Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had a fine plan to neutralize his former Chelsea player Eden Hazard last season. Mourinho man-marked the Belgian with Ander Herrera, United’s eventual 2016-17 player of the year for the Old Trafford meeting, and the result was a 2-0 win for the Red Devils.
This time Herrera is out with a muscular injury, one severe enough that he could be out six weeks. This time, Mourinho will have to look elsewhere if he is to deploy the man-marking method again. Holding midfielder Nemanja Matic, who obviously played at Chelsea with Hazard under Mourinho might be an option.
“He is a player very difficult to neutralize,” Mourinho said of Eden Hazard.
“Of course, he is a very important player for them, but Willian is very important for them. They have other players that are very important, so it’s difficult to neutralize because of his individual qualities.”
Hazard has been described by former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise as “world class” and “outstanding,” with abilities that are “frightening.”
He will certainly be a focus of Mourinho’s defensive game plan, but like the Portugese just said, Willian is a major threat too. The Brazilian is currently on an amazing run of form, and no doubt must be strongly accounted for.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.