Chelsea and Eden Hazard are stuck in a twilight zone with one another

Chelsea and Eden Hazard are at a pivotal point in their relationship that has already played out before. The cycle of disappointing one another continues.

This cycle has occurred once already. Eden Hazard enters his best form during a title winning season. Elite clubs start inquiring about him. He stays with the club. With his high level of form, however, he makes demands of where he wants to play. More subconsciously, he demands the club strengthen in response to him.

But after the title, the club rests on its laurels. Hazard’s form is deemed enough to pull through again. But the burden of responsibility is too much for the Belgian. At first, he gets on with it through veiled complaints. Then he sulks and looks disinterested. He feels entitled to his role because he is “Chelsea’s best player”. Because he is undroppable. He feels that big clubs will come in for him and give him an out if he wants it.

But because he dropped his head, big clubs stay away. He remains at a club that he has let down after they have let him down. The cycle restarts. Chelsea and Hazard are stuck in a twilight zone where they continuously disappoint one another.

Chelsea and Hazard are on the back end of that cycle now. The club failed to strengthen around him. Antonio Conte cannot drop him. He is forced to accommodate Hazard in an unbalanced system. False nine is the greatest example of that. Hazard becomes disinterested with the title out of reach and he fades away. He starts looking towards Madrid or Paris for an out.

The manager that backed him and gave him what he wanted gets the blame as Hazard tries to jump ship. But why would a club like Real Madrid or Paris Saint Germain want him like this? They are not coming to watch him dominate the West Broms of the world. They are coming to see him run riot on Manchesters. And when Hazard fails to show an inkling of effort there, the elite clubs decide to look elsewhere for a player who can be bothered.

This cycle is going to happen again and again, making the club weaker, until someone breaks it. The club can match Hazard’s talent through the market or Hazard can leave and balance the club.

Alexis Sanchez wanted the former at Arsenal. If the club can buy great players, that takes the burden off of the star to perform. As it stands, Chelsea rely on Hazard for a spark of magic.

Opponents know this, can focus on him and take him out of the match. In fact, recent weeks have shown Chelsea can perform well if someone like Willian can step up and relieve Hazard.

The latter is the riskier option. It is addition by subtraction. Liverpool have a great example of that this season. Jurgen Klopp believes losing Philippe Coutinho made them more “unpredictable” and thus better. Without Coutinho, the overall skill of the club leveled out. They were able to field a balanced lineup that forced opponents to look in multiple directions.

Chelsea could learn from this. Antonio Conte plays false nine with Hazard because it creates the most balanced system against big teams while also allowing Hazard a spot. But Hazard is poor in the role (and does not want it). The club would surely be better suited with an actual striker in that type of situation. Thus, Hazard is upsetting the balance like Coutinho did at Liverpool. Potentially, losing Hazard could allow the squad to find the balance needed to succeed.

The cycle must end. At the rate things are going, it will have cost two world class managers their jobs.

Next: Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Either be a phoenix, or stay food for vultures

In the summer, Chelsea need to make a hard decision. Do they have a squad that can win without Hazard or do they need to spend big to relieve his burden? Both are acceptable solutions. The only incorrect method is continuing on the current path once more.

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