Resting Eden Hazard was supposed to be a solution for Maurizio Sarri, but it turned out to be a problem.
The Belgian had his first bad game in months yesterday against West Ham, despite having skipped the trip to face PAOK in Greece.
A team that has been extremely reliant on Hazard in the early stages of this season weren’t able to cope without the forward in-form, and nobody else stepped up to fill the void.
The absence of Pedro’s cutting edge didn’t help the team, but West Ham were just able to crowd Hazard out all too easily. Hazard’s excellent performance last time out perhaps encouraged him to take a few extra flicks that he might have been better replacing with shots at goal.
In the end it wasn’t a question of tiredness that prevented him doing well, it was a combination of tactics and bad decisions in vital moments.
