Will Jose Mourinho's tough love see Eden Hazard become the next Juan Mata?

Eden Hazard was dropped from the Chelsea side that faced Aston Villa

Hazard finds himself out of the Premier League picture, but for how long?

It was a decision Jose Mourinho probably expected to see vindicated against opposition languishing in the bottom 3 but it did not take away from the significance of Eden Hazard starting on the bench for the first time in 18 months.

Chelsea were not at their best as the Belgian looked on from the dugout but they found obliging opponents in Aston Villa who compensated for the home side’s lack of cutting edge with a series of individual errors. Hazard, named in April as the PFA player of the season for last term, was required only for the last 7 minutes with the game comfortable at 2-0, Mourinho having made his point by leaving the winger on the bench after starting each of Chelsea’s last 47 Premier League games.

The Portuguese coach explained it in straightforward terms as a “tactical decision”, a result of his team conceding “lots of goals”. "We need to defend better. When you don't have the ball, quality means nothing and what means” said Mourinho, by this time thumping his chest to insinuate the heart and desire he thinks has been lacking in Hazard. “You have or you don't have”, he said.

The 19-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek was given his chance to start in an advanced midfield role but was withdrawn at half-time in favour of Nemanja Matic, another of the regulars from last season’s title-winning campaign to lose their place because of poor early-season form this time around, and it appeared as if Mourinho had viewed the meeting with Villa, without a win since the opening day, as a low-risk occasion to shuffle his team.

The Belgian was back in the side which faced Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Tuesday and he struck the crossbar as Chelsea failed to break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw. But whether he will be back in Mourinho’s Premier League plans for the game at West Ham on Saturday remains to be seen.

Villa represented a perfect chance to bench Hazard who, like Matic and John Terry before him, had seemed un-droppable after their contribution to last season’s success, but Mourinho warned that the side-lines are where the Belgian will remain if he fails to match the work-rate of Pedro and Willian.

Hazard will remember the example Mourinho made of Mata

Mata and Hazard were among the trinity forming in Chelsea’s attack a few seasons ago

We have been here before with Mourinho of course, Juan Mata the one sacrificed just 6 months into his return to Stamford Bridge with the Spaniard sold to Manchester United in January 2014 with the Chelsea manager explaining that he cashed in on a “luxury player”.

At the time Mata was Chelsea’s reigning player of the year and player’s player of the year, adding to the player’s award he picked up for the season before, but that meant little to Mourinho who cited a lack of willingness to press intently and overall work-rate for Mata’s failure to dislodge Oscar or Hazard in the early stages of his Chelsea revolution.

Mata was the first example of the ruthlessness that Mourinho is willing to show with attacking players who fail to comply with his demands for the disciplined defensive work along with the flair that comes more naturally to them.

His patience worn similarly thin on Andre Schurrle, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Juan Cuadrado in the time since and Hazard may be aware that his integral role in delivering Mourinho’s third title win in south west London will not save him from following the same road.

The Mourinho/ Hazard relationship has been this way before

That the Belgian winger built his reputation under the guidance of Mourinho, and was not inherited from a previous manager like Mata, will provide him with more time to turn his form around, and the 24-year-old has faced this situation before, having responded to his manager’s demands for higher work-rate in 2014.

Hazard had been dropped for a Champions League game with Schalke in November 2013 after failing to report for training because of a lost passport, but Mourinho’s demands managed to convert the Belgian from “one of the worst trainers. He was training to have some fun. Always having a joke. Not top concentration” as he put it, to the bewitching force of last season, who it now seems strange to see demoted to the bench.

Of course that conversion didn’t come without the odd hitch, with the relationship between Hazard and his coach threatening to flare up on occasion; for instance the Portuguese attributed 2 of Atletico Madrid’s 3 goals in the Champions League semi-final defeat of 2014 to Hazard’s failure to grasp his defensive duties.

Hazard’s drastic loss of form makes him a handy scapegoat

Eden Hazard’s form this season has nose-dived from the level he was at last term

Maybe realising that Hazard will never truly adapt to his demands but keen to reap his genius, Mourinho moved the solid Cesar Azpilicueta to left-back and bolstered his midfield with Matic. The Belgian reacted in the perfect way, scoring 14 goals and assisting 9 as he dragged an already-creaking Chelsea over the line to Premier League success.

So far this season he hasn’t scored any and notably missing from his game are the clever runs and incisive dribbling, down from an average of 4.8 per game last term to 3.3 now, from the left-side and partnered with the struggles of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa it has left Chelsea lacklustre in attack.

Speaking to The Times this weekend Mata said that Mourinho always blames his creative players when his teams hit rocky form and that is resonating true with Hazard. The game with Aston Villa wasn’t the first time this season that Mourinho saw fit to drop the winger, with the Belgian spending the first hour of the Champions League defeat to Porto alongside his manager, and captain John Terry, on the bench.

His meek surrender of possession to Saido Mane for Southampton’s final goal of their 1-3 win at Stamford Bridge before the international break appears to have acted as the final straw for his manager and Hazard’s challenge, after producing a brighter performance in Kiev, is to now force his way back into his manager’s domestic plans.

Hazard can still offer quality, but he must adapt to Mourinho’s demands

Willian’s tireless running has made it an incredibly high benchmark for the others to meet

As a victim of his success from last season, many teams are now outnumbering the winger to negate his dangerous dribbling skills from deep and Crystal Palace, Manchester City and Everton all had success from watching him closely and shutting off his supply lines. Though he struggled to influence those matches, Hazard has still managed to create 28 chances so far in this Premier League season with only Dmitri Payet, Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla having carved out more openings.

With teams more accustomed to dropping deep against Chelsea, Mourinho may soon discover how much his team misses that guile and craft while his winger sits on the bench. That will be the Belgian’s route back into the team but he will have to rediscover his defensive application if he is to stay there once he returns, as Mata can testify to what happens if you become a “luxury player” in Mourinho’s eyes.

Either Chelsea’s form will dramatically improve and Mourinho and Hazard will rediscover a harmonious relationship, or their slump will continue and Mourinho may pay with his job or Hazard may even be sold. With both men under contract at Stamford Bridge until the closing years of this decade, it is the latter that, regardless of how absurd this may have sounded back in May, seems more plausible.

Mourinho has made it clear what Hazard needs to do if he is to avoid that and the Belgian will have to adapt once again. Mata, Schurrle, De Bruyne and co. have shown there is only one way to go if he doesn’t.