Sarri Bemoans Hazard Defensive Headaches At Chelsea

By Max Wise

Recently appointed manager of Italian champions Juventus, Maurizio Sarri, has bemoaned Eden Hazard’s lack of defensive awareness during their time together at Chelsea.

Sarri and Hazard both left Chelsea in the off-season as the former moved back to Italy to take charge of the Old Lady after just one season while the latter completed a ‘dream’ move to Real Madrid after seven years in the blue half of London.

Statistically, the 2018/2019 season was Hazard’s best ever at Chelsea as the former Lille winger scored 21 goals and laid on a further 17 assists for his teammates in all competitions.

Hazard ultimately emerged as the best player in Sarri’s sole season at the Blues but while the former Napoli manager was wowed by the Belgian’s ability with the ball, he has admitted that brilliance came at a cost for Chelsea.

Sarri, at his first conference as Juventus manager, said Hazard’s reluctance to track back left the Chelsea defence woefully exposed on numerous occasions.

“In recent years, I’ve had 4-3-3, but the 4-3-3 at Chelsea was very different to the one at Napoli,” Sarri stated.

“We had to accommodate Hazard’s characteristics, as he could change the game, but also his presence caused issues in defending that we had to work on.”

Despite boasting the joint-third best meanest defence in the league with 39 goals conceded, Chelsea were at the receiving end of some humiliating results including 4-0 and 6-0 losses to Bournemouth and Manchester City respectively at the turn of the year.

Chelsea ended up finishing third in the league and losing the Carabao Cup final on penalties to Manchester City but they won the Europa League against Arsenal in May as Sarri claimed his first trophy as a manager.