Why Chelsea can flourish in a post-Eden Hazard world by learning from Liverpool
With every inch Eden Hazard shifts towards Real Madrid, so the fear of Armageddon increases among Chelsea supporters who cannot contemplate the thought of losing him. But Sunday’s opponents, Liverpool, are the best possible proof that there can be life after the departure of a club’s star man.
Philippe Coutinho left Anfield for Barcelona in January 2018 and since then his old employers have reached a Champions League final, are fighting Manchester City for the Premier League title and have one foot in the semi-final of Europe’s biggest competition this term. In short, they have not looked back.
Liverpool learned their lesson the hard way, having previously struggled to cope with the losses of Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez, whereas selling Hazard would be relatively unchartered territory for Chelsea. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois manoeuvred his way to Real last summer, but, in the Roman Abramovich era, Chelsea have never lost their best player against their will.
The biggest issue facing them is if and when they will have to serve Fifa’s two-window transfer ban and whether or not they would be able to spend Hazard’s transfer fee, which is likely to be between £85 million and £100 million. But, aside from looking towards the transfer market, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp pointed to how a team can become obvious when they rely too heavily on one man.
“On a good day it makes you more unpredictable if you don’t have this dominant player, but on another day you miss a player like that,” said Klopp.
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“Phil Coutinho was a very dominant player in our game and when we were not at our best it was always a good idea to give him the ball. But it was always clear when Phil didn’t play we had to do the job differently, to put responsibility on different shoulders and spread it between the players.”
Tottenham have discovered this when Harry Kane is out injured. Son Heung-minand Dele Alli often step up and there is already evidence that Chelsea could find the departure of Hazard would bring out the best in others.
The Belgian is Chelsea’s top scorer with 19 goals in all competitions and yet the team have won nine of the 11 games they have played without him this season, averaging 2.8 goals per game in comparison to 1.5 with him. The caveat to that is that Hazard has largely sat out games against weaker opposition, but Maurizio Sarri’s side have lost just once without him and that was in the Community Shield against Manchester City.
Chelsea are determined to keep Callum Hudson-Odoi in the summer, even if he does not sign a new contract, and the teenager can expect to be given a chance in his favoured position on the left if Hazard goes. All five of his goals have come in games in which Hazard, 28, has not played.
Regardless of whether or not Chelsea are serving a transfer ban, Christian Pulisic is arriving from Borussia Dortmund to play on the right and he and Hudson-Odoi can make up two-thirds of a new-look front three who will have to share the load that currently falls on Hazard.
Pulisic has not yet been particularly prolific in his career, but there is encouragement to be taken from the fact that, between them, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have scored 13 goals. Both midfielders are capable of reaching double figures in a season.
Chelsea’s biggest task is to find the right forward to play in the middle of what would be their new front three. Hazard’s preference for being able to give and receive the ball from a frontman has meant his team have been restricted to signing more traditional strikers such as Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata, Olivier Giroud and Gonzalo Higuain.
Without Hazard, Chelsea may be better to look at the example of Roberto Firmino who thrived on the greater responsibility placed on him after Coutinho’s exit.
The whole, rather than the Hazard-shaped hole, is what Chelsea must focus on.
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