Anthony Elanga

[TRon]

8 hours ago, Shays Given Tim Flowers said:

He was absolutely fine tonight. Didn’t look out of place and carried a lot of threat.

 

But ultimately failed to deliver on any of it. That failure to cross to Barnes in the second half with the goal gaping was criminal. 

 

I'm not a fan of Murphy but he provided one decent cross which led to the only goal we scored. 

[Optimistic Nut]

Just now, TRon said:

 

But ultimately failed to deliver on any of it. That failure to cross to Barnes in the second half with the goal gaping was criminal. 

 

I'm not a fan of Murphy but he provided one decent cross which led to the only goal we scored. 

 

Elanga should have at least 2 assists against Barcelona this season tbf. One pearler for Osula who just missed contact, plus a couple in the first game. 

[The Prophet]

11 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

But ultimately failed to deliver on any of it. That failure to cross to Barnes in the second half with the goal gaping was criminal. 

 

I'm not a fan of Murphy but he provided one decent cross which led to the only goal we scored. 

 

There were a couple of excellent deliveries in the first half that Osula simply didn't attack well enough. 

 

He was aggressive and forced Cancelo back all game, which Murphy wouldn't do.

 

 

Edited March 11 by The Prophet

[duo]

10 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

But ultimately failed to deliver on any of it.

Harsh - wasn't his fault no one was in the box to capitalise on his crosses.

[samptime29]

His initial burst of pace was excellent last night. The final ball (as all season) the problem. He has improved though. Definitely more of an outlet now.

[Holmesy]

That was comfortably the best we’ve seen from him - still a lot of fart with no solids yet but hopefully he keeps kicking on

[Gottlob]

He doesn't have silky skills or a real creative streak and sometimes seems to have a very high top speed while being slower off the mark, which is perhaps less about his acceleration than his confidence, positioning, anticipation and first touch. But unlike some of the wingers he has been kind of unfavourably compared to, he seems low on confidence and somewhat timid rather than headless. When you have those raw components and are willing to take instruction, a lot of that final ball can be about confidence and the readiness to strike first time. I thought he had a really good game last night.

[The College Dropout]

On 09/03/2026 at 11:38, Fak said:

 

Think it was in Hope's recent articles that that's what they're trying to setup. 

 

Along with setting up the new training ground.

 

And stadium.

 

And new mega sponsors.

Inshallah 

 

The thing about Elanga’s crossing is that it’s hard to read  when it’s coming and it’s often hit super hard and flat.  
 

With Murphy you know it’s coming early and it’s whipped - it’s easier to time as an attacker. And the whip makes it undefendable(?). 
 

Elanga had Cancelo on ice all game. He didn’t have that bit of quality when needed unfortunately but good effort. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He’s definitely looking more assured and his touch is much better than it was. Confidence must be coming back. 

[Kid Icarus]

He's still a mile off where we want him to be, but I'd also say he's a mile off where he was when he got here. He's definitely going in the right direction, the next steps for him are working on his decision making and the quality of his final ball I think. 

[KaKa]

Watching the highlights back is quite astonishing really. This team creates a decent amount of chances. They may not always look pretty or be pinpoint precise ones, but there is enough there for a pretty basic traditional striker to capitalise on. An old man Callum Wilson or Chris Wood likely manages to bundle in at least one goal in the box yesterday.

 

Because of the current situation upfront there is so much pressure for everything to be so perfect before we can seemingly muster a goal, which is just ridiculous really.

 

To make things even more frustrating, the wingers have this odd knack of making a mess of the simpler final passes/crosses that will almost guarantee a tap in.

 

Yesterday, Elanga takes an extra touch or two that makes his ball across more difficult, and increases the likelihood that it will get cut out, which it did.

 

Barnes was also played in behind in a similar manner and just had to roll it across to runners through the middle, and incredibly, he didn't even look to cross it and instead started trying to cut back to shoot in traffic and it got blocked.

 

Both simple tap ins that were screwed up somehow from both wingers. Opportunities that can't be thrown away because those are the only ones you can envision the players upfront scoring from at the minute.

 

Ultimately needed an almost perfect pinpoint cross from Murphy before they could get a goal in the end.

[Adam P]

Elanga's improvement continues, he will get there. Once you get to a truly elite level there are only a few things that count; confidence, aggression and determination principally. The extent to which confidence kills performance shoud never be underrated. I think he has a bit to go confidence wise but he is showing a much higher level of determination and continues to add a touch of aggression in the tackle. I rated his performance highly last night. 

[Yorkie]

His confidence is coming back but it's still not totally there. In the previous game against Barcelona he sent over a really early ground pass for Barnes in the first half on the counter. It was a big chance well saved. 

 

More or less a carbon copy situation to that one last night which he hesitated on and crossed it straight to the goalie. A more assured player delivers it earlier, as he did in the first game.

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

He's looking much better, the issue now isn't him looking like a lost sheep and effing up the basics it's more about final ball and quality, he got into some great positions last night but failed to add a consistent final ball.

 

I'm not sure he's ever going to be the level we want or need but I do think there's more in there to come from him.

[alexf]

Still more of a sprinter than a footballer. He's fine up until he has to do something technical with the ball. I think that's the part where people's hope for him to come good hits abit of a wall.

 

Because yes, he is playing much better now than he was a couple of months ago, but he is still struggled alot with the basics. I think that is alot harder to overcome than just lacking in abit of form etc. 

 

Murphy kind of illustrated that point when he came on. Just whips it with accuracy as soon as he can, it's simple but really effective. 

 

I never have any confidence now when Elanga gets out through that he will make the right decision or be able to execute the shot or cross successfully. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don’t see him like that at all. If anything he gets criticised because he doesn’t sprint as much as people want. 
 

He’s obviously quick but I feel like his decision making and technique is potentially actually pretty good if he can recover any form. 

[HaydnNUFC]

I think he has been better in 2026 so far but that needs to be reflected in goals and assists. He got into good positions last night but his final ball let him down.

[KDT]

It was pretty much the same performance that he gave against Barcelona in the league stage, if only he could play them every week.

[Lush Vlad]

He was so positive and was unlucky not to have a goal and an assist last night. Really bright and kept them on the back foot. 
 

He still looks short of confidence and like he is second guessing himself a lot of the time. Quite a few times he looked caught in 2-3 minds and the end product ended up being underwhelming. 

[Marquee Moon]

I thought he put some good balls in yesterday, he might not be able to pick a player out like Murph but he flashed it right across the face of goal a few times. A proper striker like Shearer would be flinging himself at those, our lot are always on their heels or just no where near.

[Kimbo]

15 minutes ago, KDT said:

It was pretty much the same performance that he gave against Barcelona in the league stage, if only he could play them every week.

Barca’s high line creates an opportunity for him. It’s just a shame no one in the premier league plays that way.

[Sir Joel Inton]

All four of our starting defenders last night (Trippier, Burn, Thiaw and Hall) individually have more goal involvements than Elanga this season. The fifth defender who came on, Livramento, has an equal tally to Elanga.

 

Astonishingly bad.

 

He should have scored in the first half when played through, that wasn’t offside either imo, although it was very tight, but I think it would have counted.

 

I do think starting him and getting him running at the full back all match before bringing Murphy on is the best option. But neither of them are anywhere near good enough for where we want to be.

 

The fact he is only 23, soon to be 24, is the only saving grace. We have time to hopefully make him look semi ok before flogging him in hopefully an inflated market and getting our money back.

[TRC]

Dont think he deserves any stick for last night, he won plenty of corners, tested the keeper a few times, put some dangerous balls in. Hope to see the same in the away leg.

[nufcjmc]

He gave the ball straight to them in the middle of the park we managed to get away with.

 

Annoyed by his decision when he sprinted through on goal and didn't release to Barnes sooner but a better showing that earlier in the season and I want to give him some credit for being able to be in a position to do some of tbese things.

 

For the amount we paid we need it to work but it's still a low bar hes set for himself when looking to the season as a whole. 

[Smal]

2 hours ago, HaydnNUFC said:

I think he has been better in 2026 so far but that needs to be reflected in goals and assists. He got into good positions last night but his final ball let him down.

there was one cross of his last night that went right across the face of goal. Any previous season and I’m confident it’d have been converted by Wilson or cunt.

 

Having no striker is absolutely killing us and has done all season. It affects the confidence of the whole team.

 

 

Edited March 11 by Smal