FBref says he's the bottom 1 percentile (like, the very bottom player) in Europe's top 5 leagues for progressive passes across all the attacking midfielders/wingers. 0.93 progressive passes per 90. To be dead last over the past 365 days is quite impressive. There's some proper shitters out there. https://fbref.com/en/players/2fba6108/Anthony-Elanga
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
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- Goals
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- Assists
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- Yellow cards
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Hasn’t kicked on this season, but he’s still only 20 years young. Despite not beeing in the Garnacho talent bracket it’s just silly to write him off already. If he was 25 I would get it, but he can still improve and develope his game, believe it or not.
Agreed. For example, Ivan Toney is a player linked with moves to big clubs recently. At Elanga's age he was on loan at Shrewsbury in League One.
If Pellistri is actually in contention for that RW spot as backup, and with Garnacho on the left, I actually would send him on loan in Jan if a decent club could be found. He's a good player but he doesn't seem to have really developed so far this year and a change of scene and role might do him good.
Unfortunately Pellistri hasn't had a kick so presumably Erik doesn't rate him, meaning I think Elanga has to stay.
Unfortunately Pellistri hasn't had a kick so presumably Erik doesn't rate him, meaning I think Elanga has to stay.
Yikes. All his stats make grim reading. Although 94th centile for “aerials won”. Who knew?!
Actually had a decent game against Mexico the other day. Looking lively.
Would save us a few bucks if this kid could kick into next gear.
Would save us a few bucks if this kid could kick into next gear.
Pellistri has asked to leave if I remember rightly. Count him out if so.
Do we keep young players until 25 then just to have a proper look? This is the attitude that has us still lumbered with Axel Tuanzebe. I think it’s highly unlikely Elanga will become a player of any significance here.
Depends why he wants to leave I suppose. If it's lack of game time then perhaps he would be ok.
Hard to be progressive when you are often the highest on the pitch and making forward runs? there is always context
That would stick if he wasn’t dead last across Europe’s top 5 leagues. That’s compared to every single winger or attacking midfielder that Opta/FBref have stats against. It’s not like we’re talking about him being average, or below average, he’s the very bottom player.
FBref defines a progressive pass as such - “one that moves the ball 10 yards (30 feet) closer to the goal than it's been recently, or any completed pass into the opponent's penalty area.”
Even if we take your point about him being the one running furthest behind (heat maps whenever he plays certainly don’t suggest this), surely as a player who is the furthest forward he’d be making some passes into the penalty area across goal? But he’s not really doing that either.
Yeah no doubt it's pretty poor and he needs to improve on that - I just think every stat has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
His in possession play does need to improve a lot.
Maybe a run of games for the U-21s (we sometimes forget how young he is) might give him a confidence boost and work him into form again. He’s looked a shadow of the player who started so well. Sometimes a step back is needed to play well again.
Late bloomers are a thing but they are rare, you can't just hold onto every mediocre youth player because of it.
It's harsh to say it, but the main reason this kid is even in the first team is because he was one of the few who bothered to listen to Rangnick, and even that was only because of how grateful he was to be playing in the Man United 1st team which doesn't really happen in any other scenario.
He's useful in certain games because he has pace so keeps the opposition occupied and on their toes, and can help out defensively, but that's about it.
He's useful in certain games because he has pace so keeps the opposition occupied and on their toes, and can help out defensively, but that's about it.
He should either be out on loan in the Championship or sold.
Did I say that? No I didn’t. Some times players stagnate and some times players turn out a lot better than everyone thought, with plenty of example in both categories. The point was that he is 20, not 25 and that it’s still early to write him off. He was one of the few players that actually performed under Ragnick at 19 years of age and his energy and pace can be great assets in certain games.
Of course he will have to develope his game and perform like everyone else or he will be gone in 2 or 3 years time. I trust Ten Hag in that regard. Dalot got his big breaktrough at United this season and he is 23. Every player is different. Elanga needs game time though and if he isn’t playing more than in the current situation, I would suggest a loan for next season.
Tuanzebe is a bad example by the way since injuries makes if difficult to move players on, although I see your point with keeping players for too long. James Garner is an example that proves the opposite though, and as I already mentioned I trust Ten Hag about his judgement. We are finally looking more likely to build a healthy squad and move the right players on
Wow, that makes for depressing reading. I guess it largely backs up the eye test. He has not looked up to it at this level, even though his pace and willingness seems appealing to managers.
Would Forest like to sign another player?
When was the last time he had a stand-out performance, let alone a run of good performances?
It must be hard on the kid, because that will not help your confidence at all. I doubt he'd be a standout player even in the championship.
He works hard, is fast, and willing to learn and no one can take that from him. But he seriously lacks quality.
It must be hard on the kid, because that will not help your confidence at all. I doubt he'd be a standout player even in the championship.
He works hard, is fast, and willing to learn and no one can take that from him. But he seriously lacks quality.
Yeah, and I think this is part of the reason for why we often go on about how we should not 'rush' kids. Take that shot against Arsenal that hit the post. If that goes in he is our big hero for a little while and who knows what it does to his confidence. Now its really low. He is fumbling, losing possession and so forth.
In addition, I have always felt that especially his mentality would be a better fit deeper in the field. Like imagine if he was a RB, he would work his arse of every night. I do have a bit of a hard time seeing him working out under ETH. But with that said, I do think that he is a little thrown under the buss by our fan base. I saw someone go like 'he seems to be a good kid, but if you actually knew football, you can see that he should never have been given a chance to start with and that we should have dumped him a long time ago' -- but the thing is, we are now on our 3rd coach that is playing this kid in the Premier League. Nobody more than Ragnick, but Ole (IIRC) used him and of course ETH, who have used him quite a lot. Is it due to lack of alternatives? Like sure, but we have started with really good players on the bench and Elanga on the field.
Even if he doesn't have a future here -- there is a lot of football in the kid. I think he is a classic example of a kid that is underrated by the fans due to appearance more than actual substance. The kid who comes on and makes two great plays when he has the ball besides being invisible for 90 will always get rated higher than another kid who comes on and makes a positive impact on the game but also fumbles a couple of plays.
Lastly, I also think these kids from smaller nations can be helped pretty much by being supported by the national team besides the club. He had that great stint for Chelsea, but after that he has struggled a lot on the clubs he has been on. Didn't even make Chelsea's training team in the summer. But he always played for Scotland. They rate him really high. In today's football world, with the science, players should be better when they are 22 compared to when they were 20, they should be better when they are 24 than 22, and so forth.
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@Messier1994 I actually said he should be a RB also at the end of last season. I was convinced ETH would turn him into a Hakimi style player, but Dalot has been so good there hasn't been a need.
I think it's fair to say Elanga could do with a loan to get his confidence back and playing regularly. Too often these kids are sitting on the bench playing once a month for 20 minutes and wonder why they don't progress.
I think it's fair to say Elanga could do with a loan to get his confidence back and playing regularly. Too often these kids are sitting on the bench playing once a month for 20 minutes and wonder why they don't progress.
I'm not sure why Ten Hag is playing him on the right, I don't think he has any future there at all. On the left at least he might score the odd goal.
Great minds !!
In a way, there are many advantages with playing for a top club, but there are also some disadvantages. One is that with a smaller club, not getting something out of a “talent” isn’t really an option. If the kid is talented enough, but not a fit in his natural position, it’s often found to be worth it to invest in transforming the kid into a née position. Is it for us though? Of course not a given. We have Ethan Laird at RB. You can do some things on the practice field, but you got to start playing him there in games. Of course it can be done with the reserves first, but it takes time.
In a way, I think that Elanga might turn into being a bit of a victim of going from Ole to Ralf to ETH. ETH’s use of his wingers in a material way differently than many other coaches. Elanga makes the most sense as a inverted winger/forward who press a ton and run behind the defense. With signing ETH, a job of streamlining the junior organization is started. Had it been done 3-4 years ago, I then think we would have started moving him around sooner.
We should be looking to sell while we can. Apparently has a great attitude and an academy player but he is technically very limited and that's not going to improve at 20.
I could see him going on loan next year as an LW somewhere, maybe the Bundesliga since they like pressing and countering, getting some goals and then being sold.
Maybe, not sure if there is any point in a loan at this stage as loans should really be about developing players. I think he would do well in Bundesliga though, he has the attributes for it as you say. Could also have a perfectly good career in the championship, no shame in that as it's a strong league.
Ahead of Rashford and Garnacho? Not a chance.
I didn't mean here at United. I meant for Sweden and a mid-table or continental side.
For us, we should probably be using Pellistri on the right.
But yeah, at gunpoint I think we'd be better with Elanga on the left and Garnacho on the right since Garnacho can still dribble and Elanga would go from basically useless to at least a mild goal threat.
Man Utd 2:0 Burnley
Didn’t have a lot minutes yesterday, but I dunno, he just seems painfully average to me.
Did he even touch the ball last night?
Apparently we are interesting in taking him on loan. From the little I’ve seen I wasn’t that impressed. From memory he’s scored a few goals though which would help us.
Could see him doing well for where Everton have been of late. There’s a perfectly capable mid table player in there, which right now Everton need to consolidate to being.
Gordon, Grey and McNeil are all better players right now, but he might do okay on the LW coming on for 20 minutes a game when you're tied or ahead. He's basically non-existent in possession play but works hard and runs in behind and youth games indicate he can score a goal or two if playing LW, but he always ends up playing RW for us and looking uncomfortable in attack.
I don’t disagree but with our predicament we need someone that’s going to come in and have a Lingard at WH type impact.
He could definitely have that kind of run in my opinion. Although the question is whether Lampard would select him over Gordon, Gray and McNeil
Oh yeah, that's not going to happen. Elanga might improve, but right now he's just legs, effort, and he can finish a chance on the counter. Sort of a typical wing forward who comes on in games to defend and be a threat against high lines. The upside here would be like a Wissa at Brentford sort of role.
Pellistri might make more sense, really. He's more the type to beat a man on the wing and get in a cross to Calvert-Lewin, while Elanga is more the type to get in behind when Calvert-Lewin wins a flick on, which to be fair McNeil and Gray aren't good at, so he would give you a 2nd winger who at least tries to run in behind after Gordon. So I think he makes okay sense as your 4th winger, but I don't think that really makes sense for United. Probably better off loaning him to a Champo team that plays on the counter, where he can actually get lots of minutes.
Just want to mention, that’s pretty much exactly what Lingard was at West Ham
As though what you lot really need is more wingers/forwards who run around a lot but can't score to save their lives.
That's harsh. I meant for like 20 minutes off the bench on the wing to little effect.
Lingard had 9 goals and 5 assists in 16 for West Ham, he was basically James Maddison with pace for them, truly the absolute peak of his career, and he started a World Cup semi-final.
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