People are already saying Eden Hazard’s superb individual effort for Chelsea on Monday deserves to be a contender for goal of the season, even though many would argue that surging through the middle of an away from home West Ham defence may not be a sufficiently reliable yardstick by which to judge excellence.
It was a fine goal, and few other players would have attempted it, let alone succeeded in the enterprise, and it was well worth the accolades in what may turn out to be the Belgian’s last season at Stamford Bridge.
The cinematic term auteur refers to a director whose work is so distinctive its authorship is evident in practically every scene, and if such a concept can be transferred to goalscoring in football, the sight of Hazard using his low centre of gravity and close control to bamboozle bigger defenders in his way surely qualifies.
Very few players put their personal stamp on match-winning moments to such an extent, and if Real Madrid are looking at Hazard as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo and counterpoint to Lionel Messi at Barcelona they could well have identified a magician approaching the same stature.
But hang on – goal of the season? It might not even have been the best Hazard goal of this campaign, bearing in mind another solo belter against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup in September, this time cutting in from the right, nutmegging Alberto Moreno and holding off Naby Keïta to drive a fierce shot past Simon Mignolet from an unpromising angle.
The possibility also exists that Hazard’s opener against West Ham was not necessarily the most stunning goal of the weekend. There were a couple of goals from the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley that were surely worthy of consideration.
Exhibit A would be the remarkable piece of improvisation from Gerard Deulofeu that transformed Watford’s afternoon against Wolves. Again, few other players would even have conceived of such an audacious ploy, let alone had the confidence to attempt it and then the skill to implement it to perfection. You don’t see too many goals like that, but Deulofeu has always been willing to try something different and it was gratifying to see him get a reward.
Not only was it a trademark Deulofeu moment, it was in a real sense a match-winning goal. Watford were going nowhere before he scored it, the commentators were remarking that for nearly 80 minutes they had been unable to lay a glove on Wolves, but from the moment Deulofeu landed his blow there was only one team in it.
Individual brilliance such as that will always be celebrated, and quite rightly, though one of the problems with the entire notion of a goal of the season is the parameters set for evaluation. Is it right that individual or solo virtuosity usually attracts most attention, in the same way that attacking players usually crowd out defenders when it comes to player of the year awards?
What about the concept of a team goal, where several players might be involved, each using movement and anticipation to create a scoring chance that the opposition can do little to prevent?
The goal that took Manchester City to the FA Cup final against Brighton was a great example of that. It might have come too early in the game to permit any drama in the 86 minutes that followed, it might not have featured a mazy dribble or an unstoppable shot, but as an example of members of a team working together like parts of a well-oiled machine it was hard to beat.
First there was Aymeric Laporte’s immaculate pass from midfield out to Bernardo Silva on the right. Brighton would probably cut it out given another chance but first time round they were not expecting such an adventurous and accurate pass from a central defender. Crucially, Silva did not attempt to control the ball, but laid it back first time to Kevin De Bruyne, who was already in position for the sort of cross he delivers so well.
The ball was duly whipped in to the area of uncertainty between the Brighton back-line and their goalkeeper, and though it bounced to make the cross even more difficult to deal with, Gabriel Jesus had the alertness and flexibility to reposition himself for a header at the far post.
Some reports said the ball sat up nicely for him, which it certainly did not. It skidded through quickly and the way Jesus adapted was impressive, though his was simply the fourth piece of skill in an almost perfect team goal. Martin Keown, analysing for the BBC, was almost affronted by City’s lethal efficiency. The defenders never had a chance, was the gist of his comments. The goal, he thought, might simply have been undefendable.
Three different goals from the same weekend, three different contenders for excellence for varying reasons. It might just be because there is so much football on television nowadays, or because pitches are in pristine condition right through the year, but can it be the case that we are seeing more exquisite goals than we ever used to?
The well-documented difficulties the BBC had with its goal of the month/season competition notwithstanding, it has become almost impossible in the last few years to keep track of all the exceptional scoring efforts over the course of a campaign. Goals from direct free-kicks, for example, practically warrant a category of their own. Every time something astounding is achieved it seems to be surpassed within a few weeks.
The expression “spoilt for choice” came to mind when viewing a compilation of the best Premier League goals scored in August last year, and that was just the first month of the season. Clearly Hazard will be a loss to English football if he does move to Spain, though just as evidently he is not the only genius at work in this country. In terms of glorious goals we have quite possibly never had it so good.
The Guardian Sport
