Of all the signings Koeman made, Klaassen is the one I feel for most. He was captain of the EL finalists, with a burgeoning reputation, he has moved up to a superior league to test himself, and felt like Everton were a good fit, which I admire, because he could've Sat on what he had, and continued to be an idol to many.
He was one of our earlier signings, and at that point, you could argue he had an out of favour Barkley for competition at the time, only for us to then sign Sandro, then Rooney, then Sigurdsson and just to be sure, Vlasic, all 4 of whom, could be argued, fill a similar role in the team to that which Koeman clearly intended Klaassen to play.
Not only did the signings we made not make sense in light of signing him, but then we proceed to set up negatively and play some of the dullest, slowest, 1 paced pedestrian football we have seen in a long while. Make no mistake, we may not have an abundance of pace in the team, but the system, formation and tactics, were what made us so slow, not the individuals. Even against part time European opposition, we were setting up with 5 at the back, and 3 or 4 games into the season had already see us play with 4 different right backs, including midfielder Tom Davies and centre Forward Calvert Lewin.
Now Klaassen hasn't came in and set the world alight as yet, but comparatively to Sigurdsson, who has the benefit of already "knowing the league" (whatever that means), he has had very little time in the side, certainly nothing of a consistent basis. And for the limited time he has had, 1 clumsy challenge in the Limassol game aside, he hasnt let anyone down. For the record, that challenge has taken far more criticism than it deserved - I mean, if you are gonna concede a goal from a free kick taken from that area of the pitch, with that amount of time on the clock, then you have far bigger defensive problems than anything Klaassen has been responsible for.
I would also argue his last gasp challenge at the end of the City game tracking his man and preventing a guilt edge chance to lose the game, shows he has his merits defensively.
In Klaassen, I see a neat and tidy one touch footballer, a player with a brain, who can pick out a pass and keep things ticking along, something of rarity in this current side. It seems everyone is required to take 3 touches minimum before laying it back to the player who gave it to them in the 1st place. I would argue that Klassen is 2nd only to Rooney in his intelligence, and he has shown a knack of seemingly being involved in goals when he has been on the pitch.
I think it's too early to judge Klaassen, simply because he has not been given the type of chances other players have been afforded while producing very little. I said to my brother on Sunday, that from what I have seen of him so far, I could see him fitting seemlessly in that Arsenal side with their fluidity, movement off the ball and decisive one touch passing. Unfortunately, we have been none of those things, and anytime we've been close to being that, Klaassen has been on the pitch.
One final point, and it relates again to our poor setup, formation, strategy, whatever you want to call it, and once again relates to Arsenal. At the end of that game, Arsenal had removed Lacazette, and with Giroud on the bench, they had Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey and Wilshere all on the field at the same time, zipping the ball about, cutting us open at will. And it made me think. All this talk of too many number 10s, the negativity surrounding it. It's not actually the fact that we have 4 number 10s that is the issue. It's the fact that we did not have a plan as to how they would exist together in a team, how the team would perform to get the best out of what we had. It was all guess work, no strategy.
Our problems have been tactical all along, stubborn and incomprehensible, and the confidence has been sapped out of the players and the team as a result. Football is very much a confidence game, and for me, Koeman never looked like he was capable of building confidence once it was lost. Hopefully, the one thing Unsworth will be able to bring that he has shown in the u23s, is the ability to instill belief and unity back in the squad, give them a sense of purpose. And maybe then we will start to see the real Sigurdsson, the real Sandro, and hopefully, the real Klaassen.
