Anthony Elanga

[bobbydazzla]

2 minutes ago, Boo Boy said:

Elanga is an awful brain dead footballer. 

 

You spoken to any Forest fans about him ?

[Chicken Dancer]

I don’t think his good season at Forest is at all relevant tbh. 
 

Players thrive/shrink in different systems or environments. He suited their style under Nuno, he doesn’t suit us and probably never will. 
 

He has good athletic attributes but he has no technical ability whatsoever. I’d be very tempted to cut our losses if we could get half the money back. In the summer like, he deserves the next 5 months to show us anything at all. 

[The College Dropout]

8 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

Can we afford to risk another season with no top class right winger whilst we wait for him to adjust?

What does this even mean? What are you trying to say?

[bobbydazzla]

3 minutes ago, Chicken Dancer said:

I don’t think his good season at Forest is at all relevant tbh. 
 

Players thrive/shrink in different systems or environments. He suited their style under Nuno, he doesn’t suit us and probably never will. 
 

He has good athletic attributes but he has no technical ability whatsoever. I’d be very tempted to cut our losses if we could get half the money back. In the summer like, he deserves the next 5 months to show us anything at all. 

 

It matters a lot and is absolutely relevant because it shows he's not an "awful braindead footballer"

 

He's just having a shit time here.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14 by bobbydazzla

[Thumbheed]

15 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

What does this even mean? What are you trying to say?

 

Can we afford to risk another season without a top class right winger whilst we wait for him to adjust?

[Chicken Dancer]

3 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

It matters a lot and is absolutely relevant because it shows he's not an "awful braindead footballer"

 

He's just having a shit time here.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah was harsh wording from the poster, I’d remove braindead and just use ‘awful footballer’. He can barely control the ball based on the evidence I’ve seen. 
 

Does seem like a decent kid though, so don’t hate him or that. Certainly no ego. 

[ExiledGeordie]

Absolutely devoid of confidence but he just doesn’t look to be very good even if he does get some confidence back. I guess Forest’s style suited him well and there was less pressure to perform at Forest. Eddie has his work cut out to turn this one around. Been a disaster so far.

[Lush Vlad]

Is there an element of teams wising up a bit to how he plays?  Defenders seem to a few yards off, show him the line but cut the angle so there's not a lot of room and he just dwells on the ball and never really looks sore on what to do.  He gets on the ball a lot when he is totally stationary with not a lot of options around him.  So he needs to take some blame for that and the system he is in isn't really ideal, either.  As it's not his game at all, but it's basically all we ever get from him. 

 

That take on stat is pretty damning and I'm not sure what it was like at Forest.  But you'd regularly see him doing players for pace.  Whether that was in behind, beating them down the line or drifting infield with the ball.  I've barely seen him try and take his man on here, even when he has had space to attack.  Which is sort of a catch 22 for him, as the crowd are willing him to do it.  But his confidence seems to be at rock bottom and if he loses it.  He's then just waiting for all the moans and groans to start up again. 

 

He's much quicker than Murphy and has shown parts of his game are far superior to him.  Yet he never seems to find space the way Murphy does.  Maybe with more minutes and Miley behind him, who is very good and composed on the ball.  He might get a bit more joy and get on the ball with more space and room to attack.  Miley found Murphy with ease a good few times last night.   

[ExiledGeordie]

6 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Is there an element of teams wising up a bit to how he plays?  Defenders seem to a few yards off, show him the line but cut the angle so there's not a lot of room and he just dwells on the ball and never really looks sore on what to do.  He gets on the ball a lot when he is totally stationary with not a lot of options around him.  So he needs to take some blame for that and the system he is in isn't really ideal, either.  As it's not his game at all, but it's basically all we ever get from him. 

 

That take on stat is pretty damning and I'm not sure what it was like at Forest.  But you'd regularly see him doing players for pace.  Whether that was in behind, beating them down the line or drifting infield with the ball.  I've barely seen him try and take his man on here, even when he has had space to attack.  Which is sort of a catch 22 for him, as the crowd are willing him to do it.  But his confidence seems to be at rock bottom and if he loses it.  He's then just waiting for all the moans and groans to start up again. 

 

He's much quicker than Murphy and has shown parts of his game are far superior to him.  Yet he never seems to find space the way Murphy does.  Maybe with more minutes and Miley behind him, who is very good and composed on the ball.  He might get a bit more joy and get on the ball with more space and room to attack.  Miley found Murphy with ease a good few times last night.   

Against Villa he was going inside out and and was rinsing Digne, first half anyway. There’s definitely a better player there than what we’re seeing currently but I have my doubts as to whether Howe will get what he thought he could get from him. Confidence is non-existent though. 

 

 

 

Edited January 14 by ExiledGeordie

[Kilcline]

3 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Is there an element of teams wising up a bit to how he plays?  Defenders seem to a few yards off, show him the line but cut the angle so there's not a lot of room and he just dwells on the ball and never really looks sore on what to do.  He gets on the ball a lot when he is totally stationary with not a lot of options around him.  So he needs to take some blame for that and the system he is in isn't really ideal, either.  As it's not his game at all, but it's basically all we ever get from him. 

 

That take on stat is pretty damning and I'm not sure what it was like at Forest.  But you'd regularly see him doing players for pace.  Whether that was in behind, beating them down the line or drifting infield with the ball.  I've barely seen him try and take his man on here, even when he has had space to attack.  Which is sort of a catch 22 for him, as the crowd are willing him to do it.  But his confidence seems to be at rock bottom and if he loses it.  He's then just waiting for all the moans and groans to start up again. 

 

He's much quicker than Murphy and has shown parts of his game are far superior to him.  Yet he never seems to find space the way Murphy does.  Maybe with more minutes and Miley behind him, who is very good and composed on the ball.  He might get a bit more joy and get on the ball with more space and room to attack.  Miley found Murphy with ease a good few times last night.   

Think this is bang on, he's basically had his pace neutered by how teams set up to him and looks like he's a bit snookered as to what to do instead.

 

Not an entirely relevant or like-for-like comparison and I may be being hugely unfair, but watching him reminds me a bit of when you see players move up age groups and suddenly they need to work out how to play because they can't just boss everyone physically anymore. It took me about three years in my teens to work out/accept that I'd be better off in central midfield or at the back rather than on the wing now there were people as quick as I was 

 

I'm sure we haven't signed this lad just because he's fast though, so hopefully he can put it together soon. On occasions he hasn't looked a million miles away, it's just that on others he hasn't even looked like a footballer

[Shearergol]

30 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

You spoken to any Forest fans about him ?

 

2024:

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He has bags of pace. His mental and technical game are questionable. Pace makes players dangerous. He could stay the same type or he could move up a level or two, perhaps. As he idolized CRon, as long as he has the same application in training, the improvement is possible. Time will tell.

 

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My thoughts too about the performance against Sheff U. Looked to be struggling to beat his man. He also seemed to lack confidence. When he burst through and was bearing down on goal, instead of shooting from in the box he cut it back to MGW but the ball was cut out. MGW told him he should have shot.
He just needs to have more confidence in himself. He is an exciting player and has a turn of pace that very few can keep up with.

 

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Looks like an absolute world-beater one minute then like he's never seen a football before the next, which I suppose is why United were willing to let him go. I don't think he was originally meant to play as much as he has done but for whatever reason only 2 wingers are at the club so we've had no choice. Hopefully next season we'll have at least one back up to rotate him a bit as his attributes can be devastating when used at the right time.

If he can add a bit more consistency to his game then he's a £40m+ player. For what was a first proper season at this level he has to be happy with the return though.

 

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If the money's good, I'd honestly take it. I don't think Elanga is a crucial player and loads of his goals and assists came early in the season. He kind of fell off after that.

 

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I agree tbh. Nuno looked particularly frustrated towards the end of the season with him.

 

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Maybe his injury has effected him more than we think?

Or maybe Nuno just doesn't fancy him?

He's certainly showed a lot of potential, and had some great games, but not so much under Nuno, so I can see why he may want to get someone else in.

 

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Elanga's demeanour changed after he receieved unjustified, unecessary abuse from people in our end at Luton away. Whoever they were they have no right to describe themselves as Forest supporters. And he became a shadow of the player he was in the first half of the season.

 

 

Nothing's really changed, but it does highlight that if Elanga isn't fit and full or confidence, he's a bit shit. Let's hope he sorts both out.

[Minhosa]

2 hours ago, Unlucky Luque said:

Ganthony Obertanga

 

He's short in confidence because he's underperforming, but then again, we are a disjointed mess this season, transitioning away from the team that he would excel in. He would have tore teams to shreds playing for us a couple seasons ago. Pressing hard, countering, linking up with Isak etc. But nearly all our wingers are underperforming in this new system. Should have got him earlier, or moved on to a more suitable target. 

 

 

 

Just on this...........his work without the ball is probably an ever greater frustration for me than with it.

 

To some extent, I can forgive bad touches, slipping over and looking 'off form' ON the ball but he's been absolutely fucking woeful OFF the ball. IMHO, even worse without it than with it.

 

He's always the fastest bloke on the pitch but ambles to close opposing players down. He presses with ZERO intention of actually winning the ball, it's more to be seen to be doing the right thing.

 

Their second goal last night, not sure if it would've been picked up on TV, but he was 8-10 yards off his man when there was a turnover in play before the ball was delivered. 

 

He offers his full back fuck all in cover.

 

So, whilst it's understandable, he's perhaps playing in his own head when trying to influence the game in an attacking sense its fucking not ok that he can't/won't do the basics of actually pressing with intention and putting a challenge in.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

If we've made a bad signing, it happens. Our hit rate has been pretty much perfect so far given the unfair competition and the fact we can't match wages of richer clubs. We couldn't get the likes of Mbuemo and Semenyo because they had their sights on 'bigger' clubs and presumably double or triple the wages. 

 

Elanga has much more to his game than he's shown so far (obviously) but it's starting to look like we won't be able to run with him as our starting RW next season. So we either need to offload him or sell Murphy and sign someone who will work out instantly. 

 

Or make Gordon play RW and sign someone else for the left. 

 

 

Edited January 14 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Minhosa]

What blows my mind about this guy btw, if you compare him to say Murphy, is that Murphy has what I'd call an 'efficient' style. He receives the ball (one touch), moves the ball (two) and then delivers a ball (three touches). His game is very simple ON the ball. He's not hugely quick, he doesn't have a trick, he doesn't have silky skills and he's not massively strong.

 

BUT he's effective/efficient with his use of the ball.

 

For me, Murphy works hard off the ball and is simple on it.

 

HOW IN THE LIVING FUCK can our coaches not just take Elanga back to basics and say to him, you've got three touches to get balls into the box. If Woltemade's not there then thats on him, not you. You've done your job. If Wissa misses, thats on him, not you, you've done your bit.

 

I appreciate we didn't sign him because we wanted another Jacob Murphy but he's a million miles worse than that right now.

 

Get him back to fucking basics and build him up from there and, if he's not capable of delivering decent, consistent balls from out wide with 3 touches then we need to conduct a serious review into who the fuck scouted the lad.

 

 

Edited January 14 by Minhosa

[bobbydazzla]

7 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

2024:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing's really changed, but it does highlight that if Elanga isn't fit and full or confidence, he's a bit shit. Let's hope he sorts both out.

 

So his experience of Luton away playing for Forest, is pretty much what he gets at every home game for NUFC. 

 

And also it looks those quotes are from 2024, it was 24/25 when he really came good for Forest, so be interested to know how they viewed him them.

 

My Forest mate, albeit he's a one of one survey, loved Elanga last season.

 

 

[ExiledGeordie]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

If we've made a bad signing, it happens. Our hit rate has been pretty much perfect so far given the unfair competition and the fact we can't match wages of richer clubs. We couldn't get the likes of Mbuemo and Semenyo because they had their sights on 'bigger' clubs and presumably double or triple the wages. 

 

Elanga has much more to his game than he's shown so far (obviously) but it's starting to look like we won't be able to run with him as our starting RW next season. So we either need to offload him or sell Murphy and sign someone who will work out instantly. 

 

Or make Gordon play RW and sign someone else for the left. 

 

 

 

I’ve always thought we needed a creative RW who can chip in with goals as we don’t play with a number 10. A Semenyo of Cherki type player. Obviously Howe likes players to track back too so signing the right player is difficult. My concerns with Elanga was that I always worried that he wasn’t the type of player who can open a defence up. The issue is he isn’t even doing the other stuff well.

[St1pe]

4 minutes ago, Minhosa said:

What blows my mind about this guy btw, if you compare him to say Murphy, is that Murphy has what I'd call an 'efficient' style. He receives the ball (one touch), moves the ball (two) and then delivers a ball (three touches). His game is very simple ON the ball. He's not hugely quick, he doesn't have a trick, he doesn't have silky skills and he's not massively strong.

 

BUT he's effective/efficient with his use of the ball.

 

For me, Murphy works hard off the ball and is simple on it.

 

HOW IN THE LIVING FUCK can our coaches not just take Elanga back to basics and say to him, you've got three touches to get balls into the box. If Woltemade's not there then thats on him, not you. You've done your job. If Wissa misses, thats on him, not you, you've done your bit.

 

I appreciate we didn't sign him because we wanted another Jacob Murphy but he's a million miles worse than that right now.

 

Get him back to fucking basics and build him up from there and, if he's not capable of delivering decent, consistent balls from out wide with 3 touches then we need to conduct a serious review into who the fuck scouted the lad.

 

 

 

Not disagreeing with most of the points about Elanga you’ve made here but there may be a lesson in the player you’ve compared him to. 
 

Some of the shit thrown at Murph over the years was ridiculous. Some of it justified. Some of it way over the top. Elanga is still really young and still has some of the tools to be a solid player. He needs backing though. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Murphy has been clever because he has developed something he's good at that offsets the amount of mistakes he makes. The team also has been set up to get him freedom to cross the ball. 

[Minhosa]

1 minute ago, St1pe said:

Not disagreeing with most of the points about Elanga you’ve made here but there may be a lesson in the player you’ve compared him to. 
 

Some of the shit thrown at Murph over the years was ridiculous. Some of it justified. Some of it way over the top. Elanga is still really young and still has some of the tools to be a solid player. He needs backing though. 

I'm not sure a bloke, signed for 4 times Murphy's fee, and probably on double the wage can make a case for the same amount of patience that's been extended to Murphy tbh. He just won't get it. There's an expectation level that exists for a player signed for £55m, our third highest of all time, that simply doesn't exist for Jacob Murphy. That's just the reality. 

 

Whilst I'm not advocating the crowd getting on his back, he's also got a responsibility to do the basics both on and off the ball much much better.

 

There is literally no excuse for ambling towards opponents, when you're without the ball, to pretend you've got any intention of actually winning it back - but rarely ever actually getting to the man to make the challenge when your speed should enable you to close them down miles quicker if you actually wanted to get there.

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

Feel for the lad as he seems a humble, hard-working player, but he’s so low on confidence it’s painful. I’d look to get him acclimatised to the team’s playing style primarily in away games because he looks scared stiff at home.

 

He was completely the wrong profile of winger to bring in, we needed someone more technical and creative on the ball, a skillset which is sorely lacking in the current squad. At his best, he’s added very little to what we were already doing.

 

We’re stuck with him for the long-term, due to the fees involved, so we just need to figure it out.

[Shearergol]

12 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

 

So his experience of Luton away playing for Forest, is pretty much what he gets at every home game for NUFC. 

 

And also it looks those quotes are from 2024, it was 24/25 when he really came good for Forest, so be interested to know how they viewed him them.

 

My Forest mate, albeit he's a one of one survey, loved Elanga last season.

 

 

 

Yep, I don't disagree. Just shows that mentally he's just not there, which is why I think he's a strange signing. Hopefully Howe knows how to sort it.

[The College Dropout]

35 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Is there an element of teams wising up a bit to how he plays?  Defenders seem to a few yards off, show him the line but cut the angle so there's not a lot of room and he just dwells on the ball and never really looks sore on what to do.  He gets on the ball a lot when he is totally stationary with not a lot of options around him.  So he needs to take some blame for that and the system he is in isn't really ideal, either.  As it's not his game at all, but it's basically all we ever get from him. 

 

That take on stat is pretty damning and I'm not sure what it was like at Forest.  But you'd regularly see him doing players for pace.  Whether that was in behind, beating them down the line or drifting infield with the ball.  I've barely seen him try and take his man on here, even when he has had space to attack.  Which is sort of a catch 22 for him, as the crowd are willing him to do it.  But his confidence seems to be at rock bottom and if he loses it.  He's then just waiting for all the moans and groans to start up again. 

 

He's much quicker than Murphy and has shown parts of his game are far superior to him.  Yet he never seems to find space the way Murphy does.  Maybe with more minutes and Miley behind him, who is very good and composed on the ball.  He might get a bit more joy and get on the ball with more space and room to attack.  Miley found Murphy with ease a good few times last night.   

He’s always had poor take-on stats - it’s obviously worse now but it was always bad.  
 

Push and run players dont tend to be in the top 20% of take-ons. It’s the ones with a trick or shoulder drop that lead.  
 

If players are backing off you’ll at least have good progressive carries stats.  He doesn’t havs those either is he’s not attempting them or just getting tackled early.  
 

His problems are simple.  Lack of ability x low confidence.   If he was full of confidence his game would be better in every way. Touch would be better.  He would beat more players. Put more quality in the box. 
 

Confidence is massive.  Marcus Rashford is a talented player. Can jink past a player. Strong fast.  Lovely striking technique.  When his confidence is low he’s absolutely awful.  
 

The best players tend to be less mentally fragile but they can also lean on their ability more.  See Isak when he got injured. Low on confidence. But the goal was down to ability - his coordination, technique ability to quickly make the right decision.  Players like Elanga can’t do that. 

[TaylorJ_01]

12 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Murphy has been clever because he has developed something he's good at that offsets the amount of mistakes he makes. The team also has been set up to get him freedom to cross the ball. 

 

I love watching Murphy now. There's something incredibly simple and efficient about it. He just gets it and, no matter where he is, looks up to the front line to see where they are and try and hit them.

 

It's very effective too, we just can't finish for shit.

[Shearergol]

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Last few games of last season, when our struggles started, the opposition finding out AE was a big reason. After his brilliant goal v Man United teams just sat back and let us have the ball. Elanga in particular was immediately less effective.

 

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Give him room to run, it's done. But, press him? He's a passenger. That £55m is looking like great business.

 

 

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it's the same for all speedster players who uses pace - elanga, traore , forbs , johnson . You would have thought howe chasing elanga for so long would know how best to utilise him.

 

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Yeah we sold him at peak price.

 

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From what I watched 2nd half, he was always receiving the ball in a spot where he needed a great touch and a sharp, accurate pass. Not what I’d have considered his strengths when at ours. I’d be willing to bet he plays for a Nuno team again one day…

 

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He's much better with space in front of him including the outlet to another player. How often do we have that now?

 

[r0cafella]

Either way we are likely stuck with him for the next 18 months at least. His book value will be 44m in the summer