strongbowholic said:
You have come onto the forum claiming to "...know the guy way better than all of you..." Interesting. Care to back this up with some credentials, mon brave? Or is it simply you are a Lille supporter and have watched him this season?
Other posters have questioned the strength of Ligue 1 as Lille finished bottom of their Champions League Group, Lyon were knter stages (knocked out by Bayern in QFs). In the Europa League, Sochaux were out in the qualifiers and Rennes finished bottom of their group and PSG finished 2nd bottom of their group.
Stadiums are seemingly rarely full. Average attanedances show that overall stadia are about 66% - 75% full each game which suggests the French public have voted with their feet. For the record Lille holds circa 18,000 and have been getting 17,000 which is great, however Montpellier holds 33,000 and have been getting 17,500 despite winning it this season.
Based on that, and as we don't get a huge amount of Ligue 1 coverage in the UK, you can understand some of the assumptiona. Add into the mix that French clubs, even the top ones, seem to sell their top talent to Italy, Germany, Spain and England, you again can see why posters would react that way.
Appreciably, it may appear arrogant to hold those views without more knowledge, but as I say, understandabe nonetheless, n'est pas?
The reason I said I know Eden Hazard better than all of you is because i follow the lad since he's 16 y.o and his first appearance with the pro. Since then i must not have missed more than 10 of his games.
I already spoke to him twice, once for several minutes, which enabled me, in addition to his other interviews and attitude on the field, to have a pretty accurate estimate of his personnality.
As for the french league, there is absolutely no debate that it is weaker than PL, Bundesliga, Serie A and la Liga. But it's not as weak as the scottish league, as someone said here before.
Lille indeed didn't pass their CL group (neither did you), but rightfully deserved to be 2nd behind Inter Milan. Actually they should have been, but the players shat on themselves for the last game against trabzonspor (and if the referee hadn't been blind). Before the last game of the group, Lille was the only french team in a favorable position to get to the upper level. Contrary to Lille, the success of Marseille and Lyon depended on the results of the other matches of the group.
But even if it the league is weaker, the talent of Hazard remains the same and does not depend on the quality of the league. Many french league promising players have confirmed their great talent once they joined a more reputable league ...
Besides the weakness of the french league is essentially due to his lack of offensive quality players, which is logical because they are the most expensive football commodities, and the main difference between french league and the others is the money.
But defensively speaking, i am pretty sure the average level is as good as in premier league (Joe Cole even said better, tactically speaking).
I am 150% sure (as everyone who knows the lad for years would be) that Hazard will be a top class player in any league he'll play.