Midfielder Davy Klaassen has come in for some criticism for how he struggled with the pace of yesterday’s Serie A match between Salernitana and Inter Milan.
As L’Interista highlights, the player ratings across Italian media gave the Dutchman fairly middling grades.
In terms of the positives of Klaassen’s performance, there was no doubt about the former Ajax and Everton midfielder’s quality in possession.
All throughout his time on the pitch, when Klaassen was able to get on the ball, he was typically able to do something useful with it.
In the first half when Inter got off to a fast start, the 30-year-old participated heavily. Klaassen had a big influence with how he circulated possession and dictated the tempo, showing his eye for a pass.
And there were a couple excellent first touches by the Dutchman that allowed the team to get up the pitch.
Klaassen looked very much at home in and around the penalty area.
But the big problem as the match wore on was that Klaassen started to struggle to simply get involved.
Davy Klaassen Criticized For Being Off The Pace In Salernitana Inter Clash
As Salernitana began to grow in confidence and hold a higher defensive line, there was less and less space for Klaassen.
In possession, this meant that it was harder for the Dutchman to get opportunities on the ball.
Therefore, the former Ajax midfielder’s influence began to wane.He was not quite able to be a metronomic presence in terms of finding pockets of space and keeping the ball moving under pressure.
And even more problematic was Klaassen’s struggles on the defensive side.
As Salernitana started to throw more bodies forward, the Dutchman was not a very effective midfield screen.
The Granata found it too easy to get through the spaces that Klaassen needed to cover.
Therefore, in the end, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi decided to replace the Dutchman with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
