Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher discuss Chelsea's Eden Hazard
Tuesday 20 October 2015 13:18, UK
Monday Night Football pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher discussed Eden Hazard's omission from Chelsea's team for the 2-0 win against Aston Villa.
The Belgian - who was named PFA Player of the Year last season after playing an instrumental role in Chelsea's title win and Capital One Cup triumph - was benched by Jose Mourinho, who says his winger must increase his defensive work rate if he wants to return to the side.
"I've got no sympathy for Hazard. I expect more of him," said Neville.
"The level he got to last season, you started to see a great player. In the Premier League, how many real top, world-class players could you say we have in the league?
"[Sergio] Aguero, [David] Silva you'd look at, you'd look at Hazard and put him into that level of category. There might be a couple more, I'm not saying we haven't got more, but they're the three I can think of off the top of my head.
"Hazard, there was talk last season of him getting into that Messi, Ronaldo bracket. Of course they have off periods but even in the off periods they still contribute, they score goals.
"You saw Ronaldo breaking the record at the weekend and what Messi's done. But I've got no sympathy for [Hazard] in the sense that the question mark hanging over him is in respect of 'can he go to that next, next level?'
"He's got to pull himself out of it. I've got no sympathy for the very top players with the best talent, the best skill, they really have got everything at their feet and I'd expect them not just to go and be player of the year this year, I'd expect them to take it forward and get confidence from that and go and score 30 goals next season, be the best player in the league again and dominate and dominate.
"He hasn't done that at the start of this season and he needs to pull himself out of it. Every player goes through a tough patch but he's got to do it quickly because that's what the best players do, they come out of these patches very quickly."
Carragher expects Hazard to return to the Chelsea starting XI in the coming weeks and get back to his high levels soon.
"[Hazard] started the season slowly, as did a lot of top players," said Carragher. "You think of [Alexis] Sanchez who has come right back into form now.
"What hasn't helped him is Chelsea have been conceding goals that they don't normally do. I think he has been at fault for two or three goals. We've spoken about how Jose Mourinho has got him to work harder coming back but it's not something that comes naturally to him.
He's a top player. I'm sure over the next few months we'll see the old Eden Hazard of last season.
"At the weekend [Mourinho] played Willian and Pedro in those roles, who are more willing to come back. It's more what they're about as wide players. [Hazard] has that stardust going forward. But at the moment Mourinho needs clean sheets.
"He couldn't trust Eden Hazard to be in the team and the team to keep a clean sheet. I think that says a lot about the back four and defenders as well as the attacking players.
"But he's a top player. A few weeks he'll be back in the side and I'm sure over the next few months we'll see the old Eden Hazard of last season."
