Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho tells Eden Hazard: Don't get comfortable at No.10 - you're best on the left

Positional preference: Mourinho believes Hazard's best position is on the flank
Ian Walton/Getty Images
Sam Long24 November 2015

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has warned Eden Hazard not to get comfortable in a No.10 position as he still believes the Belgian is at his best on the left flank.

The 24-year-old has struggled in the early stages of the season but revealed that he asked to be moved into a central role in an effort to return to form.

Hazard produced one of his best displays of the season behind Diego Costa in Saturday's victory over Norwich but Mourinho has hinted that the positional switch will not be permanent.

"I think his best position is the position where last season he was the player of the season.

"With confidence levels high and with the team playing well I think it's his best position.

"But, obviously, when the player is not playing well we have to try solutions to help him recover his confidence."

Although Mourinho admitted Hazard can excel in a central role, he places a higher value on the Belgian's ability in isolated one-on-one situations rather than congested areas of the pitch.

"When he plays at No. 10, he gets into areas where sometimes he is surrounded by teams.

"When he gets the ball [on the left flank] he can attack defenders more in an individual way.

Chelsea vs Norwich - player ratings

1/22

"It's more about him attacking the right-back and the right-back is always in trouble against a player who has his best quality in a one-against-one."

Hazard scored 14 Premier League goals last season but is yet to open his account during the current campaign.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in