took one to run at the defender. It was almost as if he was scared to lose the ball.

That being said he is to me still one of the best players in the team. And maybe its too harsh to judge him so early on! Fabregas struggled against Everton too, was bullied off the ball, but maybe because hes a new signing people are more forgiving.

Personally I can never see him becoming as good as the likes of Ronaldo or Messi. However I do think he has the ability to become as good or in fact better than the likes of Robben or Ribery.

I would also like to see him rotated a lot more, because from what I have seen in the past he actually improves a lot when he has something to prove and is fresh

had two good games against burnleyand leiceste? did you not watch the games?

Apart from his defensive role against Everton, he was fine. You can not expect him to be some sort of machine dribbling past players every single time. I believe he has the highest attempted and successful dribble rate already in the PL and had it last season. He didn't win YPOTY award last season being underwhelming, and 3 games in this season he has a goal and an assist (if the own goal gets counted as an assist) having played two different positions.

Watching him play it's also obvious how much he gets hacked and doubled up on. Making his contribution even more impressive. Needs to work on his defensive work though or get moved to the centre.

comment by Nickalopodis-BoomsObsession (U9257)
posted 41 minutes ago
had two good games against burnleyand leiceste? did you not watch the games?
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ugh not this again nick.

He scored against Leicester, created a few chances, and generally was the only positive player going forward in the first half. Burnley I thought everyone was fantastic, he contributed a lot for the 2nd goal, driving the team forward with a run and then laying it off to Ivan.

Seriously Nick it comes across sometimes that you hate Hazard. I'm no fan boy of him, as my comment suggests I do believe there is a lot of work for him to do, and I do believe he needs to be rotated. However to discredit his previous two games when he played well, is just kinda bitter.

He scored against Leicester, created a few chances, and generally was the only positive player going forward in the first half. Burnley I thought everyone was fantastic, he contributed a lot for the 2nd goal, driving the team forward with a run and then laying it off to Ivan.
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Agree with this assessment

Let's swap him for Milner. He's good at covering the wing

He may not be Messi or Ronaldo potential but he is just as good if not better than Robben was for us when he was at Chelsea..............people have unrealistic expectations of Hazard and don't see the bigger picture...eg Hazard worries and occupies alot of opposition players therefore creating space for our other players to exploit.............he is by far one of our most important player alongside Costa and Fabregas

In fact let me summarise for ease of comprehension..................People criticising Hazard so far this season must be feckin morons!