You may not be able to tell by the recent heat-wave but September is drawing to a close and with eight games played in Ligue 1 the table is starting to take shape. PSG, Lyon, Rennes and Lille are in the top six and all four are likely to stay there for the rest of the season.
Champions Lille have struggled of late. After a poor start they found their feet but their last five matches in both domestic and European football have ended in a draw- not the form of Champions. One player has shown for Les Dogues this season; linked with a move away all summer Eden Hazard of course stayed in Lille and has wasted no time showing potential suitors what they can look forward to.
Last season Hazard finished second in the WhoScored ratings for Ligue 1 (7.35) behind PSG’s Nene (7.67). Along with a Championship and Cup winners medal Hazard added the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award to his list of accolades and it seems this season he is showing he has yet to reach his peak.
Mathieu Debuchy was part of the Lille squad way before Hazard broke through and the right-back has watched the Belgian blossom into the top player he is today, but according to Debuchy he has already seen signs of improvement this season. The 26-year old thinks that following the departure of Gervinho, the young forward has stepped up and is showing he has another level to his game.
When you look at the stats there is plenty to give weight to those claims. Last year Hazard finished the season with ten assists and only seven goals. With only eight games played this season he has found the net four times and has three assists, meaning if he carried on in this vein of form he could end with 19 goals and 14 assists, which would be an incredible season.
This season Eden has already been awarded three WhoScored.com Man of the Match awards while last season he only achieved five during the whole campaign. It seems Debuchy might be on to something.
Players, of course, have ups and downs during a season but it’s not as if Lille have enjoyed a blistering start to the campaign. An opening day draw against Nancy and home defeat to Montpellier saw the August demons return and Hazard’s contribution was minimal.
With his obvious talent on show, it’s no surprise that Hazard is one of the most fouled players in France, he was fouled 3.6 times a game on average last season; this season that number is already up at 4.4. Against Nancy he was fouled seven times and a further four occasions against Montpellier.
After spending two games being kicked up and down the park it was away at Caen that Hazard made his first telling contribution. His run down the left and cut back found Benoit Pedretti to score the opening goal of the game. With Hazard on top form - though his key passes per average rating has gone from 2.6 to 2.3 - Lille would go on to win 2-1.
Back at the Stade Lille Metropole the Champions came from behind to beat challengers Marseille 3-2. Again Hazard was at the forefront of everything Lille did well. His influence is becoming more and more prominent as he averages 50.8 passes per game, just less than Florent Balmont (64.7) and Rio Mavuba (54), two players that consistently control the Lille midfield. The average has gone up from 41.8 and it is a telling comparison to the amount of the ball Hazard now sees and how he is using it.
With a pass completion rate of 81% there is room for improvement, but with his crossing accuracy up from 0.9 per game to 1.8 this season there are reasons for the accuracy not being up in the 90’s as Hazard is trying to make things happen. Dropping deep to pick up the ball and drifting wide to find gaps, Hazard is the catalyst this team needs.
Last season, in the title run, it was Hazard’s superb performance at Saint-Etienne that inspired the contenders to victory and overcome a pivotal moment in the title race. There must be something about the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard that makes the youngster feel at home as this season he showed even more of the ability he possesses. If dancing between four players to finish past Stephane Ruffier for his first wasn’t enough, the unstoppable left footed finish from a tight angle announced Hazard’s arrival this season.
The goals against Saint-Etienne were actually the first time he has scored two in one game in Ligue 1. At this point in the season his averages for successful dribbles are down, and the average amount of dispossessions are up; however when you see him score lovely individual goals like the recent one against Bordeaux, you let little things like that slide.
As this new look Lille side begin to gel and Englishman Joe Cole finds his feet and his place in the system, there are encouraging signs that an understanding between Cole and Hazard is starting to blossom, which can only mean trouble for the rest of the league.
So far Hazard’s average match rating is up at 7.74, slightly up from last season. This time around it is PSG new boy Javier Pastore (7.60) that is following him closely according to WhoScored ratings. It’s pretty clear when it comes to the end of the season, one of these superstars will be top of the ratings.
Watching Hazard’s performances so far this season would put him in pole position to go one better and keep the top spot come May.
