The ball from Elanga was exquisite - Wood acknowledged the fact in his post-match interview. Didn't need to break stride. The pass was delivered and weighted to absolute perfection. One of the best goals we've scored this season, for me.
13 Jan 2025
82
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With his weaker foot as well. In fact, both with their weaker foots.
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For some reason, skim reading, I read that as both Elanga's feet being weak.
Which would be, y'know, sub-optimal I s'pose.
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Elanga has always put the effort in. Even when he was being dismissed by the fickle, he was still delivering excellent dead balls and drawing fouls. Now he's delivering a goal or an assist in every game. That's top quality
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This is, arguably(?), a showcase for squad depth. Last season, we'd replace him with... Origi? MGW? But this season, we've got Jota. Much more constructive pressure to perform.
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Yes, but possibly in ways that you don't mean. Apologies if I'm misreading you.
Deeper quality squad, means that you can optimise fitness, and not over play people when they are off it a bit. Elanga, I don't think, is playing better because of pressure from behind. I think this bunch of players have consistently put it all in. But they are benefiting from not having too few good ones being run into the ground, or the psychological damage of giving their all and then buttfucked at the end of games when the physical output drops.
Elanga's attributes and output remain pretty consistent for me. It's the framework he's operating in that has improved.
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That's fair - I didn't mention that side of squad depth, which is being able to bring on Morato, Jota, Dominguez etc, meaning the starting players don't need to balance their physical and mental energy for 90 minutes and can put in as much as possible until they are under 100%. While the biggest impact of that is results, it does really protect the players, as you say.
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There is a notable drop off in quality when the cup front three replace the league front three though (not so much with Morato and/or Moreno/Williams). It would be a nice problem to have but if we’re playing twice a week next season, it will become a problem.
