The time period where the use of statistics in football is beginning to increase, slowly following in the paths of baseball and basketball in particular, has (perhaps unfortunately) coincided with the era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The two indisputably best attacking individuals of the game right now have produced entirely disproportionate records of goals and assists, skewing expectations and placing them on an entirely new level for the rest of the offensive players around.

José Mourinho’s two most notable summer additions at Stamford Bridge, Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa, are the league’s highest assister (8) and drawn-highest goal-scorer (9) respectively at the moment. Chelsea’s inability to break down compact, low-block defensive sides last season was what ultimately cost them the title, and these two signings in particular have understandably drawn great acclaim as being the ones who are addressing the necessary issues. Even if you hadn’t watched any of their matches this season, after a quick look on the official league site the duo would instantly be the ones who are picked out as by far and away the most influential performers of the league leaders.

Whilst the figures that the two Spanish internationals are producing are more realistic and replicable than those of Messi and Ronaldo, they can still be used in order to prove a point. If you’ve watched enough of Chelsea this season, you could very justifiably argue – despite what those statistics undoubtedly suggest – that, although they’ve been the most decisive, neither Fàbregas nor Costa has been their best attacker this season. In fact, a certain Belgian winger with a lowly total of just 2 goals and 1 assist so far may well hold that mantle.

That doesn’t mean to say that statistics shouldn’t be used, though; far from it. They just need to be used more intelligently, in a way which is less misleading or less open to misinterpretation than the rather lazy attribution of only goals and assists to define performances.

To suggest that Eden Hazard has gone under the radar behind the new attacking additions would be, to put it simply, quite idiotic if you’ve paid any sort of attention to Chelsea’s matches. Without watching them, though, many would assume that a direct contribution to a total of 3 goals in 9 league games is a representation of a poor beginning to the season for the man Mourinho described as having the ability to become “one of the greats of his generation”. In reality however, it’s not anywhere close to a fair depiction of just how good he’s been – and to misjudge that would be to ignore what type of player he is growing into.

When Mourinho took charge for his second spell at Chelsea many expected Hazard to be turned into a goal-scoring machine, a Ronaldo-like figure on the left in the same mould as the Portuguese winger and how he was used during the manager’s time at Real Madrid. He has produced occasional performances where he’s looked capable of doing that, but they’re generally one-offs; that ruthless efficiency and selfishness isn’t something he possesses. In fact even as Chelsea’s first-choice penalty taker, he gave the chance to take one over to Didier Drogba in the recent Champions League game against Maribor at 1-0 – leaving Mourinho, in his own words, “surprised”.

Though perhaps nothing more than a small token of sentimentality towards a Chelsea great, allowing him to score at Stamford Bridge again, that gesture says a lot about Hazard. In fact compared with other players of similar quality who operate in the same areas of the pitch as him, there’s a notable difference in how rarely he actually attempts to shoot. In the Premier League so far this season, Hazard has averaged just 1.3 shots per game, way below that of, say, Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez (2.6).

A more detailed look into Hazard’s game helps to explain just why his end product isn’t a great representation of him unlike others. Criticism of him has most often been aimed at what is regarded as a somewhat flamboyant playing style, but that has mostly gone – in fact he’s one of the most effective players you’ll find now. It’s just an effectiveness which is a bit more subtle, one which isn’t expressed so much on the scoresheet as you’d expect.

Those who he is regularly compared with hold a different set of attributes which in return make them better suited to scoring goals. Combined with those, and the more relaxed free roles which they are afforded within their club sides, it’s understandable why they are more regular goal-scorers than the Chelsea man.

Hazard, meanwhile, is expected to track back more (as represented by him holding the highest defence score in the table) and therefore his starting position is often much deeper or wider than perhaps he’d like. That means he has a considerably greater distance to travel to get into a dangerous position, something which also explains the enormous amount of successful dribbles he averages per game (5.3).

Rather than being a wide forward (or wide finisher) who drifts into half-spaces to receive the ball, Hazard is more of a wide creator, someone who instigates attacks instead of finishing them off. His very high pass completion can partly be put down to the deeper areas he occupies, where passes are less risky and incisive. Not that he is incapable of completing such difficult passes, of course – he was the league’s highest creator of chances in 2013/14 with 92 (making his assist figure of 7, like many statistics on their own, misleading).

To use Hazard as a pure final-third player, like Ronaldo has grown into as his career developed, would be to waste other aspects of his game. Selfishness is a very difficult attribute to add into someone’s mentality of play, and the lack of shots he takes (even when considering his starting positions) suggests that even in that advanced role his output wouldn’t do justice to his talent. If Mourinho did want a winger like that at Chelsea, then André Schürrle would be the one whose game is most suited. Why waste an extraordinary player with such a high ceiling as Hazard there if he isn’t perfect for it?

Instead, it makes sense to utilise the ability he has in a way that will get the best out of him. A mesmerising dribbler of the ball, the amount of players who are better in one-on-ones with defenders in world football can probably be counted on one hand. He’s completed a total of 48 take-ons in the league so far after 9 games, a staggering 20 more than the second-highest player (Raheem Sterling) in the division.

That could be used as an argument for starting him closer to goal, or even centrally, in the sense that he can use his skill in more advanced areas and have less men to beat before being able to get into the box; though being deeper allows teammates more time to get into advanced positions alongside him.

Having a strong physical presence in the box now in Costa, as well as the likes of Fàbregas and Oscar who provide secondary runs from deep, means crosses and pull-backs which he can put in upon reaching the by-line are of huge use. That means that, alongside the obvious threat of him cutting inside towards the middle onto his right foot, there’s a variety to his game which stops him from being restricted when he is shown down the channel like so many inverted wingers are.

His output (in terms of goals and assists) when compared to just how talented the Belgian may be, despite all of this, is undoubtedly a bit low. Hazard knows that himself, stating that “maybe this has been the best start in my career so far, although it isn’t reflected in the stats”. But, well, that depends on which stats you look at. Use them wisely, and you can get a much more accurate reflection of just how brilliant he’s really been.

There is a strong element of truth in what he’s saying though. Hazard aspires to be the very best and he knows that to do that he needs to be consistently decisive in not only some games but almost every one – like with his assist away to Man City, or winning and scoring the penalty at home to Arsenal. That lack of dependable decisiveness on the outcome of a match, however effective he may be elsewhere, is the one thing that can truly be derived from the goal and assist return on paper; even though his individual performances cannot be given full justice.

Expand his game to match the output that Fàbregas and Costa are producing, and the biggest criticism of his will be laid to rest. If he doesn’t do that though, and there’s a suspicion that he may never quite do so for some of the reasons mentioned, then remember that the output of goals and assists which is most regularly shown doesn’t quite display the full picture of just how good he is. Because there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics – unless they’re used properly.