Why Eden Hazard has struggled for Chelsea FC this year

After setting the football world on fire last season, Eden Hazard has seen his star crash to Earth this time around. What has happened to the Chelsea FC man?

In April 2015 Eden Hazard won the PFA Players’ Player of the year after a scintillating season leading Chelsea FC to their fifth Premier League title. One year later, the Belgian international has scored three goals in the league all season and the Blues are headed for the worst season by a champion in the Premier League era. So what has happened to the mercurial winger, touted as a top five player in the world twelve months ago?

Talksport posted an article on 12th September 2015 showing tweets from numerous Chelsea fans claiming Hazard was ‘unfit’ and even ‘overweight’ at the start of the season. While it’s unfair to claim a player is overweight it was easy to see he wasn’t in the same shape as the year before. This wasn’t just an issue for Hazard though as a number of players seemed to come back from the summer break out of shape.

Whether this criticism from Chelsea fans affected him, or whether a possible rift with former manager Jose Mourinho got to his head, Hazard did not have the same confidence or swagger as the season before. Confident players are often the best players and all footballers have a certain arrogance to their play, especially skillful wingers. They have to have the belief in themselves that they are able to get past any defender in the world with ease.

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A big reason for his difficulty this season has been this lack of confidence. An example of where this has affected his game (without looking at the lack of goals or assists) is in the amount of dribbles he has attempted per match. Last season he attempted 4.8 per Premier League game and 7.3 per Champions League game. This season he has attempted 2.6 per PL game and 3.4 per CL game.

With less dribbles per game he is also fouled less; both beating players and receiving fouls are beneficial to Chelsea in a huge way. We can see why the Belgian’s troubles may have been a catalyst to the Blues’ struggles.

A question on everyone’s lips is whether Chelsea have struggled because of Hazards lack of form. Or whether Hazard has struggled because his teammates have been unable to help him out like they helped him out last season. Truthfully, there is no right or wrong answer, the number 10 has never been particularly good when tracking back and defending, so the team’s issue at the back can certainly not be blamed on him.

Meanwhile, in attack only Willian has had a particularly good season. Cesc Fabregas has gone from 18 assists in the league to 7 and Diego Costa has gone from scoring 20 goals in the Prem to 12.

Signing Hazard was an interesting trial for Chelsea. At the time he was widely regarded as one of the top prospects in the world and it was known that he had wanted to play Champions League football.

When they started the negotiations, the London club appeared to not have a chance of this. It was the remarkable victory in the competition in May 2012 which convinced him to sign. In an interview with The Mirror Hazard also revealed it took a conversation with club legend Didier Drogba to persuade him to make the move.

What is under-reported is that the signing of Eden’s younger brother, Thorgan, a month after he had moved, was probably to please the older Hazard and help him settle into the country. While Thorgan was immediately sent out on loan to Zulte Waregem he remained a Chelsea player, that is until this summer when he was officially sold to Borussia Monchengladbach.

If he was signed to make Eden happy surely selling him would upset the winger? He has played without the cheeky smile we have seen in previous years; perhaps the thought of the club selling his brother was weighing on his mind.

What does the future hold for Hazard?

He is still Chelsea’s best player and poses the biggest threat to opposition defenders. There was more of a sense of freedom and relaxation to his game after the change of managers mid-season. It is important for Antonio Conte to allow Hazard the freedom his play needs when he arrives in the summer.

In an ideal world Conte will tell Hazard to not worry about his defensive duties and constantly take on players. When the top wingers run at defenders they back off or make fouls. This is what Hazard delivered last season and needs to replicate in the 2016/17 campaign.

Unless a ridiculous bid of over £100 million comes in Chelsea shouldn’t even think about selling him. As we saw last season it’s not audacious to think Hazard could be a top three player in the world for the next five years. He has the ability to put the team on his back and win games single-handedly. The new manager needs to restore his confidence.

Which formation Conte will play next season is a mystery. If he wants to keep Hazard on the wing he should revert to a 4-3-3 formation, giving the player less defensive responsibility by playing midfielders who can sit and cover for him. Hazard has above-average finishing ability so could possibly be converted to play off a striker in the way smaller players like Antoine Griezmann and Paulo Dybala do in a formation with three at the back.

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Hazard’s season was only poor because of the incredibly high standards he set himself the previous year. Chelsea should do everything they can to keep their star man, but without Champions League football and possible disharmony at the club. will he want out?