Gonzalo Higuain will eventually relieve Eden Hazard of his collateral duties as Chelsea’s centre-forward. Over the next few weeks, though, Maurizio Sarri will still turn to Hazard to lead the line.
Eden Hazard thoroughly enjoyed teaming up with Gonzalo Higuain to take target practice against Championship-bound Huddersfield on Saturday. Hazard was as happy as anyone when Chelsea completed the move for Higuain. Despite what Sarri tells himself and the occasional interviewer, Hazard does not like playing as Chelsea’s centre-forward. His visibly low energy, enthusiasm and attitude towards the role suggests he does not even accept it as a necessary evil.
However, Sarri has already acknowledged the obvious truth that Gonzalo Higuain is not yet match-fit. He is coming from a slower team in a less physically-demanding league, and well, he is 31 and just look at the guy. Even under the best of circumstances Sarri could be reluctant to start Higuain in all six of Chelsea’s remaining games this month.
And this month around Chelsea is certainly not the best of circumstances. The Blues face Manchester City twice (Premier League and Carabao Cup final), Manchester United and Tottenham amid their tie with Malmo.
On player readiness alone, Sarri would look for options other than Higuain for at least one of these games. He has shown no inclination to trust Olivier Giroud, let alone in six-point games against top-six opponents and his first cup final. That leaves Eden Hazard as his only option.
Hazard is also the better choice based on tactics. Playing Hazard as the centre-forward splits the baby so Chelsea can have him on the pitch while still having both wingers tracking back to defend and pushing up on the press. Against both Manchester clubs and Tottenham, Chelsea cannot afford to have one wing only casually defended and tracked. Nor can they have two players floating above the defensive structure waiting for an out-ball. But that is what they often have when Hazard plays with – rather than as – a centre-forward.
Maurizio Sarri will need both wingers to involve themselves in both directions of play. Callum Hudson-Odoi has the speed, aggression and willingness that Willian sometimes lacks, but his inexperience will almost certainly keep him out of the lineup against these opponents. Willian and Pedro, then, will flank Hazard.
Hazard’s increasingly documented attitude has quite ironically hemmed him into one distasteful task or another. Because he does not come back to defend and do the donkey work behind the ball, Sarri (and Antonio Conte before him) do not trust him on the wing against the best opponents. In tandem with Gonzalo Higuain’s short-term shortcomings, this lands Hazard a few more turns in the centre. Had he put forth the effort to do the less sexy work in his favoured position, he would not have to worry about being deployed elsewhere.
Perhaps this is why Hazard did so much of that work against Huddersfield. Hazard involved himself much deeper than usual on defence, getting open near Chelsea’s goal line to bring the play out, and chasing Huddersfield towards Chelsea’s midfield defensive line. Maybe he thought he could sway Higuain’s mind for the games ahead by showing his willingness and ability in these areas.
Or perhaps Huddersfield did not require any special effort from him to do such things, so it didn’t really cost him anything.
Hazard may still be coming to terms with the responsibilities he has in Maurizio Sarri’s system. Contrary to popular banter (that is to say, we – and you, loyal reader – knew it all along), Hazard is much more constrained in Sarri’s style of play than he was under Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho.
Sarrismo asks a lot of its wingers in the press and on defence. Many times, Hazard does not answer. Sarri’s response – aside from press conference call-outs and locker room blow-outs – is to shift Hazard into a role with fewer demands. The cost of that shift to Hazard, though, is reduced ability to get on the ball and the likelihood of starting his runs somewhere other than his preferred wing. The mechanistic patterns of Sarri’s system do Hazard no favours in either position, but at least on the left he has more chances to “fill in the blanks” as he sees fit.
Gonzalo Higuain and Eden Hazard look like they will be a sufficiently serviceable pair for the remainder of the season. However, there is still an “either-or” component to them, especially in a month when Higuain is still coming up to speed and Chelsea face one difficult opponent after another.