Elias Saad has often experienced that football is fast-paced. Two years ago, St. Pauli’s winger was still playing in the regional league for Norderstedt, and just two weeks ago he made a confession of frustration in a TV interview – now he is the celebrated hero.
Celebrated hero: Elias Saad after St. Pauli’s first win of the season.
IMAGO/Kirchner Media
Saad looked almost incredulous Skycamera when he was informed on Saturday that expert and former national player Dietmar Hamann had just named him his player of the match day. “Greetings to Didi Hamann,” said the 24-year-old, slightly embarrassed.
Two weeks earlier, after St. Pauli’s last away game, Saad was also in a TV interview. The promoted team had lost 3-1 in Augsburg, the Wilhelmsburg native had prepared his first Bundesliga goal, but he also only started the fourth competitive game of the season as a joker. He confessed on DAZN-Microphone, “there is also anger in my stomach. Every day I go to training in the hope that I will get more playing time again. But the coach has his idea.”
The coach, Alexander Blessin, wanted to make St. Pauli more compact and resilient in the Bundesliga, so he relied on a more compact midfield and a dual leadership instead of the wing pair Saad and Oladapo Afolayan. And the late starter in professional football, who never went through a youth academy, also needed some getting started in the new sporting environment.
Irvine’s guess
But the new coach didn’t stubbornly stick to his idea after he realized that the duo can not only make the difference offensively, but can also realize their ideas against the ball. Jackson Irvine says: “Maybe waiting for their chance lit a fire. After their performances last season, they were eager for the opportunity to show that in the Bundesliga right from the start.”
Afolayan confirms his captain’s assessment. “I enjoy every game I’m on the pitch in.” And the Brit notices how much influence he can have on St. Pauli’s game in conjunction with Saad, even a league higher up. “Elias and I both really wanted to show that we have the quality, we also worked a lot defensively. We know that we have the ability to cause problems for other teams.”
Blessin praises the duo’s development
The statistical reward for the duo: After initial joker appearances and now two starting eleven nominations, they are listed in kicker among the field players with the highest grades: Saad is in fourth place with an average of 2.38, Afolayan in 12th place with 2.75. For Blessin However, something else is crucial: “Both also work really well against the ball.” And that’s why they are now different players in the coach’s system, which is geared towards compactness. That didn’t seem in sight just a few weeks ago. But hardly anyone knows better how quickly things can change in football than Saad.
