Chelsea star Eden Hazard has taken an indirect swipe at Jose Mourinho off the back of the manager’s disastrous final season at Stamford Bridge.
Manchester United boss Mourinho enjoyed great success at Chelsea, lifting three Premier League trophies across two spells at the club, but parted company with the Blues in December 2015 after a dismal defence of the side’s 2014/15 title.
Hazard, who is yet to start for the champions this term due to an ankle injury, has hailed his new manager Antonio Conte following the Italian’s impressive debut campaign in England.
The Belgian told SFR Sport: ‘There’s a lot of tactics. It’s not always nice as a forward as you have to run, defend and everything, but at least at the weekend, you know exactly what to do, you can even close your eyes and play. That’s good.
‘We work a lot. It’s not always easy in training, there are a lot of hours of training, but it bears fruit on the pitch. We play well, we won last year. You can see that that’s the key to success: work.’
In heaping praise on Conte, though, Hazard appeared to question Mourinho’s tactical understanding by claiming that he bettered his game ‘in a week’ under the Italian.
Asked whether Conte’s training sessions improved him, Hazard replied: ‘You have to. Even after a week I think I had progressed with him.
‘But I think he’s shown not just at Chelsea but also at Juventus that he’s a good coach and I think he has some good years ahead of him.’
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