Chapter 348 Hazard's Development Game
"Come, come, here, here!"

Snapped!
Azpilicueta took a corner kick, Pogba chested the ball and volleyed it, successfully penetrating the A team goal defended by Courtois.

"vamos!"

Azpilicueta raised his hands, and other players also cheered. Pogba turned around and shouted: "Come on, This is...the best scorer of Chelsea!"

As soon as Pogba finished speaking, there were boos everywhere in the first-team training ground. Ibrahimovic, who was dribbling the ball, threw it aside, walked over and hugged Pogba's neck from the side: "Come on, Paul, you were still a sperm when God was killing everyone in the five major leagues."

"What!?"

Pogba shrank back and broke free from Ibrahimovic's grasp: "Sperm? You're not much older than me, are you?"

As he said that, Pogba suddenly thought of something and pointed at Jiang Yuan who was playing 1v1 with Kante in the distance: "That one is the real sperm!"

Under the gaze of everyone, Jiang Yuan faked Kante and completed a very high-quality shot, then turned around immediately. It was obvious that he also heard what Pogba said.

"Fuck Paul, I think you deserve a beating"

Jiang Yuan rushed directly towards Pogba, and Pogba was so scared that he ran away, but he was eventually caught by Jiang Yuan in a few moves.

Jiang Yuan hugged Pogba from behind, and at the same time, he kept trying to grab Pogba's big bird with both hands. Pogba wailed: "Kurt, save me!"

"Kurt at Home"

Ibrahimovic next to him reminded him with a weird smile on his face: "Paul, you really need to be taught a lesson"

"Fuck! Eden, where is Eden?"

Pogba wanted to seek help from Hazard. Hearing this, Courtois looked around and found that another Belgian in the team was not on the training ground at all.

On the second floor of the main building of the base, in the coach's office, Hazard and Mourinho sat opposite each other. This time it was Mourinho who invited Hazard to have a private chat.

As for the content of the private chat, Mourinho did not say it clearly, so Hazard does not know it yet.

"Jose"

Hazard put his hands on the back of the sofa, his body posture was very casual. Obviously, for him, Mourinho's office was not a place that required restraint.

Mourinho has never expressed any opposition to Hazard's behavior, because in the eyes of the Portuguese coach, talented and capable players should be given some privileges.

Hazard joined Chelsea in the summer transfer window of 12. If you don't count his first coaching, Mourinho's experience at Chelsea is not as old as Hazard. Mourinho's impression of Hazard is simple: lazy but talented.

In the office, Mourinho looked into Hazard's eyes: "Eden, I will always recognize your talent, but I also need to tell you that your training enthusiasm still needs to be improved. If I remember correctly, you were late for morning training two days last week, is that right?"

"..."

Hazard pursed his lips: "Jose, you told me before that as long as I'm not late every day..."

“These are two different things”

Mourinho interrupted Hazard: "It's true that there is no punishment, but I still hope you can have a more positive attitude towards training. You just said you remember what I said before, so do you remember the meeting after losing to Southampton? What did I say at that time?"

Seeing that Hazard didn't speak, Mourinho chose to do it himself: "If you don't reach the height you think you should reach in the future, you will regret it"

"..."

Hazard raised his eyebrows and finally nodded: "I remember this sentence, you said it to everyone at that time"

The art of speaking was reflected at this time. Hazard only said that he remembered this sentence, but there was no way of knowing whether he really listened to Mourinho's words.

"so"

Mourinho looked Hazard straight in the eye and asked: "If I want you to give up your position as the first penalty taker, would you agree?"

!!!

Mourinho's words were shocking. Even someone as calm as Hazard was surprised by what the Portuguese said.

Replacing the first penalty taker is no small matter...

"Who do you want to give it to?"

Hazard did not say whether he agreed or not, but asked Mourinho: If he is not the team's first penalty taker, who will be?
"I think you already knew my answer when you asked this question."

Mourinho's expression was calm. As the team's head coach, he knew that Hazard and Jiang Yuan had a good personal relationship, and doing so might damage the relationship between the two.

But there is no way. Jiang Yuan's progress is too fast. According to Brown's statistics, Jiang Yuan's penalty kick success rate is slightly higher than Hazard's, whether in team training or in the game.

The difference is not much, but it is still high. That's how competitive sports are. The head coach sometimes needs to be a little cold-blooded to help the team move forward.

As for Ibrahimovic, he is very good at taking penalties, but Mourinho will never give him the position of the first penalty taker. The Swede has a natural leadership temperament, and if he is given the position of the first penalty taker, Terry's captain's armband will be in danger.

After so many years of coaching, Mourinho has always adhered to one principle, that is, don't do anything that is not conducive to unity.

From this perspective, Jiang Yuan is the best choice.

Capable and not ambitious, just perfect.

After listening to Mourinho's narration, Hazard fell silent and did not speak for a while.

Penalty kicks are undoubtedly the most convenient way to score goals. After becoming the first penalty taker in the Blues, Hazard's number of league goals has increased significantly, and his value and salary have also increased as a result.

It is a fact that he and Jiang Yuan have a good personal relationship.

It is also true that the position of first penalty taker is very important.

Hazard bent his upper body, his chin almost touching his thigh: "Em...Jose, tell me the truth, will it work if I refuse?"

Hazard was right. Although he was the top player in Chelsea, Mourinho still had the final say in the team. Mourinho said who should take the penalty, and whoever took it had to take it. Hazard saw clearly that Mourinho was not asking for his opinion, but rather "notifying" him.

"Of course it works!"

Mourinho's words stunned Hazard for a long time. Under Hazard's gaze, the Chelsea coach slowly said: "The hit rate is actually not much different. If you insist on being the first penalty taker, considering your qualifications in the team, I can temporarily put this plan on hold."

"Put it on hold for now?"

Hazard keenly caught the message in Mourinho's words: "So no matter what, Jiang will replace me in the end, right?"

"call--"

Mourinho exhaled and slowly raised his upper body: "Well, Eden, I often told you before that you are very talented and that you are the future of Chelsea. But..."

Mourinho looked out the window. The Blues players were still training on the grass.

"Jiang, his progress is so fast, even a little exaggerated. I have never met such a player. Eden, you should understand what I mean, right?"

The words were rather euphemistic, but the meaning was clear.

You, Hazard, have good talent, but now there is a player on the opposite side who is more talented than you, so you should give up your position.

Maybe not now, but it will happen sooner or later.

crunch.

Mourinho stood up, leaving a deep butt mark on the sofa: "Half a season, considering your contribution to Chelsea, Eden, I am willing to give you another half a season. During this half season, no matter what, you are still the team's first penalty taker. After half a season, I will make a decision based on the statistics. I hope you can understand me."

It can be seen that Mourinho very much wants to maintain a good relationship with Hazard. It is definitely not possible to suddenly remove Hazard's position as the first penalty taker. Mourinho needs to give Hazard a buffer period, and this buffer period is half a season.

In fact, the Portuguese had no intention of asking Hazard to give up the position of penalty taker today. The main purpose was to propose a half-season agreement.

As he said, after half a season, Mourinho will no longer consider Hazard's contribution to the team. At that time, who will be the first penalty taker will depend on the data.

"..."

Under Mourinho's gaze, Hazard leaned back and resumed his previous carefree attitude with his hands on the backrest: "I think I'd better forget it."

"Ok?"

Mourinho turned around and looked at Hazard in surprise: "What do you mean by 'forget it'? Don't you support what I am doing?"

At this time, Mourinho was already thinking about how to explain to Hazard that data is king, but he didn't expect that he had misunderstood Hazard's meaning.

"There's no need to wait half a season, just give the penalty to Jiang. I feel the same way. He is indeed more suitable than me. He needs a penalty opportunity to compete for the Golden Boot."

When speaking, Hazard's expression was very calm, completely different from the seriousness he had when he had a chat with Mourinho before, as if the Belgian had already let it go.

"Wow..." Mourinho curled his lips and sat back on his sofa: "Eden, I know you don't like competition, but what you said really surprised me. If possible... can you tell me the reason?"

“Like you said, I don’t like this feeling of competition.”

Hazard reached out and took a piece of mint gum from the coffee table, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly: "You asked me to compete with Jiang in penalty kick success rate, which will make me feel pressured because Jiang's level is very high, maybe even higher than mine. If I agree, then I will live in great pain for the next half season. I think... bearing too much pressure is not good for my body."

As Hazard said, if Mourinho asked Hazard to compete with Willian or Remy, Hazard would agree without hesitation. Because both Willian and Remy are far inferior to Hazard in ability, and this kind of competition without pressure is not considered competition in Hazard's eyes.

But when it comes to Jiang Yuan, Hazard's attitude is different. As someone who knows Jiang Yuan better than the coach, Hazard knows how terrifying Jiang Yuan's talent is.

Comparing penalty kick success rate with Jiang Yuan, this is the real competition.

In the end, you will either win or lose, so why not just surrender at the beginning?
"..."

Mourinho said nothing.

……

Later that afternoon, Mourinho announced to the players the change of the team's first penalty taker.

Everyone was very surprised by this sudden change. After all, Hazard was in good form this season, and Mourinho had no reason to take back Hazard's power. So when Mourinho announced the news, the players on the field all looked at Hazard, including Jiang Yuan.

Last season, Jiang Yuan scored from penalties in both the league and the Champions League, and his success rate was frighteningly high. However, in Jiang Yuan's opinion, his penalty success rate should not be high enough to force Hazard to give up the power.

However, facing the gazes of his teammates, Hazard simply spread his hands to indicate that he accepted the tactical change.

"You just give up?"

In the parking lot, Courtois got into the passenger seat of Hazard's Audi R8 and was very confused about his fellow countryman's behavior: "This is the first penalty taker, Chelsea's first penalty taker, Eden, is there something wrong with your brain?"

As Hazard's fellow countryman, Courtois could probably guess that Hazard voluntarily gave up this power, otherwise Mourinho would not have acted so decisively.

"What are you anxious about?"

Hazard started the car and turned on the air conditioner, but did not step on the accelerator: "Giving me the penalty kick will only mean a few more goals and a little more value, but giving it to Jiang can help him compete for the Golden Boot. Harry (Kane) and Sergio (Aguero) are both goal-scoring strikers. If Jiang wants to get the Golden Boot from them, he can't do it without the help of penalties."

The reason why Jiang Yuan was able to beat Kane to win the Premier League Golden Boot last season was largely due to the penalties conceded by Hazard. If it weren't for those penalties, Jiang Yuan would have missed the Premier League Golden Boot because his number of assists was not lower than Kane.

Some people just need a little help to succeed, and Hazard can lend a helping hand to Jiang Yuan.

As for Hazard himself...

Due to his technical characteristics, it is difficult for Hazard to score 20+ goals in the league. He couldn't do it when he was a winger, and now he is even more unable to do it as a front midfielder, unless Chelsea can learn from Barcelona and develop a system for Hazard like Messi, but this is not realistic.

Putting aside whether Hazard can play like Messi, from the team level alone, Chelsea simply cannot pass and control the ball like Barcelona.

"If you want to help, you can give the penalty to him when you create it, instead of giving up your position directly."

Courtois is still speaking up for his fellow countryman. In his opinion, Hazard has no reason to do that.

“You probably didn’t understand what I meant.”

Hazard unfastened the safety belt he had just tied and turned his body to face Courtois: "Before the end of this season, I will sign a new contract with the club. The new contract will give me more than 28 pounds a week for 6 years. As long as I get this contract, there will be no pressure to play football later, so do you understand what I mean?"

"what?"

Courtois frowned and had no idea what Hazard was talking about.

"I'm training Jiang!"

Hazard smiled brightly: "After signing a long-term contract, I won't have to fight as hard in every game as before. It will depend on Jiang's performance. The better Jiang plays, the more championships we can win. So you understand, before signing a new contract, I have to find a way to make Jiang stronger!"

What?

Courtois looked like he had seen a ghost.

It is said that the thinking process of a genius is different from that of ordinary people, and today he has witnessed it.

Other professional players play with their skills, cooperation, and brotherhood, but Hazard is different. This guy plays a development game.

Train your teammates, then sign an extremely long contract with the club, and then you can start to play badly.

This theory... to be honest, it's really not something that ordinary people can understand!

……

Chelsea team reporter: Mourinho gave the position of the team's first penalty taker to Jiang. The original first penalty taker Hazard is now the team's second penalty taker.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused heated discussion among Premier League fans.

Previously, a football blogger on YouTube made a statistical chart of Chelsea's penalty success rate, and the data used for the statistics were the players' game records over the past 2 years.

Statistics show that the penalty success rate ranking within Chelsea is Ibrahimovic > Jiang Yuan > Hazard > Terry. Jiang Yuan's success rate is higher than Hazard, but in the eyes of most British fans, Jiang Yuan does not have enough qualifications to become the number one penalty taker.

As for Chinese fans, they will not have such opinions.

Because in the eyes of Chinese fans, Jiang Yuan is the best. Even if Ronaldo and Messi come, they have to give Jiang Yuan the penalty kick position.

This incident brought Chelsea an unexpected fortune, that is, jersey revenue. After confirming Jiang Yuan's first choice in the penalty kick, Chelsea's estimated jersey revenue so far this month has exceeded the entire month of last month. It is worth mentioning that November is now less than 11 days away!
Not only that, the well-known Happy Beans website betway is specifically a bookmaker for Jiang Yuan. The content of the guessing is Jiang Yuan's expected transfer value in the winter window. Only 18% of the fans believe that Jiang Yuan's value will not exceed 2 million, and even 1.5% of people speculate that Jiang Yuan's value will exceed million euros in a few months.

1.5 million euros, of course, is the fan's idea, most of which are bets of 1 euro or 2 euros. If we analyze it based on the betting amount, the amount of 1.1 million euros betting on Jiang Yuan's worth is the largest, accounting for 45% of the entire odds, followed by 1.15 million euros, accounting for 20% of the entire odds.

November should have been the most intense time for guessing the Ballon d'Or, but this news about Chelsea pushed Jiang Yuan's popularity even higher.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, who will win this year's Ballon d'Or?

Also, do Chelsea's talented teenagers have a chance to reach the level of Melo in the future?
On November 11th in London, Chelsea players played away against newly promoted Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. It seemed to be a game without suspense, but the final result was surprising.

Chelsea controlled the tempo of the entire game, with a ball possession rate of over 80%, but they were unable to break through Valdes' defense and were eventually defeated by Negredo with a header.

The defending champions had never played against the newly promoted team, and after one game, Chelsea was completely humiliated.

"I didn't expect them (Middlesbrough) to play such a wonderful defense. This was a very serious tactical mistake. The players' condition was indeed not good, but I am the one who should bear the main responsibility."

In the post-match interview, Mourinho, as the head coach, did not hesitate and took the initiative to take responsibility for the defeat.

In the locker room, Mourinho naturally scolded the entire team. In this game, the Blues trident plus Pogba were all sleepwalking, and only Hazard performed well, which was simply horrible.

In the words of Mourinho.

"Why don't you just stop playing professional football?"

"..."

The Blues players in the locker room looked at each other in bewilderment. This defeat was not so much due to lack of strength as it was a matter of mentality. Before the game, Chelsea, the defending champions, did not take their opponent Middlesbrough seriously at all.

After the game started, Middlesbrough parked the bus in front of the goal, and Chelsea naturally pressed forward. As a result, they shot for the entire first half without scoring a goal, and Jiang Yuan and Pogba's mentality exploded.

Ibrahimovic was still quite stable, but at the beginning of the second half, the opposing defender fouled and knocked Ibrahimovic down. After Ibrahimovic got up from the ground, he pushed and shoved his opponent. As a result, the referee Jonas Moss took action and the Middlesbrough player who committed the foul did not receive a yellow card. Instead, Ibrahimovic, who pushed the opponent, was shown a yellow card. After all this back and forth, Ibrahimovic's mentality could not stand it.

At the 65th minute, the score was still 0:0, and the only one in the Blues who had a stable mentality was Hazard.

But Hazard's shortcomings were also reflected in this game, that is, he can only play in a favorable situation. Jiang Yuan and William did not break through on the wing, so Hazard could only stand still after getting the ball in the middle.

At the end, Negredo scored with a header from a corner kick, successfully breaking the mentality of the entire Chelsea team.

Ibrahimovic elbowed Terry: "John, you are the captain, you should stand up at this time!"

Terry, who was named, spread his hands and said, "Man, come on, what can I say?"

Today he and Marcos Alonso formed a double central defender partnership, and when Chelsea pressed forward in the first half, these two guys were really happy. They only needed to stay in the backcourt as the passing point, which was comfortable, but they were suddenly defeated in the second half.

In this situation, Terry, as a defender and captain, was the most uncomfortable.

"That's okay"

Ibrahimovic put his hands on his thighs and prepared to stand up, but Terry suddenly got excited, pushed Ibrahimovic back to his position, and then stood up himself.

clap clap clap!
The captain of the Blues attracted the attention of the players with applause, and after a little thought, he began to give his summary of today's game.

……

PS: There will be another chapter later, which needs to be revised before posting

(End of this chapter)