Jose Mourinho Hints Hazard Will Be Dropped For Dynamo Kyiv Clash
We may have seen the last uncharacteristic performance of Chelsea a fortnight ago when they were thrash by Southampton – the Blues found their rhythm yesterday as they outplayed and outscored the Villans and Jose Mourinho has attributed the victory to his team’s commitment which had Eden Hazard on the bench.
With Chelsea’s defence the most obvious weak-link, Mourinho said in the post match conference of yesterday that he left the PFA player of the year for last season on the bench so as to be more defensive.
“I left out Hazard because we are conceding lots of goals, we need to defend better, we need our midfield players to be just in the central area of the pitch,” Mourinho said.
“When, for example, a central midfielder has to be worried about providing cover to one of the sides, it’s like a blanket, you pull this side, you have your feet in the cold, you know?”
For two years running, Hazard, 24, has being the best Chelsea player. He’s also featured in every game for Chelsea this season but Mourinho is in the need of more hard work from the player. Hazard came of the bench in the 83rd minutes yesterday and had a barren cameo.
Hazard as claimed by Mourinho, doesn’t work as hard as the other wide players in terms of aiding the defence and the Special hinted that if the Belgian doesn’t improve upon his game, he’ll on the sideline.
“I continue that way or he comes in our direction and he tries to replicate the same work that Willian and Pedro did,” Mourinho said, reinstating similar sentiment of the penultimate season.
Meanwhile, Chelsea won Aston Villa yesterday and have moved up five places from 16th but they are still in the second half of the table but will be looking to maintain similar momentum in subsequent matches.