
Thierry
Henry thinks Antonio Conte deserves significant praise for his management of
Eden Hazard after the Belgian was "unplayable” against Brighton.
An inspired performance from Hazard, where he helped himself to two goals,
helped Chelsea get back to winning ways in the Premier League with a
comprehensive 4-0 victory.
Conte's side were without a win in five games in all competitions heading
into the clash on the south coast and were lacklustre in their previous
match against Leicester, where Hazard was substituted after 62 minutes.
That decision at the time was met with boos from some parts of the Chelsea
fanbase but Henry thinks Conte has managed the player perfectly in order to
get the best out of him.
"I like what Antonio Conte does," Henry said.
"I watched the game against Leicester and they weren't scoring goals - Conte
took him off. When you do that to a player like him with the quality he has,
it woke him up. From the beginning today, he meant business.
"Conte did it last season ahead of a game with Arsenal and we all know what
he did to Arsenal with that goal last year. I like the way Hazard reacted
from the Leicester game.
"That's the job of the boss - sometimes a player might be tired, sometimes a
player needs a reminder that he's not doing enough. I'm not saying Hazard
wasn't. Usually when you take the main player off after an hour when you're
supposed to win that game. It got the reaction of, 'OK, I'm on the bench,
but we'll see next week'."