Davy Klaasen spoke to the NOS about finding his feet in the Premier League with Everton.
- By James Rowe
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The attacking midfielder swapped Amsterdam for Everton in the summer but has struggled to hold down a place in the Premier League sides first team since.
Klaassen said, ”I never expected to go to the Premier League and dominate every game. You have to get used to it and learn to adapt.
”We are having a difficult time lately. There is not a lot of stability and there are many changes and not much of a starting lineup and that is difficult.
”I do not notice much of a difference in training. Maybe that is because I have a Dutch manager. We do not train that much harder than I was used to at Ajax. There is definitely more attention on power training. I go to the gym more often here in England.
”I feel at home here at Everton as I have done since day one and I am enjoying it here at the club. Only our results are disappointing of late.
”We have played a lot of difficult matches so far this season against the top clubs and it is not simply just a case of beating them.”
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Klassen is a classic example of where Dutch football is at at the moment (well, has been for a while and with no sign of changing).
Klassen is an ok footballer but nothing special outside of Dutch football.
He looks completely out of his depth in the PL. And its not just of case of dismissing this by saying Everton are finding it difficult with all the new squad changes, difficult fixtures, amount of games played etc etc.
Vlasic has come in and looked much more competitive and seems miles ahead in his contribution to Everton’s play. He’s better with the ball at his feet and his play is more positive and more effective.
In contrast, Klassen hesitates often, plays easy square and back passes but offers little going forward.
Yet he was heralded as one of the best, most complete players leaving the Eredivisie over the last several years. A future Dutch captain!
Part of the explanation for Klassen not living up to the hype and his price tag is that he hasn’t come up against the type of defences he gets in PL games. They are much better and eat up players like Klassen for breakfast.
This is not his fault (whether he is able to adapt in another question). But the fault of Dutch football. The defence in the Eredivisie is so far behind the top leagues it is very difficult for any attacking players to adapt.
Cruyff/Dutch football is not dead. Its just not played by the Dutch. Simply because we don’t have the players. But it is played by Barca and Man City. It was clearly evident in City’s 7-2 demolition of Stoke. Executed by the likes of De Bruyne, Silva, Jesus.
To me the goal or vision/landscape Dutch football should be looking to is to have the elites of Dutch football (Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and maybe one or two contenders) play the Cruyff way while the others cop on and play league football which is aimed at stopping them not trying to play like them.
Two things need to happen. The elites need to spend money on getting the best players to enable them to play Cruyff football, even if that means over half the starting team is not Dutch. And secondly, coaches outside of Holland need to be brought in who know how to make it difficult for elite sides to play. Like the manager from Burnley.
And this needs to happen before the elites of Dutch football’s prestige has all but been lost.