Eden Hazard arrived at Real Madrid with huge expectations. Fifty thousand fans turned up
to the presentation of a player with a strong claim to being one of the Premier League’s
very best; they had high hopes that the new wearer of the number 7 shirt, vacated by Cristiano
Ronaldo, could return the club to glory after a disappointing 2018/19. While Hazard stated,
“I’m not a galatico, not yet”, there was a strong feeling that this mesmeric dribbler
and goal scorer could inject some new life into zizou’s squad.
But Hazard hasn’t. According to The Athletic’s Dermot Corrigan, Hazard arrived overweight
and was unlucky with injuries and that’s meant he’s never reached full sharpness.
A thigh injury during pre-season set him back, and that’s been compounded by recurrent
ankle issues.
Corrigan also suggests that “Maybe he wasn’t quite prepared for the size of the task at
Madrid, thought it would be just as easy as at Chelsea, and it’s not been.” Hazard
is apparently really “to explode” over the remainder of the season, but what has
stopped him so far from being the player Real thought they were getting?
In his last few seasons at Chelsea, Hazard played mostly as an inside left forward in
a 3-4-3 under Antonio Conte in the title winning season, or as a 10 when Conte switched to
more of a 3-4-2-1. Under Mauricio Sarri, he played wide left in a 4-3-3, but was also
deployed as a striker when Chelsea were hit by injuries.
Hazard was Chelsea’s key player. The systems weren’t exactly built around him – under
Sarri it could be argued that Jorginho had that place in the starting eleven – but
Hazard was the player who made things happen. Starting from his inside left position, Hazard
could either roam across towards the 10 space, dragging a marker and freeing a full back
or wing back on the overlap, or find space himself to carry the ball and pass or shoot.
His ability to come infield off the flank, even roaming as far as the right-hand side
of the pitch sometimes, meant that he was often able to find space. As Chelsea progressed
the ball, either from the left wing back or one of the central passing midfielders, Hazard
could pick it up in this space and bring his dribbling into play. It’s noticeable how
often Hazard received the ball between the opposition defensive and midfield lines – partly
a function of his innate ability, and partly because Chelsea used their wide players effectively
to stretch the pitch and keep the opposition spaced out.
And even if the opposition lines squeezed together, Hazard often seemed to be able to
play a long pass to the other flank to find the right winger or right full back, or to
be able to take players on with his dribbling from a standing start. Hazard was most dangerous
in broken field play, but he could be equally hard to defend against in tight spaces.
At Real Madrid, Hazard has found himself largely in his favoured position of left inside forward
in.4-3-3, but he hasn’t registered a goal or an assist in his last eight league or Champions
League games. That’s not to say he’s played entirely badly, but there has been a noticeable
drop off in his output. Given that Hazard has largely been used in his favoured role,
it’s fair to assume that this is a combination of his stop-start beginning at the club due
to injuries, and issues with fitting into the system.
There are several things to note. Karim Benzema is a brilliant centre-forward who spends a
lot more time dropping off and linking play, and also has a tendency to drift left. This
naturally crowds the space that Hazard would run into; he will try to cut inside instead,
but then often runs into a deeper defensive line than was regularly encountered at Chelsea.
It’s also noticeable that Hazard plays better with Federico Valverde at left central midfield.
This is partly because Valverde is a supremely energetic defensive presence, which means
Hazard doesn’t need to cover so much space. But it’s also because Valverde’s running
means that the right side of the opposition midfield and defence have another runner to
track. Valverde is a more mobile threat than Toni Kroos – the latter’s line breaking
passes are a huge threat, but Valverde is more capable of pulling players away from
space with his runs and that creates space for Hazard.
Lastly, while Hazard generally played in the opposition half while at Chelsea, he’s spending
a lot more time dropping off at Real Madrid. Real seem to stretch the pitch area less,
keeping less distance between their lines. This means when they retract to a defensive
position, Hazard is deep and when he looks to then bring the ball forwards, he’s starting
in a position where it’s easier to keep him away from goal. Chelsea were able to use
either a back five or a better organised press to keep Hazard higher up the pitch; in transition,
he was then starting in a position where he could pose more of an immediate threat.
It’s interesting to see that Hazard’s dribbling volume is actually fairly high at
Real Madrid – he’s started deeper, though, with more traffic to run into and this is
reflected in the lower success rate than during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
It would be totally unfair to say Hazard has been a failure at Real at this point. While
his overall attacking output has dropped off significantly, when one looks at his involvement
in shot and goal ending sequences of play per 90, the difference isn’t significant
between his stellar last season at Chelsea and this one.
The difference is that he’s adjusting to team balance and his new role, while Zidane
is figuring who plays best around him. That, and his injury issues, have meant that Hazard
has yet to really show what he can do. Given time and a run in the team, though, there’s
every chance Hazard will become a key man for Zidane’s side.