Eden Hazard: Antonio Conte knows how to treat Chelsea players after ‘ugly’ season under Jose Mourinho

AFP/Getty Images
Standard Sport8 September 2016

Eden Hazard has suggested that Chelsea are thriving under Antonio Conte's experienced approach following a disastrous end to Jose Mourinho's Stamford Bridge career.

Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea last December having lost nine of his opening 16 Premier League games as the Blues' title defence crumbled early on in the season, with Hazard also suffering a drop in form and fitness after winning the PFA Players' Player of the Season award.

Guus Hiddink stood in as temporary coach before Conte took over full-time this summer, and Hazard has since starred for the Italian coach as Chelsea have won their first three league games of the 2016/17 campaign.

Conte won five Serie A titles and two Champions League trophies with Juventus during a successful playing career, as well as a being a runner-up with Italy at both the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

The 47-year-old went on to win three straight Scudettos as Juve coach before taking on the Italy role, and Hazard hinted that it is Conte's experience as a player - compared to Mourinho's lack of playing time - that has helped Chelsea's squad this season.

When asked to explain his - and Chelsea's - recent resurgence, the Belgium international said: “I’ve always been the same player but Conte knows how to treat players having played at the highest level himself.

"Conte puts trust in his players and now we are good after an ugly season last year.”

The Chelsea players out on loan

1/35

Hazard and Conte are both up for Premier League awards after a scintillating August, with the 25-year-old forward's two goals earning him a nomination for August Player of the Month.

Conte praised Hazard's form last month, but also suggested that that Belgian can get even better at Stamford Bridge.

Following the 3-0 win against Burnley on August 27, Conte said: "Eden is fantastic, he's working very well with a great attitude. After the first day, I saw this - his will to work and improve and to find a good shape."

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