Eden Hazard

I think Hazard is a better dribbler than Neymar. Neymar uses tricks and pace to beat defenders, and his dribbling style is not as effective when he's given no space. A bit like Ronaldo in that sense. Hazard has the close control that allows him to dribble past players in tight spaces. But Neymar is the better player in pretty much every other aspect.

Don't think anyone will disagree that Hazard's close-range ball control is second to Messi right now. Previously I would say it was Messi, Iniesta, then Robben. Today, it's gotta be Messi, Hazard, and probably Neymar coming third (you can still count Iniesta among the top three on his good days).

Vegeta said:

Don't think anyone will disagree that Hazard's close-range ball control is second to Messi right now. Previously I would say it was Messi, Iniesta, then Robben. Today, it's gotta be Messi, Hazard, and probably Neymar coming third (you can still count Iniesta among the top three on his good days).

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Suarez and Robben should be higher than Neymar

I just used Squawka's advanced statistics system to compare Hazard's and Neymar's league season and it shows clearly how Hazard outperformed him in almost every category relevant to an attacking player. Since you guys love to bring up stats, let's show all of them.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-m...d/interceptions/shot_accuracy/total_score#avg

Vegeta said:

Don't think anyone will disagree that Hazard's close-range ball control is second to Messi right now. Previously I would say it was Messi, Iniesta, then Robben. Today, it's gotta be Messi, Hazard, and probably Neymar coming third (you can still count Iniesta among the top three on his good days).

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Neymar has ball handling tricks/skills, but doesn't have close-range ball control. He's not a tight slalom type of dribbler, needs to be able to put the ball into space ahead. Messi, Hazard, Iniesta, Robben, Silva, Isco, Verratti are probably today's best at "magnetic ball" dribbling.

BerkeleyBernie said:

Neymar has ball handling tricks/skills, but doesn't have close-range ball control. He's not a tight slalom type of dribbler, needs to be able to put the ball into space ahead. Messi, Hazard, Iniesta, Robben, Silva, Isco, Verratti are probably today's best at "magnetic ball" dribbling.

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Wouldnt discount Modric either, might not be the best, but he is up there imo, excellent ball control.

BerkeleyBernie said:

Neymar has ball handling tricks/skills, but doesn't have close-range ball control. He's not a tight slalom type of dribbler, needs to be able to put the ball into space ahead. Messi, Hazard, Iniesta, Robben, Silva, Isco, Verratti are probably today's best at "magnetic ball" dribbling.

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I'd also add sterling to that list...

BerkeleyBernie said:

Neymar has ball handling tricks/skills, but doesn't have close-range ball control. He's not a tight slalom type of dribbler, needs to be able to put the ball into space ahead. Messi, Hazard, Iniesta, Robben, Silva, Isco, Verratti are probably today's best at "magnetic ball" dribbling.

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Neymar has VERY good close ball control. Not on the level of Messi and Hazard and prime Robben, but it's at an extremely high level. Neymar is able to combine that with his ball handling skills and tricks. To say Neymar is not a tight slalom dribbler is ridiculous, as he can do it as well as Isco IMO.

Neymar's ball control is fantastic. There have been quite a few runs of his where he has beaten 4 or 5 players with just close control. Unfortunately I don't recall him finishing any of those runs with a goal though. Nevertheless the fact that his role in Barcelona is different shouldn't discount his abilities. His role for us is to primarily finish chances and to be a foil for Messi. The only way to see his potential in the Messi/Hazard role is when Messi doesn't play and Neymar gets to fill in. Otherwise it isn't really a fair comparison. Regardless there is no denying that Hazard is a splendid dribbler and has a great future. And regarding last season i think Neymar had the better season. He's got the trophies and great stats to back it up.

oooooh stats.

Stats saying Hazard is a better dribbler than Messi.

I shit on such stats.

hey let those stats be, it's people who draw wrong conclusions.
i know what you mean though

It's just that the gap between messi and 2nd best has gotten a little tighter, because Hazard is a fantastic dribbler. Of course these stats are obviously far from the whole story, else I guess verratti would be the goat dribbler (i wager his success rate is through the roof given that he dribbles in the lower midfield.)

10Rivaldo said:

I think Hazard is a better dribbler than Neymar. Neymar uses tricks and pace to beat defenders, and his dribbling style is not as effective when he's given no space. A bit like Ronaldo in that sense. Hazard has the close control that allows him to dribble past players in tight spaces. But Neymar is the better player in pretty much every other aspect.

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Come on you seriously think Neymar is a better playmaker and passer than Hazard? Hazard isn't only stronger in dribbling, like a lot of people like to say.

antonnn said:

Come on you seriously think Neymar is a better playmaker and passer than Hazard? Hazard isn't only stronger in dribbling, like a lot of people like to say.

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Hazard didnt win the treble, that automatically makes him inferior. Fact of life.

james baldwin said:

I just used Squawka's advanced statistics system to compare Hazard's and Neymar's league season and it shows clearly how Hazard outperformed him in almost every category relevant to an attacking player. Since you guys love to bring up stats, let's show all of them.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-m...d/interceptions/shot_accuracy/total_score#avg

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Fail. Change it to per 90 metrics and Neymar starts to beat Hazard in the overall categories of Attack Score and Total Score in addition to a bunch of other categories.

Also, your dribble success data doesn't show the full picture because whoscored also says that Neymar lost the ball less than Hazard. He has 2.3 dispossession per 90 min, compared to 2.7 dispossessions per 90 min for Hazard. Their turnovers are the same at 2.1 per 90 min.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/50835/Show/Neymar
http://www.whoscored.com/Players/33404/Show/Eden-Hazard

And you wanted to compare him to Messi. Messi has only 2 dispossessions and 1.3 turnovers per 90 min, while Hazard has 2.7 dispossessions and 2.1 turnovers per 90 min. Also, Messi has more dribbles if you add CL data, after accounting for the extra matches even though he faced tougher opposition while Hazard got eliminated in R16.

And if you're such a fan of the eye test, please take a look at these videos and tell me with a straight face that Hazard is by far better at dribbling than Neymar and even superior last season to Messi. They are all made by the same video-maker and he is a fan of all 3 players and has said he has included the majority of dribbles for all 3 players.



https://www.facebook.com/JavierNathanielHD/videos/933131986733182/

Taarabt best dribbler

most fun dribbler