Eden Hazard has gone from PFA Player of the Year to the nadir of a shambolic Chelsea side... so just what has happened to the talented Belgian at Stamford Bridge?
- Chelsea sit at an embarrassing 15th in the league table with just 11 points
- The Premier League's best player last term, Eden Hazard, has been poor
- Manager Jose Mourinho's relationship with his players is at an all-time low
- Hazard seems to have suffered more than most from the change in mood
- The style that got the Blues over the line last season has been questioned by the Belgian forward
- Read: Eva Carneiro pursuing individual legal claim against Jose Mourinho
April 26, 2015. Eden Hazard is joined by a beaming cast of Chelsea team-mates, all suited and booted, huddled around the Belgian's PFA Player of the Year trophy.
They had every right to be smiling. They were entering the final furlong of a procession to the Premier League title, with Hazard as the team's shining light.
Six months on and Hazard is the nadir of a shambolic Chelsea side, the defending champions sitting at an embarrassing 15th in the table with just 11 points in as many matches.
Eden Hazard (right) is currently the nadir of a shambolic Chelsea side which sit in 15th position in the league
After a fine season in which he helped Chelsea win the league, Hazard won the PFA Player of the Year award
The verve and skill that terrorised the division last season, the toughness with which he escaped overzealous defenders, the joy to his game – all evaporated.
His display in the 3-1 defeat by Liverpool showed up a player totally at odds with his current situation. Hooked off before the hour mark, Hazard was a total non-entity throughout – completely failing to offer his beleaguered side an attacking outlet.
His replacement, youngster Kenedy, immediately showed more offensive threat.
Hazard seems to have suffered more than most from the change in mood at the club. Manager Jose Mourinho's relationship with his players is at an all-time low, with one even said to have wished the team had lost rather than won for the manager.
That lack of fight has spread through the club like a virus. Mourinho has not been able to stir his troops as he has in the past, and on the pitch the side look bereft of any determination.
Jose Mourinho's relationship with his men is at an all-time low and Hazard has suffered from the mood change
At Stamford Bridge on Saturday you could have been forgiven for thinking Chelsea were a lower league away side, desperately attempting, and failing, to protect their lead against Liverpool at Anfield. A far cry from the rampant Premier League champions.
Hazard has embodied this rapid decline in performance, will to win and disconnect between manager and squad.
Performances at Dynamo Kiev, West Ham and Stoke showed an upturn in Hazard's form, pointing to a possible end to the slump. Saturday, however, was the most damning evidence yet that all is not well.
He is one of a select group who have been singled out for fierce criticism from Mourinho, while the manager's style of football – the style that got Chelsea over the line last season – has been questioned by the Belgian.
Performances at Dynamo Kiev, West Ham (pictured) and Stoke showed an upturn in Hazard's form
Even international breaks haven't been refuge, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots joining Mourinho in pointedly criticising the forward. Record Manchester City signing Kevin de Bruyne has been the fulcrum of that team.
Last season the only questions over Hazard were whether he could join the realm of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
This campaign, the difference between Hazard and those truly great players have been laid bare.
Ronaldo and Messi drag their teams to victory when they need it most. They constantly set new levels each season, breaking record after record and aiming for title after title.
Hazard has not shown a tiny fraction of that determination or skill, becoming a posterboy for this current Chelsea side's failure to display that hunger. The disparity between Mourinho's first side of champions – Lampard, Drogba, Cech et al – is stark.
This campaign, the difference between Hazard (left) and the world's truly great players have been laid bare
Hazard's raw statistics in terms of chances created have actually risen on this stage last season – although he has failed to score a Premier League goal. Those numbers, though, do not reveal Chelsea's lack of attacking force.
'Chances created' are notched every time Chelsea have a shot, but the Blues have managed to get just 43 per cent of those on target – the same as Bournemouth and a worse rate than 16 Premier League sides.
Hazard's lack of ingenuity and threat have been a primary culprit. Mourinho's side looked to him to create magic in tired performances last season and he delivered with frightening regularity. This time around he has failed to step up for his team-mates.
Now it emerges he wants to leave the club for Real Madrid, should Mourinho stay in charge.
Whoever is in the dugout, on current form he hasn't got a hope.
Hazard's raw statistics in terms of chances created have risen on this stage last term - but he hasn't scored
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