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Eljero Elia: I watch Rafael closely…

October 30th, 2009 | By: Jan | 27 Comments »

elia

Ejero Elia is traveling in a fast elevator. And he’s going up! The winger has a tremendous start with HSV and the talent of the year was also decisive for Oranje in his first internationals. Elia is inspired by his idol Rafael van der Vaart. “Everything he does has a reason behind it.”

HSV shares the lead in the Bundesliga. The contribution of new comer Elia is substantial. In Germany, they adore the dribbler, but the young father stays calm. His story…

“I highly enjoy myself at HSV. I’m doing better and better. And I score too! It’s what we all hoped for. And you know, in Germany they love it when you take players on. They don’t have that many players with those skills. In Germany, it’s easy to become the fan favorite for a player like me.”

“The level in Germany is quite higher than in Holland. In every sense. Technical skills, speed of execution, power… You need to be able to defend and you need to see the game tactically. And mentally too. It takes a lot of concentration. If you make one mistake, you’re gone. In the beginning, I was struggling. I needed to adapt a lot. At Twente, I was the man upfront, always on the half of the opponent. Now, I’m spending quite some time on my own half. I sometimes defend in the 6 yard area!”.

“Our coach, Bruno Labbadia is still young. But he understands football like no other and he’s clear in what he wants. And he treats everyone equal. When he doesn’t like something, he’ll tell you. And he wants everyone to act normal and stay grounded. He talks to me a lot and gives me confidence. He wants me to follow my instincts on the pitch. My defensive skills were a bit lacking, though, and he spends a lot of time with me on that.”

“I need to learn a lot. I’m used to playing left winger, now I play left midfielder. As a left winger, you have to their right full back. Now, I have to control the whole flank. Squeeze, put pressure, take over if the right midfielder comes through, all of that. And I am improving. Labbadia never yells at me when I make mistakes. He always talks one on one with me and uses video material. It’s as if I’m at the University of Football.”

“They elected me the most valuable player twice in the first weeks. I thought that was a bit over the top. I need to stay critical. I didn’t think I played that well, but once you take on a player successfully, they sort of remember that. In Holland, that’s normal. I am critical. I suffer to much loss of possession at vulnerable spots on the pitch. I watch every game I play on dvd, sometimes twice. I can feel I’m improving my total game, but playing in midfield does take a lot of energy so I’m training to become stronger without losing my speed.”

“Hamburg is a cool city. A bit like Amsterdam. People come to Hamburg from all over the country. Romeo Castelen sometimes takes me out to see the sights. But I spent most of my time at home. I have a little daughter now and I like being with her and my wife.”

“German is a strange language for me. I can understand it but I can’t speak it too well. I remember I wasn’t too good at it at school. Some blokes at HSV don’t understand a word of German, while they’re here already two seasons… My team mates speak German to me, I respond in English.”

“It’s cool to play with Joris. In Holland, he gets criticism, but in Hamburg he’s the leader. If Joris doesn’t play, we’re in trouble. He recently played Grafite and Dzeko (Wolfsburg) out of the game, and that means you are a great defender. These lads are world class. Mathijsen doesn’t look to strong or fierce, but he’s a powerhouse. He had an unlucky game against England, well… it happen to anyone. I’m glad it was in a friendly.”

“At Oranje, I constantly watch Rafael. He is such a tremendous player. And everything he does, has a reason behind it. He knows exactly what he does and why he does it. It looks so easy and sometimes effortless, but he’s constantly working. With his mind. I have a weakness for left-footed players, as if I know what they’re thinking and doing. I only have to watch Rafael and subconsciously I know what to do. I love his style. He’s not the fastest, but his mind and execution are so quick, he can easily play himself out of every situation. To me, he’s got the same level as Zidane. And the goals he scores… I haven’t really spoken with him, you know… I keep my distance and just observe him, whenever he trains.”

“I’m not sure what my position is in the Oranje hierarchy. I don’t think about it like that. I just focus on my own game and the coach will decide. I think I’m close, but there’s a number of players in front of me. We have many players who can play on the left side: Sneijder, Rafael, Afellay, Robben, Van Persie… And whenever I get the chance, I’ll have to embrace it and show my worth.”

“The WC in South Africa is in my head, every day. That is one my major goals. I want to win prizes with HSV and be part of the WC squad. I can do that, but performing at my top. Al Jarreau? That’s the guy I was named after, haha… My sister was a huge fan and she used his name for inspiration for my first name… I haven’t got his music on my iPod, now you mention it… Still have to add those…”

Tags: Elia, Group C, HSV, Oranje, Robben, van der Vaart, van Persie, Zidane

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 27 comments.

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By Oranje_For_Life | October 30th, 2009 at 11:51 pm

It piss me off so much to see Raf. still at Gayreal Madrid! I hope his wife recovers fast so that he could get the hell out of that club. Maybe go to Inter and pair up with Sneijder there, DAMN how sick would that BE! hehe

By Tiju | October 30th, 2009 at 11:55 pm

Everybody scared about spain and their team but i dont…
—————EDVS——————

Vanderweil–Bulahruz–Mathjenson–Bauma

————Dejog—Znijder————

Roban——-Vanpersie———Elia

————RVN——————-
=======================================

————–Torres—————–

Ineasta——-Villa———–Silva

———Xavi—-Senna————-

Capdevilla—Pique–Puyol—Ramos

————–Casilas————-
Torres>RVN(only beacuse of Torres is young otherwise equal)
Ineasta=<Roban(no special edge for both,roban is pretty close to CR7 and messi)
Villa<Vanpersie(RVP has some slight edge)
Silva=Elia(cannt see any edge)
Xavi==Dejong(senna is more talentd but dejong cancells that with his work rate)
Capdvilla>Bauma
Pique=Mathijenson
Puyol>bulahruz
Ramos>=Vander weil
Casilas<EDVS

Posted from India

By fares | October 30th, 2009 at 11:56 pm

go castaignos! go ozyakup!!

By alaa | October 31st, 2009 at 12:17 am

I love this guy, I wish we had him in euro 2008 when robben got injured and could not play against russia, he would have been the solution for us in that game because we did not do any real crosses from the flanks to the area.

robben and elia for the left wing, two wonderful choices.

By Tiju | October 31st, 2009 at 12:22 am

Alaa both can play in both wings.Afellay,Babel and kuyt are nowhre near these two players.

Posted from India

By alaa | October 31st, 2009 at 1:24 am

@tiju

agree 100%, robben can go to the right and eljero stay on the left, thats my dream. in euro 2000 overmars played on the right wing eventhough he was left winger because zenden played left that year. we need them both.

together in the world cup they can destroy and defense!

By Jan | October 31st, 2009 at 4:47 am

Russian state company Gazprom wants to buy AZ and become the new namebearer to the Stadium and shirtsponsor.

Koemanski’s AZ will be saved and Schaarski, Mendeski, Holmanski, Dembelecic and El Hamdaouiski can stay in Alkmaar.

By ferenc | October 31st, 2009 at 5:00 am

@tiju and all: i don’t understand why everyone want desperately to proove that our players are individually better than spanish players. the facts are: they won ec 2008 and barca (with 5-6 international players) is the better team in europe, on the french football and fifa world player 2009 lists there are seven or eight (i don’t know the exact number) spanish players. i don’t believe in conspiracy theory against dutch players.
the point is not to beat spain individually, this is a teamwork and a possible game against them we should focus on tactics.

Posted from Hungary

By Michel-Olivier | October 31st, 2009 at 6:44 am

@Tiju
spain use 4-1-3-2 with one defensive mid player(senna, xabi, or busquets)

Posted from United States

By Abhirup | October 31st, 2009 at 6:54 am

Any news on the young lads???
we must beat Iran

By Mohamed | October 31st, 2009 at 7:18 am

Yeah , i totally agree with ferenc .
We aren’t better than spain as names , but we can become better as a team . You know , i always belive that the team which is expected to win the championship doesn’t go far , or at least doesn’t win the title . Brazil in 98 , argentina and italy in 2002 , brazil and argentina in 2006 . They didn’t win anything in the end .
Also netherlands in the euro 2000 ,
netherlands in the wc 1990 .
Portugal in the euro 2004 ,
france and italy in the euro 2008 .
Belive me , spain is not better the mentioned teams . We can be better AS A TEAM .

By 3ric | October 31st, 2009 at 7:25 am

Great article about Elia. I am pleased to see his progress, but to me it’s way, way too early to tell how good/bad he’ll become and I will reserve my judgment for the later day. Oranje is famous of producing fast and elegant wingers, it is because traditionally (almost all) clubs in Holland are utilizing the holy grail of 4-3-3 system. Every year people get too excited seeing one or two new wingers surfaced up– some are legitimate, but most are total busts.

If you notice the list of wingers in Oranje shirt the past two decades, the difference between “great” wingers (think of Overmars and Robben, as well as Bryan Roy and van Vossen to a certain extent) and the “not-so-good” ones (van der Meyde, Castelen, Taument, Blinker, Hoekstra, and the list goes on) are their instinct to scores. They all are good dribblers and packed with nice trickery, but to make it to the next level, it is imperative that they have the natural ability to put the ball in the back of the net consistently. And I think this is the determinant factor of whether or not Elia will become what people have expected. Early indication does say that he knows how to score, we shall see in the next couple of seasons if he can keep it up.

By Sol | October 31st, 2009 at 8:53 am

Now I’m really confused, suyddenly Fabreguas is taking the corners again for Arsenal. Now I completely don’t understand why Arshavin was taking the corners against West Ham (wasting good chances to go 3-0 ahead and avoid the 2-2 draw).

Posted from Netherlands

By sonneveld | October 31st, 2009 at 9:59 am

@sol left sided corners are so a bit of a problem, they score way more from the right (from v. Persie)

rvp had a brace today, the second was easy but the first was excellent.

no exactly beautifull but exactly whats needed from a forward

can someone update on the ajax feyenoord matchup

tell us how, van der wiel, de zeeuw, vlaar, fer and wijnaldum play?

By Rami | October 31st, 2009 at 10:29 am

Im trying to watch a bit of heitinga in everton vs aston villa..
eurosport has him as a central midfielder ??!!? ..

Posted from Norway

By Marc | October 31st, 2009 at 11:40 am

Bert better have been watching the Arsenal game, because his goals were both typical center forward goals. Is he really worse than RVN at that position? Considering RvP can also crate chances better than RVN and that he is more mobile.

Posted from United States

By Alex | October 31st, 2009 at 11:53 am

Solid performance from RvP, already racking up his sixth and seventh goal of the season.
Liverpool having a dramatic performance, Carragher, Degen both red carded, not even mentioning the scoreline.
Heitinga had the assist for Saha’s winning and only goal.

Posted from Netherlands

By finnster01 | October 31st, 2009 at 1:37 pm

Oh dear, it sure sucks being a Liverpool fan.

Move of the Liverpool match, Babel coming on for Torres…
I hope that is the end of Rafa Benitez but I know I am wrong. What was he thinking?

Babel is so crap I have run out of words to describe very bad crap. Whatever it is, he is it. What happened to him? He has gone from big talent, to yes, total crap in a very short period of time. It is crap to be a Liverpool supporter these days. Even Kuyt was crap today. I’m feeling crap and am going for a drink right now. Crap and extra crap.

By Sol | October 31st, 2009 at 4:42 pm

I guess that last goal by Boriello for Milan just now was the final nail in the coffin of Hunter’s adventure at Milan.

I wonder where he ends up.

Posted from Netherlands

By sonneveld | October 31st, 2009 at 4:57 pm

finnstir I watched the game aswell, so many young players. I think they took him off because lack of fitness and champions league. I would be more upset by taking benyaoun off for some kid.

also first red card unfair

By miguel rosado | October 31st, 2009 at 5:36 pm

@ferenc: you are right. I’ve been one of the guys comparing players because I guess I’d love to see our players with the success the Spanish are having now. The thing is they’ve accomplished so much with the national team and with Barcelona so as Mohamed said we aren’t better than spain as names, but we can become better as a team.

By Oranje_For_Life | October 31st, 2009 at 9:19 pm

Clubs now aday do not have the patience for Huntelaar. I really feel bad for him. He was being exploited and was seen as an immediate solution for every club he went to… from Real to Milan. They fcking expected him to perform miracles without giving him playing time.

He needs to go to some clubs that actually have the patience for him. GO to a EPL club, a less well-known club if you have to. He’s jeopardizing his chance at Oranje.

By Sol | November 1st, 2009 at 6:12 am

Miguel, you’re right about the teamplay aspect. I think that’s where Oranje has the edge over ALL the other contenders. When I see Sneijder, v Persie, Kuyt, vdV, Elia and v Bommel playing lately I’m noticing that all of them are looking much more for a good pass instead of going for their own glory. Sometimes even to the point where I’m saying to myself, come on, you really should have gone for goal yourself on this one. Sneijder a couple of times in his last 2 league games (Genoa and Catania) when Inter was already ahead with at least 2 goals for example, or vPersie yesterday at the end after his second goal, trying to pass 2 times in a row to a teammate that was marked by 2 defenders and was actually creating space for vPersie to go for a hattrick himself, but vPersie wasn’t selfish enough. Yes, that’s also possible, sometimes you have to be selfish (or are allowed to), finding balance and making the right choices in the right situations is the key.

If I compare that to the behaviour of their teammates who all go for their own glory and sometimes overlook an easy pass that is more functional it looks that our Dutch players are much more teamplayers. I’ve seen the following players show that behaviour regularly this season:

Stankovic (Inter – Serbia)
Maicon (Inter – Brazil)
Millito (Inter – Argentina)
Ronaldinho (AC Milan – Brazil perhaps, probably not)
Pato (AC Milan – Brazil)
Arshavin (Arsenal – Russia)
Bendtner, but not as often as the others mentioned here (Arsenal – Denmark)
Benayoun, OK, no WC for him, so not important
Johnson (Liverpool – England)
Mascherano, maybe to a lesser degree as well (Liverpool – Argentina)
Torres, but that’s a special case, same for C.Ronaldo, they’re too effective at being selfish, so they’re allowed (Liverpool/RM – Spain/Portugal)
Marcelo (RM – Brazil)
Gago (RM – Argentina)
Raúl, Benzema and Higuain aren’t extremely selfish, but they don’t play together that well either, not really very good teamplayers at the moment (France and Argentina)
Trochowski (Hamburg – Germany)
Olic (Bayern – no WC)
Gomez (Bayern – Germany)
Tymoschuk (Bayern – Ukraine)
Pranjic (Bayern – no WC)

The above players are all bad teamplayers from time to time. It doesn’t automaticly mean they’re bad players of course. Someone like Torres, Ronaldo, Arshavin or Higuain doesn’t always need good teamplay to get a goal, they can do it all on their own.

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | November 1st, 2009 at 6:21 am

So to get an idea what I’m talking about, in the above terms, Maradonna was a bad teamplayer. But that says little about his accomplishments.

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | November 1st, 2009 at 6:22 am

But does explain why he’s a bad coach, no vision for teamplay.

Posted from Netherlands