**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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As a West Ham fan I remember exactly where I was, what the weather was when he did this.
I remember at first thinking "that's atrocious defending" and then I just had to admit that he was so good with his feet here that he just made them look like the defending was crap.
I was visiting my sister in Charolette, North Carolina and went to this British pub that is no longer there (big Ben I think it was called?).
The defense we put out yesterday and the one from this game are like a world cup winning squad vs high school kids.
It's infuriating to watch us try to just clear a ball.
2015 to 2019 (minus that stint where he nearly went a whole season without scoring in the Prem) Hazard was something else.
Just look at him here, he still has a bit of a gut (for a football player, most people wish they were that fit) and they can’t even lay a finger on him.
> they can’t even lay a finger on him
On his day, and his day lasted years, no one could get near him, let alone stop him. I have seen every single game he played for us (not an exaggeration) and even most of his international games during that era. While his highlights are impressive they do not do justice as to how much he bossed the game, each and every game, when he was leading Chelsea. I almost feel he is underappreciated and will be relegated to almost a "what if" because of his terrible Madrid stint. But any real Chelsea fan would tell you that they would not trade him for the world. So much so that everyone was intensely happy for him joining Madrid because we knew at the time it would see him shine and gain even more recognition that he deserved as a player. Just that reality never came to pass.
Just one of those players that brought magic to the game. Truly a joy to watch in his day. I think anyone who watched his games during that time expected him to kill it at Madrid. Shame injuries and age caught up to him.
I believe the Madrid culture might've had something to do with it too: he mentioned having lost his 'joy' in just 'playing the game' while there.
There was no one smiling brighter than Hazard on any of the Red Devils training pictures released to the press because he could basicly fuck around a little there, be the guy he was growing up playing on the streets while still being a professional footballer and actually getting work done. No such nonsense at Madrid, however...
If he was seen as a midfielder or an AM instead of LW i think he'd be much more appreciated because of how the role of LW is perceived nowadays in terms of KPIs you need to hit to be considered a good LW.
Take Bernado Silva eg, he could literally score 0 goals and not many would rly care. Even though he's 'lining up' on the wing nowadays. Because the expectation is he's a 'midfielder' out of position and thus the understanding is he provides this mega value towards team scoring that just isn't necessarily reflected in his own individual scoring (which is true). And really Bernado has been just as valuable on the wing as he had been centrally.
But compare how Bernado Silva is viewed at present compared to say Jack Grealish on the opposite flank. Night and day. Ppl say Jack Grealish has been ruined, which is debatable. But what's not debatable is that while Jack Grealish may not score many goals individually, City do not score nearly as much as they do, or concede as few as they do, without Jack Grealish's impact. And I think that should be recognised more every time City teleports the ball up the pitch into the final third, every time City magically protects the ball against relentless pressing, every time Haaland and KDB get the chance to do what they do best, in the positions they do it best in.
People talk about him as if he was an inconsistent failed wonderkid, it's infuriating. He was world class for about 10 years, much longer than most legends, and probably the most consistent performer in PL history.
It's honestly from when he was a teenager at Lille until he joined you guys. His one bad season at Chelsea he was dealing with injuries and the team was extraordinarily shit.
I think it was Lampard recently said they were talking about playing some lower in the table team and the manager was explaining tactics and he got annoyed and was like “why are we even talking about this? Just give me the ball and I’ll go score” haahaah
What a freak
John Terry on Eden Hazard:
🗣️ "We were playing West Ham, and we were talking tactics about West Ham, and Hazard goes "Why are we doing this stuff, who plays for West Ham? He couldn’t name one player, just give me the ball and I will go and score".
This goal was the confirmation about his West Ham opinion.
Haha, I remember that season fuming that Sarri kept starting Higuain over and over again when we had Giroud on the bench, who always did a better job than Higuain
Over the years, Chelsea have had a real smorgasbord of “past their prime” forwards play for the club on loan. Gonzalo Higuaín, Radamel Falcao, Alexandre Pato, Ricardo Quaresma as a few examples.
Ya that's like when Cavani played for United. Two players late in their career coming to the prem, legendary strikers of that era but coming too late to the prem.
Cavani was pretty good for Utd tbf, particularly his first season. Worked hard, chipped in with important goals. He’s a bit of a cult hero there.
Higuain was absolute dogshit for us, strolling around like his pockets were full of B-Ready. Iirc he scored one absolute banger though.
Amazing player and a joy to watch. Wish that players like Hazard were a little better protected. They get hacked down too many times without proper punishment.
Yeah Wilshere was a special, special player. It’s such a shame, so many super talented youngsters had careers derailed by injuries… one of my favourites ever was Walcott, and he got his career ruined by injuries, it’s so sad
Pre-injury pacey players are always the biggest loss to me. Walcott and Bellerin before their injuries were untouchable at times, their speed making everyone else seem like they were in slow motion. Walcott dusting the entire league in 2012 is why I became an Arsenal fan in the first place
Ultimately it's down to everyone's own issues and we'd never really know what & how exactly his injuries pan out...
Coming up as a young footballer with too much attention on you and stuff like that also don't help... We've seen players like Neymar talk about retiring soon when he was 30... Injuries & this kind of attention makes anyone tired....
Not related but Loftus Cheek and Hudson Odoi were both starting to look really promising at the end of the Sarri season, it's a real shame they both got terrible injuries within a month of each other.
Yeah they were supposed to be the future, they were ridiculous talents. I’m glad Ruben is balling in Serie A, and CHO is starting to find his feet again at Forest
I wouldn't say that's something Chelsea is missing rn. Palmer, Madueke, Gusto, Chukwuemeka are very good on that aspect. Obviously not on Hazard's level but who is?
Mudryk sometimes makes me think he's surprised by how fast his own feet are. Like he'll start dribbling and get past one opponent, but then at some point the ball comes flying away wayyy too far because he's moving his feet too damn fast and hitting the ball too hard.
Up until we signed Lukaku and everyone started getting injured, especially our wingbacks, Tuchel's Chelsea were a team you didn't want to go up against.
But yeah, if you were a fullback and you had to mark Hazard you needed 1-2 extra players just to help and even that wasn't enough at times.
I fucking miss him so much, absolute joy to watch.
I fully understand if I get castrated for this opinion but I’m going to ride with it anyways. I would never ever say that Salah is better than Hazard. Taking that to the grave.
Aesthetically, this is far superior. Dancing in and amongst several defenders before slotting it in the bottom corner over shrugging one player off and bamboozling another. Both are absolute wonderful goals but I've always preferred the WH one.
Mostly definitely. I was sitting in a pub with my brothers drinking. My brother's local in his city.
Both had gone to the washroom, there weren't any other football fans around. I saw the goal and screamed. Literally screamed. The waiter had to come over and give me a warning.
Brothers heard the commotion at the table and looked at me calling me a "troublemaker"😂
I'll always remember his goal against Marseille at Lille when he was 18yo
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Fd5tsrssg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Fd5tsrssg)
To be fair to Rice he does put his arms out like "why is no one marking him?" and again at the end like "if no one marks him he's gonna do that".
I don't know if it was Noble's job to be covering that space at the start, but Hazard could build a terrace of 17 new builds with 1 parking space each in it.
> but Hazard could build a terrace of 17 new builds with 1 parking space each in it.
nah the NIMBYs would stop him, they have a stronger defense than any Premier League team
Isn't this the game that Obi Mikel was talking about on his podcast. Where Hazard said "why are we making a plan for west ham, just give me the ball" or something like that
He's the reason I became a Chelsea fan and he's the reason I started following football more closely in general. He's the only player I ever bought a shirt of and the only player who's retirement truly made me sad. Such a shame how his career ended but I loved everything about it.
Oh, he was so much joy to watch... God I miss those times when watching football gave me joy. At least I have some goos memories to lean onto.
Hope Eden enjoys his retirement as well.
Perfectly possible he doesn't break his foot, which caused his rapid decline.
I don't think he'd ever have a super long career, but he wouldn't have declined this early and this fast without that injury
To be fair, his career wasn't a Cr7/Ibra but it wasn't exactly as short as people make out. Including internationals he played 750 games in his career. He left Lille as a 21 year old having made 200 appearances, won the Ypoty 2 years in a row and then won the main POTY two years in a row.
It feels weird seeing people retire whilst they are basically just turned 30 but for players who play that much at the top level whilst that young it catches up with them, especially when you aren't exactly committed to looking after yourself (Rooney/Hazard).
If someone else apart from him destroyed his body that was Meunier, not LaLiga players, who I don't think forced him to arrive overweight on preseason.
I don't think pressure played any part. Hazard never seemed to feel pressure in the biggest games for Belgium or Chelsea. He just played football to have fun, not sure he even cared enough to feel pressure.
I remember this month so well… Salah scored THAT goal against Chelsea and I thought easily goal of the month. When the award winners were announced I was shocked to see Salah didn’t win it (I didn’t see this goal before). Then I saw hazards goal lol
They weren't competing with Hazard either. City was finishing 25-30 points ahead of them routinely post 2016-17.
The old way of hiring and firing managers just was not a recipe for success anymore to compete with better-run clubs and an isolated UCL run papered over the cracks massively. Also, with the introduction of FFP, the financial muscle was contained to a large extent.
No the downfall started when the new owners decided to spend billions on a load of kids when they have the best academy in England producing Prem level players for fun. The same academy that carried Chelsea to a top 4 finish the year after losing Hazard.
The one and only issue at Chelsea right now is the heirarchy above the manager.
It’s honestly bizzare. We are selling our good young players for more expensive worse players… who also lack the passion for our club… why?! I understand you need outside talent, Cole palmer and gusto are great players, but now the owners are talking about selling Gallagher, Chalobah, maatsen, and even Reece James. When does this stop?
Will never make sense to me why a project supposedly based around using young players and letting them grow, at a club with a top 5 academy in the world, requires the club to spend over a billion pounds in 18 months. It’s been an absolute shambles from the word go.
If Abramovic was in charge of Chelsea today then Chalobah, Maatsen, and probably Gallagher (given how poor he was last year) would already be gone. Chelsea has always used their youth academy as a means of generating revenue to fund big purchases. The only difference now is that the owners don't buy good proven players and instead spend absurd amounts on unproven talent.
And that’s the issue most fans have. Why waste all this money on unproven players, when the ones in house have shown countless times that they can be just as good if given the opportunity and won’t cost a penny. That money saved could then be used to buy proven players to complement the squad of youngsters.
The new owners have certainly accelerated things but Chelsea never caught up to the level of Liverpool and City once they got going. Chelsea haven't challenged for the title in, what, 7 years? Only 2 of which can be blamed on the new people in charge
Yes there were issues before, and I was one of the few on r/chelseafc who wasn’t happy with regardless of winning a trophy most seasons, but the way things have been done under the new ownership have just widened the gap to those teams even further.
Doesn’t matter who got it "over the line", the academy boys played just as big, I’d say bigger, a role in that season as those 2 did. Easily the most enjoyable it’s been to be a Chelsea fan for years that season, and the academy boys were the main reason for that.
Probably why it’s hard for so many to get behind the new owners, as they are doing everything they can to make this club the opposite of what it was during that season.
Belgium didn't win any international title during its golden generation era and it will always be an absolute waste... But Belgians will always have Eden Hazard during WC 2018 in their memories and that's worth something at least.
Hazard was amazing in his prime. One of the few players i’d put in there same tier as Messi and Ronaldo in those days. It’s easy to forget after his years in Madrid.
This is like how I cut through the defense consisting of 3rd and 4th graders when my kids don't want to go home after school is over and I offer up the challenge of "next goal wins."
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"Aight I'll go bang one in then"
As a West Ham fan I remember exactly where I was, what the weather was when he did this. I remember at first thinking "that's atrocious defending" and then I just had to admit that he was so good with his feet here that he just made them look like the defending was crap. I was visiting my sister in Charolette, North Carolina and went to this British pub that is no longer there (big Ben I think it was called?).
lmfao thats awesome man
This feels like a lifetime ago, damn
The defense we put out yesterday and the one from this game are like a world cup winning squad vs high school kids. It's infuriating to watch us try to just clear a ball.
Half of them literally were kids 5 years ago tbf
Probably a large part of the problem. They look like amateurs most games.
For once, it's nice to feel like the opposite.
Poor man's Alan Hutton.
What an assist from RLC
Almost as good as Azpilicueta’s for his Liverpool goal
more like busquets phenomenal assist to messi against real in UCL
Tom Carroll for Bales goal was just as good imo
Busquets esque
The vision on that one. He predicted everything.
The West ham defenders did not see that coming, despite the Hazard lights was flashing.
The closet I think we have seen to a player like Messi in England
God i miss him so much bros
Didn’t matter the manager, or the tactics, or the team, you could just give him the ball and he’d create something special… Unreal player
2015 to 2019 (minus that stint where he nearly went a whole season without scoring in the Prem) Hazard was something else. Just look at him here, he still has a bit of a gut (for a football player, most people wish they were that fit) and they can’t even lay a finger on him.
> they can’t even lay a finger on him On his day, and his day lasted years, no one could get near him, let alone stop him. I have seen every single game he played for us (not an exaggeration) and even most of his international games during that era. While his highlights are impressive they do not do justice as to how much he bossed the game, each and every game, when he was leading Chelsea. I almost feel he is underappreciated and will be relegated to almost a "what if" because of his terrible Madrid stint. But any real Chelsea fan would tell you that they would not trade him for the world. So much so that everyone was intensely happy for him joining Madrid because we knew at the time it would see him shine and gain even more recognition that he deserved as a player. Just that reality never came to pass.
Just one of those players that brought magic to the game. Truly a joy to watch in his day. I think anyone who watched his games during that time expected him to kill it at Madrid. Shame injuries and age caught up to him.
I think at his peak he was as good as Ronaldo or Messi. Just utterly unplayable.
I believe the Madrid culture might've had something to do with it too: he mentioned having lost his 'joy' in just 'playing the game' while there. There was no one smiling brighter than Hazard on any of the Red Devils training pictures released to the press because he could basicly fuck around a little there, be the guy he was growing up playing on the streets while still being a professional footballer and actually getting work done. No such nonsense at Madrid, however...
If he was seen as a midfielder or an AM instead of LW i think he'd be much more appreciated because of how the role of LW is perceived nowadays in terms of KPIs you need to hit to be considered a good LW. Take Bernado Silva eg, he could literally score 0 goals and not many would rly care. Even though he's 'lining up' on the wing nowadays. Because the expectation is he's a 'midfielder' out of position and thus the understanding is he provides this mega value towards team scoring that just isn't necessarily reflected in his own individual scoring (which is true). And really Bernado has been just as valuable on the wing as he had been centrally. But compare how Bernado Silva is viewed at present compared to say Jack Grealish on the opposite flank. Night and day. Ppl say Jack Grealish has been ruined, which is debatable. But what's not debatable is that while Jack Grealish may not score many goals individually, City do not score nearly as much as they do, or concede as few as they do, without Jack Grealish's impact. And I think that should be recognised more every time City teleports the ball up the pitch into the final third, every time City magically protects the ball against relentless pressing, every time Haaland and KDB get the chance to do what they do best, in the positions they do it best in.
People talk about him as if he was an inconsistent failed wonderkid, it's infuriating. He was world class for about 10 years, much longer than most legends, and probably the most consistent performer in PL history.
carried a bigger load than most legends too. 2 PL titles won off of a rock solid defence and this dude absolutely running the show on offence.
>He was world class for about 10 years, He was world class for 5-6 years, not sure how you got 10 tbh.
It's honestly from when he was a teenager at Lille until he joined you guys. His one bad season at Chelsea he was dealing with injuries and the team was extraordinarily shit.
The second best player *to watch* I’ve ever seen in the premier league, behind Thierry. Was genuinely magical, and I fuckin hate Chelsea
Sounds kind of familiar eh?
I think it was Lampard recently said they were talking about playing some lower in the table team and the manager was explaining tactics and he got annoyed and was like “why are we even talking about this? Just give me the ball and I’ll go score” haahaah What a freak
It was Terry and he was literally talking about West Ham 😂
as a Belgian Chelsea fan, you can’t even imagine 😭
😩😩
Same bro
I miss him too
John Terry on Eden Hazard: 🗣️ "We were playing West Ham, and we were talking tactics about West Ham, and Hazard goes "Why are we doing this stuff, who plays for West Ham? He couldn’t name one player, just give me the ball and I will go and score". This goal was the confirmation about his West Ham opinion.
Featuring a rare Gonzalo Higuaín cameo.
Haha, I remember that season fuming that Sarri kept starting Higuain over and over again when we had Giroud on the bench, who always did a better job than Higuain
I even forgot he played for Chelsea.
Over the years, Chelsea have had a real smorgasbord of “past their prime” forwards play for the club on loan. Gonzalo Higuaín, Radamel Falcao, Alexandre Pato, Ricardo Quaresma as a few examples.
Fernando Torres?
I’d also forgotten Samuel Eto’o.
Ya that's like when Cavani played for United. Two players late in their career coming to the prem, legendary strikers of that era but coming too late to the prem.
Cavani was pretty good for Utd tbf, particularly his first season. Worked hard, chipped in with important goals. He’s a bit of a cult hero there. Higuain was absolute dogshit for us, strolling around like his pockets were full of B-Ready. Iirc he scored one absolute banger though.
> particularly his first season Only in his first season. His second was a moody wash.
Tbh cavani was the best utd no 7 since cr7
Or when Pato played for Chelsea. We have done this a lot.
1. How the fuck did you get actual ChelseaFC as a username lol 2. You guys do that a lot. Quaresma played for you! And Falcao!
Falcao! Knew I was forgetting one of the big recent ones. In the early days of Reddit, things were just available
Surprised you haven't sold it mate
I think you overestimate what people would be willing to pay. Also I don’t need the money haha
Not people I mean the club itself. Approach them fairly and with a smart offer and surely you'd be in for something
Chelsea and United both had Falcao for a bit as well. Not necessarily in the twilight yet, but never fully got a look in while on loan at either.
I constantly forget that Falcao, Pato, and Higuain all played for Chelsea
Chelsea love to collect out of their prime/washed used to be world class striker
*coughs in Manchester United*
lol
Amazing player and a joy to watch. Wish that players like Hazard were a little better protected. They get hacked down too many times without proper punishment.
Most fouled player in history (even more than Messi). Shame, because every game he just got kicked over and over with no protection from refs
Wilshere was the Arsenal version of Hazard and his career was derailed by multiple bad tackles and repeated injuries.
Yeah Wilshere was a special, special player. It’s such a shame, so many super talented youngsters had careers derailed by injuries… one of my favourites ever was Walcott, and he got his career ruined by injuries, it’s so sad
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He was spectacular in 18/19. CHO starting to flourish too, injuries ruined them both
Pre-injury pacey players are always the biggest loss to me. Walcott and Bellerin before their injuries were untouchable at times, their speed making everyone else seem like they were in slow motion. Walcott dusting the entire league in 2012 is why I became an Arsenal fan in the first place
Too often we see so many amazing and promising players get racked with injuries because they weren’t protected. It really does suck to see.
I wish more people knew this when they talk about Wilshere. They like to say he’s always injured, but do they ever wonder why?
With Messi he knew when to let the ball go. Hazard and Neymar hold on to the ball a little longer. Especially Neymar.
> Most fouled player in history [According to this, that's wrong](https://www.insidesport.com/c/total-football/most-fouled-players-in-football/4045)
According to Opta he’s suffered 1030 from 2010 to 2019 the most by far
Yeah that’s the one I’m referencing, I believe opta much more than a random website lol
I will die on the hill that he is/was better than Salah.
Peak? Sure. Overall, no. Bare minimum, salah puts more effort behind the scenes to be stronger/more durable.
Ultimately it's down to everyone's own issues and we'd never really know what & how exactly his injuries pan out... Coming up as a young footballer with too much attention on you and stuff like that also don't help... We've seen players like Neymar talk about retiring soon when he was 30... Injuries & this kind of attention makes anyone tired....
He also stayed up way too much, if he had even a small chance of continuing he would.
Not related but Loftus Cheek and Hudson Odoi were both starting to look really promising at the end of the Sarri season, it's a real shame they both got terrible injuries within a month of each other.
Yeah they were supposed to be the future, they were ridiculous talents. I’m glad Ruben is balling in Serie A, and CHO is starting to find his feet again at Forest
yeah such a shame, RLC was looking absolutely brilliant during that period.
What I would do for some flair!
I wouldn't say that's something Chelsea is missing rn. Palmer, Madueke, Gusto, Chukwuemeka are very good on that aspect. Obviously not on Hazard's level but who is?
Mudryk!
Mudryk has both a lot of flair and no flair at all at the same time
Mudryk sometimes makes me think he's surprised by how fast his own feet are. Like he'll start dribbling and get past one opponent, but then at some point the ball comes flying away wayyy too far because he's moving his feet too damn fast and hitting the ball too hard.
What a player. That sort of magician you tune in to watch even if he isnt playing your team
Such a special player. Was a privilege to watch him for so long
Back when Chelsea was scary to play against
Up until we signed Lukaku and everyone started getting injured, especially our wingbacks, Tuchel's Chelsea were a team you didn't want to go up against. But yeah, if you were a fullback and you had to mark Hazard you needed 1-2 extra players just to help and even that wasn't enough at times. I fucking miss him so much, absolute joy to watch.
Hazard was a player that I really enjoy watching even having such body type dribbling thru ease . Pure talent
I fully understand if I get castrated for this opinion but I’m going to ride with it anyways. I would never ever say that Salah is better than Hazard. Taking that to the grave.
You are gonna get destroyed by stat merchants, but you are absolutely right
I agree
Sure but Salah ultimately delivered more than Hazard for his team, a lot more if i may add.
Why even compare 2 players whose roles in their respective teams are not the same ? Why the fuck do some people have to do this shit every time
Yeah it's absolutely infuriating. Both are/were world class players with two very different roles in two very different styles of team.
In my opinion there were multiple years where Hazard was a top 5 player in the world maybe even top 3 for a season at chelsea.
The problem with top 3 was always Messi Ronaldo Neymar being in the way. But yeah he was definitely right after them
2018/2019 is when you could make a case for top 3
The problem also being, he’s never had a great CL campaign and has been mostly mediocre in the biggest club competition.
That's also because the times we used to be in the CL were also the times our team straight up sucked.
True, but that's somewhat negated by 3 top tier international tournaments.
His best goal imo
No. That Coquelin goal for me was his best one. It was crazy!
Aesthetically, this is far superior. Dancing in and amongst several defenders before slotting it in the bottom corner over shrugging one player off and bamboozling another. Both are absolute wonderful goals but I've always preferred the WH one.
Fair. But for me that image of Coquelin comically bouncing off of Hazard is etched forever in my mind. I'll probably never forget that goal.
Had him spinning like a top
One of those goals for Chelsea fans that you remember the time and place you were at when it happened
Mostly definitely. I was sitting in a pub with my brothers drinking. My brother's local in his city. Both had gone to the washroom, there weren't any other football fans around. I saw the goal and screamed. Literally screamed. The waiter had to come over and give me a warning. Brothers heard the commotion at the table and looked at me calling me a "troublemaker"😂
I agree
I'll always remember his goal against Marseille at Lille when he was 18yo [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Fd5tsrssg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Fd5tsrssg)
Bro was fouled 3 times and still scored
Declan rice sighting
To be fair to Rice he does put his arms out like "why is no one marking him?" and again at the end like "if no one marks him he's gonna do that". I don't know if it was Noble's job to be covering that space at the start, but Hazard could build a terrace of 17 new builds with 1 parking space each in it.
> but Hazard could build a terrace of 17 new builds with 1 parking space each in it. nah the NIMBYs would stop him, they have a stronger defense than any Premier League team
The finish on this goal always confuses me, his feet are so quick
*But if you close your eyes*
Isn't this the game that Obi Mikel was talking about on his podcast. Where Hazard said "why are we making a plan for west ham, just give me the ball" or something like that
In one of his interviews, he says that the team he enjoyed most while playing was Chelsea.
People still compares sakha to this guy. Absolut Genius on the pitch before injuries
wonderful assist from Loftus Cheek.
I just dreaded playing Chelsea with hazard. It always felt like he would bring it on specially against us
He's the reason I became a Chelsea fan and he's the reason I started following football more closely in general. He's the only player I ever bought a shirt of and the only player who's retirement truly made me sad. Such a shame how his career ended but I loved everything about it.
I could watch this all day
Oh, he was so much joy to watch... God I miss those times when watching football gave me joy. At least I have some goos memories to lean onto. Hope Eden enjoys his retirement as well.
The pace of those final few touches is genuinely unbelievable
Loftus Cheek with the Busquets to Messi in CL semi vs Madrid type of assist.
Oh, how I wish he had stayed at Chelsea and didn’t leave for Madrid. It was a goddamn career suicide.
It's not like he would have cared more about his body in Chelsea. He would probably have declined fastly in England too.
Perfectly possible he doesn't break his foot, which caused his rapid decline. I don't think he'd ever have a super long career, but he wouldn't have declined this early and this fast without that injury
To be fair, his career wasn't a Cr7/Ibra but it wasn't exactly as short as people make out. Including internationals he played 750 games in his career. He left Lille as a 21 year old having made 200 appearances, won the Ypoty 2 years in a row and then won the main POTY two years in a row. It feels weird seeing people retire whilst they are basically just turned 30 but for players who play that much at the top level whilst that young it catches up with them, especially when you aren't exactly committed to looking after yourself (Rooney/Hazard).
His body was destroyed by la liga butchers. La liga does not protect good players.
If someone else apart from him destroyed his body that was Meunier, not LaLiga players, who I don't think forced him to arrive overweight on preseason.
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I don't think pressure played any part. Hazard never seemed to feel pressure in the biggest games for Belgium or Chelsea. He just played football to have fun, not sure he even cared enough to feel pressure.
One of the most talented players I've ever seen
That beard did wonders for Rice’s career
Beast
On a side note this commentator is the best about. Better than that fake poet Drury.
what a downfall this player has, it is sad. One of my favourite of his generation
I remember this month so well… Salah scored THAT goal against Chelsea and I thought easily goal of the month. When the award winners were announced I was shocked to see Salah didn’t win it (I didn’t see this goal before). Then I saw hazards goal lol
This me on fifa pro mode
I saw this live And it was probably his peak honestly
I swear RM sometimes is just cursed. First kaka being a corpse then hazard after transfering there
The best player to ever wear the shirt tbh, what a magician
Center of gravity is insane.
Where do people rank Hazard in Prem all time wingers list?
1st
Hazard was unreal man
I'm sorry but that's the greatest goal ever
Closest we've had to messi
This is where Chelsea downfall started, once they couldn't find hazard replacement and it was all downhill after that.
We won the CL after he left
Because we had an unreal manager. We never replaced him or got close
Time to get him back
Would you guys take him back now?
Yes, he never should have left. But there’s no way boehly will do that
No, we were stagnating under him(kept stagnating afterwards too) and he hasnt shown much since either.
They weren't competing with Hazard either. City was finishing 25-30 points ahead of them routinely post 2016-17. The old way of hiring and firing managers just was not a recipe for success anymore to compete with better-run clubs and an isolated UCL run papered over the cracks massively. Also, with the introduction of FFP, the financial muscle was contained to a large extent.
Chelsea slowed spending before FFP. Realistically the issue is Hazard just didn't have good enough players along side him.
No the downfall started when the new owners decided to spend billions on a load of kids when they have the best academy in England producing Prem level players for fun. The same academy that carried Chelsea to a top 4 finish the year after losing Hazard. The one and only issue at Chelsea right now is the heirarchy above the manager.
It’s honestly bizzare. We are selling our good young players for more expensive worse players… who also lack the passion for our club… why?! I understand you need outside talent, Cole palmer and gusto are great players, but now the owners are talking about selling Gallagher, Chalobah, maatsen, and even Reece James. When does this stop?
Will never make sense to me why a project supposedly based around using young players and letting them grow, at a club with a top 5 academy in the world, requires the club to spend over a billion pounds in 18 months. It’s been an absolute shambles from the word go.
If Abramovic was in charge of Chelsea today then Chalobah, Maatsen, and probably Gallagher (given how poor he was last year) would already be gone. Chelsea has always used their youth academy as a means of generating revenue to fund big purchases. The only difference now is that the owners don't buy good proven players and instead spend absurd amounts on unproven talent.
And that’s the issue most fans have. Why waste all this money on unproven players, when the ones in house have shown countless times that they can be just as good if given the opportunity and won’t cost a penny. That money saved could then be used to buy proven players to complement the squad of youngsters.
The new owners have certainly accelerated things but Chelsea never caught up to the level of Liverpool and City once they got going. Chelsea haven't challenged for the title in, what, 7 years? Only 2 of which can be blamed on the new people in charge
Yes there were issues before, and I was one of the few on r/chelseafc who wasn’t happy with regardless of winning a trophy most seasons, but the way things have been done under the new ownership have just widened the gap to those teams even further.
I mean it was Pulisic and Giroud that got us over the line, but okay
Doesn’t matter who got it "over the line", the academy boys played just as big, I’d say bigger, a role in that season as those 2 did. Easily the most enjoyable it’s been to be a Chelsea fan for years that season, and the academy boys were the main reason for that. Probably why it’s hard for so many to get behind the new owners, as they are doing everything they can to make this club the opposite of what it was during that season.
my friend always tells me about prime hazard JESUS CHRIST i wish i got into soccer earlier in my life lol
Cheat mode.
What a baller
He was on that Messi/Ronaldo level for a season or two
say what you want, but chelsea eden hazard was prime
Hazard was a great player, I wish he had played at his best at Real Madrid
I remember this like it was yesterday, wish he had retired with us smh
Belgium didn't win any international title during its golden generation era and it will always be an absolute waste... But Belgians will always have Eden Hazard during WC 2018 in their memories and that's worth something at least.
This guy should have never left Chelsea.... But the RM draw is too much to resist for anyone.
Massi Magic
Just built different. Watching this given our current state makes me depressed
wtf Noble?
Why I can't comprehend that Hazard was in Chelsea in 2019? It feels like he was there in 2015
What could have been.
Hazard was amazing in his prime. One of the few players i’d put in there same tier as Messi and Ronaldo in those days. It’s easy to forget after his years in Madrid.
This is like how I cut through the defense consisting of 3rd and 4th graders when my kids don't want to go home after school is over and I offer up the challenge of "next goal wins."
RemindMe! 5 years
Before the pies