I've been searching for it, but I can't seem to find any blame for Eden Hazard.
Last year's player of the season, and someone who many said is among the best players in the world. So if such a footballer is apparently so elite, he ought to be able to rise when the going gets tough, and during a time that his team are underperforming and need him the most.
Is that not what an elite footballer should be capable of doing?
What is funny is that as good as Chelsea were last season, there were matches where they weren't good. Abject, one-dimensional and too defensive. I can recall several matches where they parked the planet of Saturn in front of goal, looking for a draw. But guess who came through to get that winning goal or the key assist? Nope, not Fabregas...but Eden Hazard.
As much as I love and still love Chez, I cannot argue that Hazard was the best player in the Premiership last season. The amount of times that he came through for Chelsea were endless. I wouldn't go as far as to say he was a one-man team, but without him, there is no way Chelsea would have won the league. That was how important his presence was for the team. At the time, I refused to put him up as an elite world-class player, but at least then the conversation could be had. To lead a team so effectively in one of the toughest leaguest in the world, earns you some street-cred.
Fast-forward several months, and I don't know what this Eden Hazard has done with the player that we saw last season. He hasn't scored a single goal in any competition this season thus far and he plays like someone who just doesn't know what to do.
Running around in circles, making passes of no consequence and hardly makes those adventurous runs into the box which was the source of a bulk of his G's last season. He has been playing like someone not looking to be considered for the Ballon D'OR, but instead, the Brick Academy.
Don't worry, we are about to review his application.
With Mourinho now sacked and everyone rejoicing that the true reason for their plight being removed, I truly wonder when people will turn on the players. For someone who was touted as a world-class player, why should he be so dependent on tactics? After all, isn't this the same formation and strategy that served Mourinho so well last season? Why has Hazard been unable to get his game on and pull out some results for Chelsea in the way the he did before?
Questions, questions, questions. And HH needs answers.
As I wait these answers, for now, Hazard is done to me. The final straw was him subbing himself off after a light tackle from Vardy during a very important game. He wasn't truly injured but as he saw how the match wasn't going his way, knowing the amount of pressure that would be on his shoulders, the boy took the chump's way out. Hazard was not ready to put his neck on the line for Mourinho and with him gone, nobody is calling him out for it. No one is chastizing this so-called "world class" player for not sticking it out and getting his team out of a tough fix. And my stupid self, I actually predicted Hazard would have a man-of-the-match performance, win Chelsea the game and this would be the turnaround to their season.
Note to self: never trust Bricks or potential Bricks.
With a new manger coming in, Hazard has no excuses. But let me tell you this, even if he starts playing up to his level and is that Hazard we saw the previous season, it changes nothing to me. The way in which he underperformed during strenuous circumstances but Willian flourished will never be forgotten by me. For that, he can never be seen as a truly great footballer. Just merely a talented cat without character or a backbone.
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HH
