What Needs to Change at Chelsea to Get the Best out of Eden Hazard

Tuesday night saw Antonio Conte take the plaudits for masterminding an impressive Chelsea performance against the might of Lionel Messi and Barcelona.

The Blues' inconsistencies this season led to many believing the tie would be a whitewash in favour of the Catalan outfit. But Conte crafted a game plan that, bar a chain of individual errors that led to a second-half goal, kept Barca at arm's length.

Cesc Fabregas put in a fabulously disciplined performance alongside N'Golo Kante, with the two forming a screen for a committed three-man defence. Pedro and Willian manned the wings, tracking runs diligently and keeping a narrow defensive shape that prevented Barca from flooding the central areas.

It was a return to the formation Conte utilised frequently during Chelsea's Premier League title-winning run in 2016/17—the 3-4-3 with four players on the flanks rather than the 3-5-2 deployed so often of late. From a defensive standpoint, it was near perfect, placing so much strain on Messi to do everything in the final third that they were only breached once.

Credit: Sky Sport

But from an attacking perspective, it felt sorely lacking. And if Conte is to be praised for constructing a near-impregnable structure to fend off Barca's attacking stars in the first third, he must also be criticised for leaving his players isolated in final third.

If your three major chances on goal are all Willian wonder strikes from outside the box, something's gone wrong. Letting fly from distance does not constitute an attacking strategy; it hints at a lack thereof, leading the Brazil international to try his luck several times.

The problem was both tactical and personnel-based. The makeup of the team did not encourage structured attacking play, and it squandered the abilities of Chelsea's most talented player, Eden Hazard.

This is the problem Conte must address ahead of a sure-to-be gruelling second leg at the Camp Nou on March 14.

A reminder of this was delivered by none other than Fabregas during a candid post-match interview with BT Sport (h/t Alex Young of the Evening Standard): "You have to have a lot of personality to play against this team who has 70 per cent of the ball. We have to go there to attack and score because 90 minutes defending at the Nou Camp is an eternity. It is a suicide mission. We have to play our game."

The terms of the tie dictate the Blues must score. If they don't, they go out on away goals. But that's not what he's referring to. It's the submissive nature of the Chelsea attack that needs changing—and fast.

The reasons Chelsea were without the ball for so long on Tuesday are twofold. First, they struggled to deal with the clamp-like press from Barcelona's midfield in the immediate aftermath of gaining possession, losing out to Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta frequently. And second, when they attempted to go longer, to the diminutive figure of Hazard, he couldn't hang on to it under physical pressure from Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti.

Credit: Sky Sport

This led to few of Chelsea's forward forays panning out positively, and quite often, Willian received the ball 30 yards out with no option but to shoot. Hazard essentially became a decoy runner, unable to have a telling impact on the game as we know he can.

The first issue feels somewhat unavoidable when facing Barca—after all, Busquets has carved out an elite-level career based partially on this exactly talent. It's not a 50-50 ball when he's involved. The second issue, however, is avoidable if Conte adjusts his starting XI for the Camp Nou clash.

Bringing either Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud into the starting lineup should be considered a must. The retention of the 3-4-3 shape used in the first leg is of equal importance, placing a physical target striker at the top of the formation, therefore shifting Hazard to the left and gifting him the space he needs to work in.

With Morata or Giroud stationed permanently high up, Chelsea won't need to try and find a way through Busquets when breaking out from defensive positions—they could just punt it over him. Pique and Umtiti are excellent, so Chelsea's striker can't be expected to win every ball, but he will bring down his fair share, and if Hazard and Co. can be within 10 yards of him when he does, he could lay it off and allow the Blues to move forward as a more cohesive unit.

Credit: Sky Sports

It also releases Hazard from his role of essentially just making decoy runs, allowing him to float between the centre-back and full-back, receive lay-offs rather than make them and altogether make the most of his incredible talents.

The target man will find it hard work, make no mistake. He will be two-on-one against brilliant centre-backs, and he will tire pretty quickly and start making mistakes. But Conte has two at his disposal; he can send one on as soon as the other starts to tire in order to cover 90 or 120 minutes with no issues.

There's a balance to be struck, though. In the search for renewed attacking fluidity, it's crucial Chelsea don't crack their own defensive shell—the one that proved so stubborn in the first leg.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Retaining four players on the flanks is crucial, as it would allow Willian and Hazard to help their wing-backs with the constant runs Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto make. Returning to a big man-small man combination out of a 3-5-2 base, with Hazard floating centrally off the striker, could spell disaster because it would remove two natural wide men.

The Blues will have to rely on the same core tenets that brought them through the first leg: work rate, positional discipline and belief they can upset the odds. But they need a more refined attacking structure to their game. Restoring Hazard to the left flank and making him a telling factor in more areas of the pitch must be of paramount importance.

The good news for Conte is it is eminently possible. He just needs to be willing to make the tweaks.

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