HAZARD SLAMS CONTE TACTICS
‘I wouldn’t have got the ball if we’d played for another three hours’
EDEN HAZARD has openly questioned Antonio Conte’s tactics following Chelsea’s feeble display at Manchester City on Sunday.
The Belgium international, who is pining for a summer move to Real Madrid, was deployed as a false nine at the Etihad, as Conte chose to start the game with recognised strikers Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud on the bench.
But Chelsea’s negative tactics backfired as they failed to register a shot on target and a frustrated Hazard was left isolated as they suffered a 1-0 defeat.
Hazard admitted Chelsea didn’t play to their strengths. And the midfielder believes manager Conte will need to rethink his gameplan when they meet a similar style of opponent in Barcelona in the Champions League second leg at the Nou Camp a week tomorrow.
‘When the manager plays me up front, I try to give everything,’ he said. ‘Personally, it’s difficult to play a good game when you only touch the ball three times.
‘I think that when we had the ball we should have done better. We have made some bad decisions too. There weren’t a lot of opportunities, we had a few situations where we could possibly create something, but we didn’t.
‘If we’d taken these opportunities, we could maybe have scored a goal. But we played against Manchester City, and it’s difficult.
‘I try to jump towards the long ball but I played against Nicolas Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte. It’s not easy to win duels against them. We haven’t played with our qualities. If Giroud or Morata had played, it would have been easier to play those long balls.
‘With me, it’s a little bit more complicated, but I’ve tried to do my best. When you leave the pitch you have the impression that you’ve ran, but that you haven’t played a game of football.
‘That’s a pity. We could have played on for three hours, and I wouldn’t touch a ball. Only at the end it went better: in the last 10 to 15 minutes we had more possession.
‘But we should have tried to do that all game. It was difficult. Against Barcelona we had at least a few chances. In that game we could have scored. Against City we didn’t create any. It was complicated. Certainly to find an answer to their pressing.
‘Once we had the ball, we were immediately surrounded by three or four players. We also wasted some simple passes. We haven’t played a good game. We are going to work hard to perform better next week.’
Hazard’s frustration at being played out of position is likely to strengthen his determination to move to Real Madrid. The Spanish giants are considering a bid for the 27-year-old, and Hazard believes this year may be his final chance at fulfilling his ambition to play for them.
Hazard is in talks over a new deal at Stamford Bridge but will hold off signing an extension until Madrid make a decision on whether to make a bid for him.
Meanwhile, Marcos Alonso fears Chelsea’s recent struggles are down to an ‘attitude’ problem.
The Blues have won just two Premier League games in 2018, and Alonso said: ‘I think it’s an attitude problem and we have to improve quickly because we have nine matches left and we want to be in the top four. I don’t think we have a problem with quality.
‘We have shown in many matches this season that we can be competitive against any team, like we were against Barcelona. If we don’t reach that kind of level of performance in every match it’s because of our attitude.’