Anthony Elanga

[TRon]

16 minutes ago, Froggy said:

 

 

 

Perfect.  

 

I'm still backing wor Anthony FWIW, in Howe we trust. 

[Mountain]

4 hours ago, Fak said:

Definitely not his best day at the office but he kept going and didn't down tools. He'll be a cracking signing for for that one remains convinced. 

 

What does that second sentence mean?

[toon25]

He'll come good. Eddie's coaching him.

[Ginola]

Forest were almost exclusively counter attacking last year which plays to his strongest abilities. It'll take some adapting but I think he'll come good, also think he's been better so far than many have made out

[KaKa]

He likely started today because Eddie was rightly anticipating Ange's ultra ridiculous high line.

 

For the first time though he had his team camped in deeper than even Nuno would have, and they didn't press at all, and so the game would have been better suited for Murphy currently.

 

Going to be key getting that decision right as Elanga continues to be bedded in, to give him a better chance of early success.

[Ilovetoon8788]

4 hours ago, KaKa said:

He likely started today because Eddie was rightly anticipating Ange's ultra ridiculous high line.

 

For the first time though he had his team camped in deeper than even Nuno would have, and they didn't press at all, and so the game would have been better suited for Murphy currently.

 

Going to be key getting that decision right as Elanga continues to be bedded in, to give him a better chance of early success.

For the amount we paid, he needs to make himself relevant regardless of high line or not. I think saying teams are at low block is finding excuses. 

 

With low block he needs to have better intellegince to know how to come into the game. 

 

If we only want someone he can run fast, then they are loads available at 10m or less even down the leagues. 

 

He was awful and I hope this is his bedding in period and he will turn out good but jury is still out. 

[Optimistic Nut]

6 hours ago, Mountain said:

 

What does that second sentence mean?

 

Oooh, don't you know?

[Mountain]

1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Oooh, don't you know?

 

My sincere apologies, but no.

[Fak]

2 minutes ago, Mountain said:

 

My sincere apologies, but no.

 

Well it's what I was saying earlier about if you have a bone, and you see someone else's bone 

[Mountain]

26 minutes ago, Fak said:

 

Well it's what I was saying earlier about if you have a bone, and you see someone else's bone 

 

I am sure I am missing the point and I don't wish to be rude but you said "He'll be a cracking signing for for that one remains convinced." Saying "for for" threw me off, I assume a grammatical error, also I didn't understand it in general, I don't believe it makes any sense regardless of context. "for for that one remains convinced" will never make sense to me as a statement.

 

As I say, not being rude, best wishes.

[Fak]

3 minutes ago, Mountain said:

 

I am sure I am missing the point and I don't wish to be rude but you said "He'll be a cracking signing for for that one remains convinced." Saying "for for" threw me off, I assume a grammatical error, also I didn't understand it in general, I don't believe it makes any sense regardless of context. "for for that one remains convinced" will never make sense to me as a statement.

 

As I say, not being rude, best wishes.

 

Yeah I put "for" twice by mistake

 

Bloody typos

[Mole]

5 hours ago, KaKa said:

He likely started today because Eddie was rightly anticipating Ange's ultra ridiculous high line.

 

For the first time though he had his team camped in deeper than even Nuno would have, and they didn't press at all, and so the game would have been better suited for Murphy currently.

 

Going to be key getting that decision right as Elanga continues to be bedded in, to give him a better chance of early success.

I think a lot of it was just trying to get the team and himself to gel tbh. It definitely hasn't helped how stop start everything has been.

[Mountain]

5 minutes ago, Fak said:

 

Yeah I put "for" twice by mistake

 

Bloody typos

 

All good my friend. I actually assumed that ignored it and I couldn't understand it anyway after dismissing that. I wouldn't have commented on an honest error. Maybe it's just my brain haha, have a good day chap.

[KaKa]

2 hours ago, Ilovetoon8788 said:

For the amount we paid, he needs to make himself relevant regardless of high line or not. I think saying teams are at low block is finding excuses. 

 

With low block he needs to have better intellegince to know how to come into the game. 

 

If we only want someone he can run fast, then they are loads available at 10m or less even down the leagues. 

 

He was awful and I hope this is his bedding in period and he will turn out good but jury is still out. 

 

He's already made himself relevant in the Champions League against both Barcelona and USG, in games he's currently more suited to, but of course those performance are being completely discounted. Where was all the complaining after those games?

 

The whole team continues to be a work in progress going up against low blocks, and to be honest I'm far more concerned about the likes of Bruno and Tonali not consistently finding solutions in those situations, rather than the winger that has just joined from a team that didn't typically go against low blocks at all.

 

Most weeks the best teams in the division struggle against low blocks passing side to side endlessly, despite all of the technical players they have that we should supposedly be signing, and their fans complain endlessly about how slow and tedious their build up play is. We often look far more threatening than these teams, but no one wants to talk about that.

 

So you tell me who was on your list "for the amount we paid" that is this specialist low block solution from out wide, and who we should have signed for £10 million or less if all we wanted was "someone who can run fast". 

 

[KaKa]

2 hours ago, Mole said:

I think a lot of it was just trying to get the team and himself to gel tbh. It definitely hasn't helped how stop start everything has been.

 

Yeah, that's a big part of it, as the manager has said himself they currently don't really have any training time due to the game schedule.

 

In the meantime, as there is going to have to be some rotation anyway, it would be good to match them up to games that are better suited to them both when possible of course.

[madras]

There were at least a couple of occasions when he had the run (once wide and once between LB and CH) for the ball through or over the top and it didn't come from Trips for which he (Trips) apologised both times. Also times when a slightly quicker ball into his path to mo e on to as opposed to playing to his left when hes out wide.

 

Not to worry, we are still a bit bitty at times as players get to work each other out, I suppose we shouldn't whinge with it because its  great we are in so mamy comps it doesnt really give time on the training pitch.

[Kid Icarus]

Tbf to both Elanga and Gordon, how many times this season have you seen them put a ball in only for there to be no one there and you think to yourself "that's a really good ball tbf"?

 

I can think of about 5. Elanga should easily have had a couple of assists from some of the balls that have actually made it to players as well.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Lotus]

Don't think he was awful, that seems an exaggeration. He didn't influence the game particularly or offer much differentiation from Murphy but it's early days.

I'm sure, the longer he spends with the squad, the more accustomed he'll be to our style of play and he'll start to show his qualities. 

Eddie has wanted him for a while and will work with him to bring the best out of him. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

15 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Yeah, that's a big part of it, as the manager has said himself they currently don't really have any training time due to the game schedule.

 

In the meantime, as there is going to have to be some rotation anyway, it would be good to match them up to games that are better suited to them both when possible of course.

 

This is true, but I fully understand why Howe decided to go for an unchanged front 3 against Forest. Chance to get them some minutes together and hopefully gel. 

[Sibierski]

Really weird start to his career, and I do think his confidence has took a knock which is resulting in his indecisive play. At Forest, he’d be beating his man and getting shots away. Times yesterday, he was going backwards or just hitting byline, rarely ever came inside. 
 

We don’t help by not releasing him when his body position is prepped for a run behind though, so over time he stops doing that and comes deeper to get ball. It’s like we’re stuck in two ways with him. Want to use him like we do Murphy, yet being a completely different type in their final third output. 

[Yorkie]

Was definitely quite alarmed by his performance yesterday but just refuse to believe he's actually that poor given how much the manager wanted him.

 

I do share the concerns about his compatibility in the team and wonder if he's a victim of circumstance a little bit; first with Isak leaving then with the Wissa injury. Because it seems very clear to me that the football we need to play to make Woltemade thrive (neat, fast, somewhat congested football through the centre of the pitch) is not the football we need to play to make Elanga thrive (direct counter-attack with balls over the top). 

 

What's exciting is that, if the manager finds a way to get the best out of both of them, we'll have opposition teams chasing their tails defensively. 

 

He needs to learn how to control the ball first, mind.

[The Prophet]

Why are we just ignoring his good performances though? He's been more erratic than poor.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

What I would say is that generally I considered intelligence and decision-making to be one of Elanga's strengths before he signed for us, often picking exactly the right moment to use his pace and the right time to release the ball to someone else.

 

So I do believe he's maybe trying a bit too hard at the moment and he has what it takes to put it all together for us. 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TRon]

6 hours ago, Ilovetoon8788 said:

For the amount we paid, he needs to make himself relevant regardless of high line or not. I think saying teams are at low block is finding excuses. 

 

With low block he needs to have better intellegince to know how to come into the game. 

 

If we only want someone he can run fast, then they are loads available at 10m or less even down the leagues. 

 

He was awful and I hope this is his bedding in period and he will turn out good but jury is still out. 

 

 

I think that's just looking at his negatives though. I remember watching his highlights video and saw him whipping in some really dangerous crosses. He has a way of striking the ball which makes it hard to defend, whether crossing or shooting. Add that to his electric pace and I think that's why Howe was so keen. 

[Groundhog63]

6 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

I think that's just looking at his negatives though. I remember watching his highlights video and saw him whipping in some really dangerous crosses. He has a way of striking the ball which makes it hard to defend, whether crossing or shooting. Add that to his electric pace and I think that's why Howe was so keen. 

He did two of those in the first half against Barca. Gordon's legs turned to jelly then Barnes had hit shot blocked by the keeper. Any other game it's 2-0