Fresh off of an excellent shift against West Ham United, which included his eleventh goal of the season, Eden Hazard stepped in front of the Sky Sports cameras to partake in a live interview with Sky’s Monday Night Football studio, which included special Frank Lampard (Hi, Frank!).
Beyond just reaffirming Chelsea’s title ambitions and intentions to “win all the games”, Hazard again confirmed his happiness at playing a more free, more central role this year.
Hazard says he prefers to play through the middle because he sometimes finds himself isolated on the wing.
— Chelsea HQ (@Chelsea_HQ) March 6, 2017
Chelsea’s first goal came from a perfect counter-attack, a development that’s sure to make certain other managers very unhappy. But the truth is Chelsea are not very efficient at all on the counter, and that was evident once again with the Blues wasting several more glorious opportunities during the game. Maybe if we practiced them a bit more?
“No we haven't practised it a lot — we have the players to do that. Me, Pedro and Diego [Costa] are quick on counter-attack. We tried to do the best and do the right thing on the ball. It works well.”
-Eden Hazard; source: Sky via Express
It certainly worked well on the goal, but most of the other times, and this is hardly a unique phenomenon this season, it did not.
Back when he was still in charge of the Italian national team over the summer, Conte revealed that he never even trains counters. Clearly, that philosophy has carried over to Chelsea, just as most of the rest of his core values have.
Either way, it’s all working quite well, so there’s little room for complaining. Another three points, another step closer to the title. Forza!