Maurizio Sarri has told Eden Hazardto target scoring 40 goals this season after another fantastic strike in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Liverpoolearlier.
The Belgian forward, arguably in the form of his life, powerfully beat Allison Becker in the first half, just three days after scoring a brilliant solo goal against the same opponents in the League Cup at Anfield.
After scoring a hat-trick against Cardiff City last week, Hazard now has seven for the season and has never been this dangerous in front of goal. Given how Sarri transformed the goal-scoring fortunes of Hazard’s Belgian compatriot Dries Mertens during his stint at Napoli, there is already hope at Chelsea that Hazard can go on to be a top goalscorer now, in a way that he has never done before.
So in his press conference after the Liverpool game, Sarri said that he wanted Hazard to target numbers that would be usually associated with Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
“I think Eden is able to score 40 goals,” Sarri said. “He has to score another 33. He is trying to do it. I am also very happy with the defensive performance of Eden in the second half.”
Hazard’s goalscoring form has made light of the fact that neither Olivier Giroud nor Alvaro Morata is in goalscoring form, a fact that Sarri alluded to. “I am not worried,” he said when asked about the misfiring pair.
“We have a winger who is able to score so frequently.” But Sarri said he did want Pedro, Willian and Morata to each score 10 goals this season, to lighten the load on Hazard. Hazard’s form this season underlines the importance of Chelsea not letting him go this summer, despite the Belgian’s interest in a big money move to Real Madrid. He has not yet agreed to a new contract at the club.
Sarri was pleased with his team’s performance today but said that this game showed that Liverpool, like Manchester City, are still “a step forward” of his team, who are still early in their development.
No comments:
Post a Comment