Eden Hazard says discussion over his best position will stop once he starts scoring for Chelsea again.
With Diego Costa relegated to the bench, Hazard was played in the No. 9 position in the 0-0 draw at Tottenham on Sunday.
Hazard
enjoyed the freedom of his new role, heading over with one good chance
and then seeing a volley well saved by Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. But
he is still without a goal this season as a debate on where he should
be playing continues.
The former Lille player previously indicated
that he would like to play in a central No. 10 behind a striker but
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho doubts his suitability to the role and still thinks he is most effective on the left wing.
Hazard
believes there would be no discussion at all if he was showing the kind
of form that saw him pick up both the PFA and Football Writers'
Association Player of the Year awards last season.
"Me, I just want to play," he told L'Equipe. "It doesn't really matter if it's on the left or through the middle. I try to give it my all.
"The debate is down to my productivity this season, which is not as good... well really nowhere near as good as last season.
"Today
I played No. 9. I gave everything. Confidence will come back, the goals
will come back and, after that, there will no longer be a debate about
my position."
Hazard
scored 14 times in the Premier League last season as Chelsea won the
title, but the team as a whole have only managed 17 goals in their first
14 matches in this campaign.
The Blues are languishing in 14th
position as a result but Hazard is not worried about his own form and
insists he has no problems with Mourinho.
"When results don't follow, you always try to nit pick," he said. "He's not happy and that's normal when we're not winning.
"Us, the players, are not happy either. But there are no problems between us."
Former
Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit believes Hazard is being asked to do too
much defensive work by Mourinho, when he should be concentrating on
scoring and creating.
"He worked too hard [against Tottenham],"
Gullit told the BBC's Match of the Day. "I want him to be sharp in front
of goal. He kicks the ball, head's down, head's down, he still has to
run forward. This is a sign of a player like: 'Oh my God. I have to run
again.' All players know that, when you put your head down like that.
"He
is as important as Ronaldo is for Real Madrid. He is as important as
Messi is for Barcelona. Do they chase back as much? No, because they
need to save their energy for the right moment.
"He did it to
prove a point but to get the best out of him, I don't want him to chase
that much. I want him to concentrate on the moments that the team gets
the ball.
"They have to give him the ball as quick as possible and
then he does his thing. When that is coming back, he's going to get
goals again."
No comments:
Post a Comment