-
Chelsea FC – Eden Hazard Makes Up For Awful Defending
This isn’t the Chelsea team Jose Mourinho had during his first Premier League tenure, so he has to play to the current strengths. Not the defense, which is a mess right now no matter who is playing in it, but the attacking midfield and especially Eden Hazard, the team’s best player that should have more nights of dominant football like his most recent performance, finishing with two goals and an assist.
-
Chelsea FC – Jose Mourinho Keeps Making Rotation Mistakes
Handling a deep squad shouldn’t be something Jose Mourinho struggles to do, but it seems that either the November curse that always strikes Chelsea or simply the Portuguese manager still not having a full grasp of what’s going on right under his nose is costing his team points both in Europe and in the Premier League, plenty of times due to his own mistakes and sometimes prejudice against certain players.
-
Chelsea FC – Eden Hazard Should Have Come On Sooner
It’s hard to say if it was arrogance that was leading Jose Mourinho when he picked the lineup for his team’s defeat at Basel, or simply the rest and betterment of players. Chelseas struggled for long minutes on both ends of the pitch, and the introduction of Eden Hazard to the match came way too late to turn things around.
-
Chelsea FC – Oscar Epitomizing the Jose Mourinho Style
Falling further down the title race wasn’t an option for Chelsea, so Jose Mourinho admitted to his own mistakes by actions (never by words) and changed his formation into a 4-3-3, that gave Oscar more freedom than before in his best match of the season while Frank Lampard, one of the team’s worst players this season, was finally left with enough freedom and no central midfield responsibilities in order to look like a player worth keeping.
-
Chelsea FC – Eden Hazard the Only Attacking Midfielder That Worked
There’s nothing new about Jose Mourinho loving to use massive rotations in his lineup. There is a hierarchy in his attacking midfield unit that gives preference to Eden Hazard and Oscar, but the rest keeps changing according to his mood and opponent. Despite probably being the best manager in the league, he makes mistakes as well, and maybe too many of them so far, when making his choices for the first XI.
-
Chelsea FC – Fernando Torres Back Where he Belongs
Despite the unimpressive numbers, Fernando Torres is the best striker Chelsea have. It might only show when the team is playing in Europe, but if it’s something that puts his team back in control of the group, I’m pretty sure Jose Mourinho doesn’t really mind it.
-
Chelsea FC – At Their Best When Eden Hazard Plays
The goals and wins are coming for Chelsea as they find themselves perched second in the Premier League, but the ability continues to be somewhat of an issue, even against some of the league’s weaker sides. One thing evident from the last couple of weeks? Eden Hazard has to be on the pitch for the team to reach its full potential.
-
Chelsea FC – Eden Hazard Enjoys Terrible Refereeing
Despite the impressive scoreline, Chelsea were far from it in a home match that should have gone down as a more comfortable afternoon. Instead they relied on Samuel Eto’o cheating and Eden Hazard making the most of referee Anthony Taylor not seeing clearly or simply not knowing the rule book too well.
-
Chelsea FC – Eden Hazard No Longer Special
When Eden Hazard first arrived at Chelsea from France, he was considered as the best U-21 talent in European football. Over a year later and after playing for three different managers, it seems the Belgian wonderkid is not exactly the player he should have turned out to be, instead being suffocated too much by tactical instructions and limitations.
-
Chelsea FC – Oscar Proves He Can Play With Juan Mata
The excellent performance from Oscar and the fantastic result coming from throwing in Eden Hazard and Willian late into the match is another big encouragement to Jose Mourinho that what he’s doing with Chelsea this season is keeping them on the right track, as substituting Juan Mata might have raised some eyebrows, but still delivered the goals his team was looking for.