Eden Hazard-Alvaro Morata Partnership Is What Chelsea Boss Antonio Conte Should Build His Team Around

Eden Hazard-Alvaro Morata Partnership Is What Chelsea Boss Antonio Conte Should Build His Team Around
14:27, 20 Oct 2017

Antonio Conte made some strange decisions during Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Roma on Wednesday night, the strangest of which saw the Italian change his team’s shape midway through a game they were winning. The Blues would then go on to draw, handing the initiative to the visitors.

Indeed, Conte was forced to defend his tactical shift, with some of his own players even questioning the call. David Luiz certainly didn’t look too pleased when he was substituted out of the game. But despite initial appearances, there was one major positive in the performance of the Premier League champions on Wednesday. It could be found further up the pitch.

In the growing understanding between Hazard and Alvaro Morata, Conte has an axis on which to base his team. The two players appear to operate on the same wave length, giving Chelsea more dynamism in the final third. Morata’s successful start to life at Stamford Bridge has been well-documented, but the biggest impact might be the effect he has on his Belgian teammate.

Hazard has long been considered the most naturally gifted player in the English game, but consistency is a problem. At his best, there are few teams who can handle him. It’s about getting the Belgian to play at that level week after week, though. That’s where Morata could come in. He seems to get the best from Hazard.

Naturally, if Chelsea can keep the 26-year-old at the top of his game, they stand a better chance of competing for honours this season. Hazard has the capacity to decide a game all on his own, he’s that good. Conte is aware of this and has previously implored the Belgian to be more driven in the final third. He wants more.

“I think that, sometimes, Eden is... if he scores one goal, he's happy and then, if there is another situation, he prefers to make an assist rather than scoring twice,” the Blues boss explained earlier in the season. “I see, for Ronaldo, that if he scores once he wants two, three, four. It's the same for Messi.

“Eden can improve in this situation. But I think that, during the games, when you create – for example, at Atletico, he was important because he put the ball in for Alvaro to score our goal. It's very important that he is important in every game for us, to make chances, to score or to provide assists for our players. Very important.

“Eden, in every game, he finds a way to be decisive during a game. To score or to make an assist for a team-mate. I love this. I love this from him. I ask this of him because one player with his talent, it's important as a coach to ask him to be decisive every game. If God gives you this talent, you must exploit this talent. My task is sometimes to try and push him to be decisive in every moment, in every game.”

Comparisons with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are always drawn when talking about Hazard, nit through hyperbole, but through a belief that, at a technical level, he is just as talented as the aforementioned pair. He should be aspiring to that level and his burgeoning relationship with Morata will help him get there. 

Of course, Hazard isn’t the only one to benefit from the understanding, with Morata thriving on the service he is receiving from the Belgian. It’s a relationship that benefits both parties, but most of all, it benefits Chelsea. In what is shaping up to be a difficult season for the Blues, Conte must focus on the duo that could sustain them.

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