waiting for either Diego, theevilreddevil or Metthinred to come in and say its because he dives so much
It's funny they do because there are far worse players to point the finger at than Hazard. I don't actually recall him diving (looking for a foul is totally different to diving).
Agree 100% with the bold part, Hazard is far from the worst. Unfortunately I disagree a million percent with the other part of the quote A foul is something that happens TO YOU, when you are forcibly removed from your feet by a tackle, push, nudge whatever. If you can physically stay on your feet, but choose to leave a leg trailing or purposefully go to ground (ie if its your decision to go down, if you are looking for it), then its a dive imo.
I'm not talking about deciding to go down though, I'm saying he forces fouls and makes players foul him. I'm not debating whether they are fouls or not because they definitely are. Well the majority are anyway.
This subject is moot and will never be defined as it is a matter of opinion. I am old school and think players should only be penalised if they deliberately foul the opponent, accidental contact for me is no foul, it's the way the game was originally played and regulated. If an attacker leaves a leg trailing no foul.
I wouldn't class that as looking for a foul in that case. More that people HAVE to foul him to stop him because he is good at taking people on. To me looking for a foul means going in on a player and thinking to yourself "If he makes a tackle I am gonna drop".
It should be like that, but then you have the argument of being able to prove whether someone meant it or not. But surely that's not a foul then? That's purely simulation. You can draw players onto you to stick their foot in and it can still make you go down.
Of course, I'm just simply stating there's a difference between simulation and drawing a foul and that Hazard never simulates.
Hazard is very clever in the way he draws in a foul, most of the time he makes the foul. Of course the contact happens but Hazard makes the contact... Is that diving/cheating???
In this day and age, I would have to grudgingly say no. Every player, in every team, does it, so you are putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage if you dont attempt to draw fouls I guess. In my mind (as an honorable man ) its small difference to actually diving as you are running at a player, not looking to beat him, but tricking him into causing a foul so you get a set piece. But I guess in this day and age, with the unscrupulous behaviour of all PL players, I guess it isnt technically cheating.
I'll try and dig one out when not on the phone but I think a lot of the time he initiates the contact and goes down, a bit like Young though far subtler. Probably not the best example but I thought the penalty against us was a very generous decision. They just ran into each other and one went down while one stayed up.
The best thing about Eden is he won't flinch even when opp kick him on purpose. He will just getup and get on with it. Unlike other primadonnas like Ronaldo - even if someone is 2 feet away from Ronaldo, he will swirl like a caterpillar & feign!!
Don't think anyone can call Hazard a diver. The only thing he sometimes does is run across a defender and probably cause contact. Can't say I'm crazy about that as a tactic, but have never seen anything but a foul given, i.e., no yellow cards to the defender. In the modern game , this is pretty harmless, albeit not the fairest thing to do.
