Eden Hazard | "I am signing for Chelsea"

Status
Not open for further replies.
If we sign him, I'll do something stupid that I've never done before. Get a player name and number on the back of my shirt. I'll even buy the ridiculous 2012-2013 kit, and what with the price of kits and name printing these days should go 80% of the way to us actually signing him anyway. Number 7, too.
 
If we sign him, I'll do something stupid that I've never done before. Get a player name and number on the back of my shirt. I'll even buy the ridiculous 2012-2013 kit, and what with the price of kits and name printing these days should go 80% of the way to us actually signing him anyway. Number 7, too.

Get the white kit if you're getting one next season.
 
It's definitely positive that we're still in the running despite City and Chelsea's millions. I am however not sure him wanting to play behind the striker is overall positive for us, with Rooney playing that position or us. Then again, it does seem plausible that we want him to play as a striker with Owen and Berba leaving, unless we've got other plans in that department.

He'll probably get more playing time at City though, if Mancini keeps using his stars in every game.
 
Okay.

The latest Hazard quotes seem positive. Football issues are paramount with him, and that's got to be good for us. Chelsea don't have a manager and can hardly give him reassurances about his role in the team. City might buy Messi tomorrow, and can give nobody reassurances about anything.

I hate conspiracy theories but I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if:

1. City have offered a lot more than £110k a week. Seems a bit of a convenient leak.
2. They have also offered both him and his agent lucrative signing on fees.
3. They have asked him to make it clear it is between the three of us.
4. He chooses City sighting "Football" reasons and for "Reasonable Wage".
5. City look like they can now attract players without offering them silly wages. Great PR.


It just seems a little weird that City are offering "half of what Chelsea are offering".


ali2.jpg
 
Number 10 behind the striker? Isn't that Rooney's position? I can't see us leaving Welbeck out of the first team after the season he just had, and there is also Chicharito. He will have to play wide to get into our team i would think

He scored 12 goals in 39 games. Which is perfectly fine from a young, up-and-coming striker whose best years are ahead of him but it's hardly the "oh my god he can't be left out of the first team" level.

I hope that the persistent rumours about both Kagawa and Hazard mean that we'll play 4-4-2 less frequently (though that would also require the purchase of a proper central midfielder but ignore that for the moment). In that case, Rooney will move to the number nine position at last and we can have a proper number 10 - if Fergie sees Hazard as such. Then again if he doesn't, the guy won't join us so...
 
Thinking about it, it could be a bad sign this.

Eden Hazard: "I am pleased to be able to play in my best position behind the striker, as a no.10, with Belgium."

What if we sign Shinji Kagawa as well?
 
Do you guys think with Hazard being with Kompany in the national team might sway the decision towards City?

Well, seeing as Kompany seems like a very intelligent and down-to-earth kind of guy, his word is probably not going to have a negative impact. Whether they'll have enough of a positive impact to sway Eden is really impossible to say without knowing the players personally.

Although if I were to make a guess based on Eden's apparent media whoring, I'd say his own opinion is all that matters.
 
4-4-2 is in the DNA of this club. We will play it in the majority of our home games. I don't see that working with Hazard if his preference is the number 10 role. Would be a much better fit at Man City as he could slot right in, without them having to tweak their system.
 
Thinking about it, it could be a bad sign this.

Eden Hazard: "I am pleased to be able to play in my best position behind the striker, as a no.10, with Belgium."

What if we sign Shinji Kagawa as well?

It's already been discussed. Going into next season with only three strikers and Kagawa and Hazard playing off the frontman (Trequartista ;)) there's enough for everyone to get a game.
 
4-4-2 is in the DNA of this club. We will play it in the majority of our home games. I don't see that working with Hazard if his preference is the number 10 role. Would be a much better fit at Man City as he could slot right in, without them having to tweak their system.

So was the WM-system once upon a time but football evolves.
 
Well he could easily fit in behind Rooney if we wanted to push Rooney higher up. Rvp is an excellent number 10 to but look how many goals he can get playing as a number 9. Hazard would give us a quality option if we wanted to push Rooney up as well as give us options for when Rooney is injured. Any attacker like hazard or kagawa etc would need us to play Rooney higher up and we're clearly in for both.
 
It's definitely positive that we're still in the running despite City and Chelsea's millions. I am however not sure him wanting to play behind the striker is overall positive for us, with Rooney playing that position or us. Then again, it does seem plausible that we want him to play as a striker with Owen and Berba leaving, unless we've got other plans in that department.

He'll probably get more playing time at City though, if Mancini keeps using his stars in every game.

You think? Mancini likes to keep at least one defensive midfielder on the pitch, which means one of Nasri, Silva or Yaya Toure has to be dropped for him and I don't see either Silva or Yaya making way. Not to mention they have Milner and Johnson on the sidelines too, one or both of those would probably have to make way if they want to play football at all if Hazard actually joined.
 
Well he could easily fit in behind Rooney if we wanted to push Rooney higher up. Rvp is an excellent number 10 to but look how many goals he can get playing as a number 9. Hazard would give us a quality option if we wanted to push Rooney up as well as give us options for when Rooney is injured. Any attacker like hazard or kagawa etc would need us to play Rooney higher up and we're clearly in for both.

3 More than Rooney playing as a Number 10.

Yes I get your point though, his tally since he pushed forward is much better
 
Rooney did well as #9 without a proper #10 behind him. So IMO he will prosper with a proper #10. Probably enjoy it more than his current role too.
 
Him and Rooney would be very good together. That said, I'd rather not buy him. We have other priorities (CENTRAL MIDFIELD), we have good wingers / playmaking forwards already, and I can't be bothered worrying about him regretting his decision after a year. Plus he seems like a bellend.
 
Him and Rooney would be very good together. That said, I'd rather not buy him. We have other priorities (CENTRAL MIDFIELD), we have good wingers / playmaking forwards already, and I can't be bothered worrying about him regretting his decision after a year. Plus he seems like a bellend.

So you'd rather let the most mromosing young player in the world go to city instead of us, one who is already a very good player as it is and will only get better. That's just stupid thinking, he would improve almost every team in the world.
 
It's definitely positive that we're still in the running despite City and Chelsea's millions. I am however not sure him wanting to play behind the striker is overall positive for us, with Rooney playing that position or us. Then again, it does seem plausible that we want him to play as a striker with Owen and Berba leaving, unless we've got other plans in that department.

He'll probably get more playing time at City though, if Mancini keeps using his stars in every game.

I don't think he'll get more game time, the way I see it City already have loads of players who flourish from playing behind the main striker. Nasri has played wide but that's his natural position, Silva always ends up there, Toure has played there a lot since he's joined and if Tevez stays he's being played right behind Aguero.

We only really have Giggs and Rooney who can play that role.
 
So was the WM-system once upon a time but football evolves.

We came second, a-points with City, which invested for hundreds of millions of pounds the last couple of years. Does that mean, then, that 4-4-2 is dead?

What do you want to blame? Our weak CM or our formation? Critics bloody everywhere who knows everything.
 
We came second, a-points with City, which invested for hundreds of millions of pounds the last couple of years. Does that mean, then, that 4-4-2 is dead?

What do you want to blame? Our weak CM or our formation? Critics bloody everywhere who knows everything.

It's not dead, but at this current era 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 is very much the way to go, which is why we try to play it in big away games but it's not that good for us because we don't have the personnel in midfield for that formation.
 
Him and Rooney would be very good together. That said, I'd rather not buy him. We have other priorities (CENTRAL MIDFIELD), we have good wingers / playmaking forwards already, and I can't be bothered worrying about him regretting his decision after a year. Plus he seems like a bellend.

Rooney*

Young - Hazard - Valencia

Cleverley - Anderson​


OR:


Rooney*

Hazard - Kagawa - Nani

Scholes - Carrick​

*Or Welbeck or Hernandez


Not those specific players in those two formations, just showing we have players who can play in those positions.

Anderson and Cleverley are obviously automatic doubt due to injury but surely at least one of them can stay fit for periods of time?! Asamoah also being linked could fit in very well in the midfield two.


:drool:
 
Rooney*

Young - Hazard - Valencia

Cleverley - Anderson


OR:


Rooney*

Hazard - Kagawa - Nani

Scholes - Carrick

*Or Welbeck or Hernandez


Not those specific players in those two formations, just showing we have players who can play in those positions.

Anderson and Cleverley are obviously automatic doubt due to injury but surely at least one of them can stay fit for periods of time?! Asamoah also being linked could fit in very well in the midfield two.


:drool:

We need a defensive midfielder someone who can tackle win the ball back
 
It's not dead, but at this current era 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 is very much the way to go, which is why we try to play it in big away games but it's not that good for us because we don't have the personnel in midfield for that formation.

That very much depends on the players you have available. We have some of the best wingers in the world who fit perfectly in a 4-4-2, but we seem to play more of a 4-4-1-1 atm, so imo our formation isn't static and may change quite a bit during a match.

Just because Barca has been successful in doing something doesn't mean that every other team should do the same - they have some of the world's very best players in each position, so beating them at their own game will never be an easy task!
 
We need a defensive midfielder someone who can tackle win the ball back

Didn't Ferguson say he would never buy that? They tried it with Roy Keane, but even he wouldn't fit in that defensive, break down the play role of say Makelele, so he became an outstanding box-to-box player, which is much more what we need, imo!
 
So you'd rather let the most mromosing young player in the world go to city instead of us, one who is already a very good player as it is and will only get better. That's just stupid thinking, he would improve almost every team in the world.
It's odd. I don't want him to go to our rivals but I'm not bothered about having him in our team. I'm happy with Rooney-Welbeck (Hernandez) and Valencia-Nani-Young, plus some cover (i.e. a decent striker that accepts not starting every game). Unless Hazard can play in the centre behind a front two, I don't really see the point in us signing him besides having more flexibility in formation.

I don't get excited about buying players, which seems to cloud some people's judgement. I'd rather support what we've already got, and anything Sir Alex adds to the squad is a bonus (to the central midfielder he'll definitely buy :nervous:)
 
That very much depends on the players you have available. We have some of the best wingers in the world who fit perfectly in a 4-4-2, but we seem to play more of a 4-4-1-1 atm, so imo our formation isn't static and may change quite a bit during a match.

Just because Barca has been successful in doing something doesn't mean that every other team should do the same - they have some of the world's very best players in each position, so beating them at their own game will never be an easy task!

I don't think it's a coincidence that the winners of the main European leagues all use for the most part a 4-2-3-1...( city, borussia dortmund, real Madrid, even Juve I think use something like that). We are basically the only big team these days that uses 4-4-2 all the time. Yes you can say its a 4-4-1-1 but in the end it's still 2 strikers, and 2 central midfielders. I'm not saying we will beat barca but getting hazard to play behind Rooney in the #10 role would give us a much better chance of beating them then if we had Rooney in the 10 with welbeck up front.
 
3 More than Rooney playing as a Number 10.

Yes I get your point though, his tally since he pushed forward is much better

The only thing good about Rooney's attempts at playing a 'no 10' this season was his goals..
 
We need a defensive midfielder someone who can tackle win the ball back

Carrick has the 11th highest tackles per game in the League this season, the players ahead of him are defenders and defensive midfielders who play for clubs who have a lot less possession than us.

He is joint 9th in Interceptions per game with the majority above him defenders.

He is joint 11th in Blocked shots per game, again with the majority above him defenders.

I think you are underestimating what Carrick is capable of, especially if all creative responsibility was taken off his shoulders.


There was 269 players that played in the League last season btw, to put it into perspective.
 
I'd forgotten about Kompany, however Lukaku at Chelsea getting little to no gametime at Chelsea after signing for them may concern Hazard.

Lakaku was barely 18 when he signed, I don't think anyone expected him to be a starter? 12 games this season isn't bad for an 18 year olds first year at a club to be fair.
 
Lakaku was barely 18 when he signed, I don't think anyone expected him to be a starter? 12 games this season isn't bad for an 18 year olds first year at a club to be fair.

Ah I hadn't realised he'd got so many games, I didn't for a second expect him to be a starter but thought he was good enough to get plenty of games. Chelsea have been a bit off my radar really this season.

Isn't that keeper they've got on loan in Spain Belgian too? So that's 3 young talented players from Belgium - Lukaku, De bruyne & the keeper. It'd be a definite consideration of his i'm sure.
 
I don't think it's a coincidence that the winners of the main European leagues all use for the most part a 4-2-3-1...( city, borussia dortmund, real Madrid, even Juve I think use something like that). We are basically the only big team these days that uses 4-4-2 all the time. Yes you can say its a 4-4-1-1 but in the end it's still 2 strikers, and 2 central midfielders. I'm not saying we will beat barca but getting hazard to play behind Rooney in the #10 role would give us a much better chance of beating them then if we had Rooney in the 10 with welbeck up front.

What formation does Bayern play? Just curious.

All I'm saying is that just because other teams play a certain way doesn't mean that it is the only way to go. This year we were utter shit in Europe, but that is the exception for us, not the rule, and subsequently should not define our future formation. The fact that we were even points with City with half our team out half the season also suggests that we do not need to adopt a formation just because ALL the other teams have adopted a certain way of playing.
 
:lol:

To be fair, it seems that Lukaku thought he would get more game time. I believe I read somewhere that he was disappointed with game time. Hype?

I've just looked at some of his comments, he was not happy at all but his anger seems to be directed towards AVB and believes it's 50/50 on whether he'll be loaned out next season.

He's not happy about not being involved in the CL & FA cup and hopefully that negativity will sway things our way?
 
I've just looked at some of his comments, he was not happy at all but his anger seems to be directed towards AVB and believes it's 50/50 on whether he'll be loaned out next season.

He's not happy about not being involved in the CL & FA cup and hopefully that negativity will sway things our way?

Hopefully, but imo it only shows that most 18 year olds really aren't ready for first team football at such a high level, just like Pogba isn't yet for all the talent he is.

That number 10 position at United is up for grabs though, as Rooney showed this season that he lacks the technique to make that position his own. I would rather have him further up field and let a Hazard or Kagawa play behind the striker(s)
 
3 More than Rooney playing as a Number 10.

Yes I get your point though, his tally since he pushed forward is much better

Tbh thought although Rooney did playb some games deeper most of the time he was closer to welbeck/Hernandez than he wasn't. He sort of played inbetween both roles. But yeah Rooney up top could get a lot of roles esp with someone quality in the hole behind themes I still think Rooney offers a lot there but at times I think he might be better off as the main striker given how his game suffers on a bad day. I think a hazard/am could fit in well. Though will be pointless without getting in another proper midfielder
 
What formation does Bayern play? Just curious.

All I'm saying is that just because other teams play a certain way doesn't mean that it is the only way to go. This year we were utter shit in Europe, but that is the exception for us, not the rule, and subsequently should not define our future formation. The fact that we were even points with City with half our team out half the season also suggests that we do not need to adopt a formation just because ALL the other teams have adopted a certain way of playing.

They play a 4-3-3 sort of, but they have only one striker on the pitch. I know it isn't the only way to go, but if you look at us in last years in the the champions league we tend to go 4-3-3 away from home, resulting in dull 0-0 draws or boring 1-0 wins where we grind it out, and then play a 4-4-2 at home. In those big games, with hazard we would actually have someone who is suited to that number 10 role, and would offer a lot more variety than just shifting it out wide to Valencia or nani every time they get the ball (Rooney). With hazard/kagawa in that position we would actually see through passes into our striker, or quick play that not only goes to the wings but through the middle as well.

This season we were incredibly one dimensional. It worked most of the time, hitting it out to the wingers to cross it in but like against certain teams it just doesn't work that well. Also we weren't exactly that exciting of a team last season, we scored a lot of goals but that is because we scored a good percentage of our shots (read somewhere that we were the most clinical team in the league).

Anyways, the point is, we don't Have to switch from a 4-4-2, because it is still decent, but why would we settle for that when we can perhaps pose a bigger challenge in the champions league by simply having better players who are more comfortable on the ball.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.