Why Man City Broke Their Transfer Record For Elliot Anderson

Man City have shattered their transfer record to buy Elliot Anderson and he's worth every single

penny. From shutting down countless attacks, playing through the lines and connecting the

team entirely, I'm Jacob Horsfall, 442's resident tactician and this is why Elliot Anderson may

well be perfect for Manchester City. Elliot Anderson is a unique type of player. His stature

and his mobility remind you of a well-rounded number eight. Now, he can do that

And if you took up that role under Enzo Mareska, then I have no doubt that he would be brilliant

being able to connect players across big distances and get in the final third and hurt teams

But he's more than just a final third player. Thomas Tuchel labelled him a mobile number six

The word mobile is particularly important because it's half the reason that Thomas Tuchel

has him as a nailed-on starter for England. And it's a huge reason as to why Manchester City

have paid the big bucks for the Geordie midfielder. One of Anderson's biggest strengths is his spatial awareness

He regularly sits as the anger as his team goes forward, which means that he is the safety option

tasked with maintaining pressure on the opposition's box. To do that, he has to read the attacking situation

and shift the ball into dangerous space regularly, which for Manchester City is key

They will regularly come up against those low block sides, so having a player who can pick up the ball

and find players in space on a consistent basis, well, that is huge

which may suggest that when Maresca looks to use a 3-1-6 in possession

that Elliot Anderson could be the holding midfield player who acts as that sort of anchor

Now, Rodri obviously will have a say on that, and he affects how Elliot Anderson could be used

but he missed out on 27 games through injury last season. So having another player who's effective as that deep sort of playmaker

well, that's only a positive. But with this City team, there's one thing that connects every single player on this pitch

positional fluidity even if he was to be sort of a mobile number six as thomas tucker would say

he still wouldn't just be a number six he'd be playing in multiple different positions over the

course of 90 minutes which is something he proved he can do during his time at nottingham forest

anderson has dropped into the back three here he does this to allow forest right back to push on

when they have the ball but when villa counter attack he's in an uncomfortable position his

instinct here is to step out to man with the ball to stop the central carry but his man really in

in this case is this runner. So he maintains a slightly central position to protect that center space before jumping to the runner as soon as the ball is played and then smashing straight through him Which takes me back to the point of spatial awareness

Elliot Anderson is so aware of his surroundings and has such an appreciation for timing that he can play in pretty much any position

If we look at the 23-year-old World Cup heat map, which is probably the most accurate comparison to Manchester City, you see him cover the entirety of the mid-third, whilst also popping up in the defensive and the attacking third

That's because he has the intelligence and the technical ability to contribute for his side in all three thirds of the pitch

Which means if Rodri stays and we see a pivot of Rodri and Anderson, Anderson could very easily be the number A who pops up in the half space and makes things happen

Here we see Forrest push players onto the last line to pin Newcastle's defenders inside the box

Anderson has the ball set for him and instead of keeping the slow tempo of the move

he finds an incisive pass beyond Newcastle's midfield block. He then darts into the box, exploiting the space left by Newcastle defenders being pinned inside their box

He receives the ball and keeps the ball away from the oncoming challenge before then finding a way to get a shot off

Anderson has that creative gift that allows him to be the perfect deep playmaker

but also it allows him to be a serious threat in advanced positions

Only 10 Premier League players created more chances in the Premier League last season

bearing in mind he was in a team who had the 8th lowest position and the 5th lowest XG

Now, that's not bad going from the Jordy Maradona. Elliot Anderson is a player who has grown into press evasiveness

and because of him playing for a lower league team, he's been forced into that and being able to adapt to teams who press his side very, very high

At Nottingham Forest, Anderson would often find himself in a 3-1 build-up, meaning he'd have his back-to-goal in 1v1s

with most of his passing options being higher up the pitch. Gibbs-Wye, Hubsan-Odoi, Danendoy, all those types of players

they want to receive the ball in the opposition's half in between the lines, which meant Elliot Anderson, well, he had to do a lot of breaking of the lines

For England, we've seen him constantly break the lines this summer. He scans early here and identifies Maduweke and Jude Bellingham

making sharp direction changes to go in beyond. He then doesn't scan again and comes towards the ball to create separation

and disguise his pass over the Croatia press and through to his England teammates

Which is the foundation of Elliot Anderson's line breaking. Yes, his pass map against Panama shows him playing a ridiculous volume of forward passes

but he also held an 85 pass completion rate whilst attempting the fourth most passes in the Premier League last season So there a little bit more to it than just constantly playing forwards Video aside for

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But for now, let's get back to this video. this video. Elliot Anderson is in an advanced position here and he looks towards the box which

suggests he's probably going to play a ball towards the back post but you see a little glance towards

Gibbs White here. This allows Anderson to recognise Gibbs White's darting movement across the edge of

the 18-yard box. However, he keeps his hips forward and his head looking towards the ball as he steps

up to hit it. This means that these two Manchester United players switch off as they assume the ball

is going to be going into the box and they can then react to it once it's entered the box but

instead Elliot Anderson fizzes the ball in to the edge of the box and Gibbs White has a beautiful

finish to walk goal and that's why Elliot Anderson is able to break the line so regularly because he

sees passes that not only do other people not see but he's able to disguise them so if they do clock

on to what he's trying to do well they're probably clocked on to the wrong thing. At Man City you

expect he'll have 11 players in front of him trying to crowd out space so if he can use that disguise

to bait the opposition out before playing a different space well Man City may have another

way to break through against those sides that can really really frustrate you enzo you're back at

manchester city for a third time now mariska has a bit of a task on his hands with this man city

side to get it into shape for the way he may want it to look but elliot anderson he can be swiss army

knife and he can play in a few different roles the first would be next to rodry as that all phase

number eight he can step forward to join the attacking line and rotate to drift out wide

which he actually did for Newcastle when he first came through believe it or not

he played a few games on the wing but with this man City team he could also

act as someone who facilitates Nico O presence in the box one of months that his biggest things last season was getting Nico O into the final third to score headers Elliot Anderson can be someone who can rotate out of that central space or out of that advanced area to allow Nico O to do exactly that The number eight role that a

Man City team would ask of him, for me, is perfectly suited to Elliot Anderson, and the data backs that

up. In the Premier League, no outfield player took more touches than Elliot Anderson. No player won the

born the mid third more than him and he ranked 10th for successful take-ons so have him in that role

that requires him to tap into all three thirds of the pitch and well for me you get the best out of

Elliot Anderson Erling Haaland for example would love to see Anderson in these advanced positions

here we see he beats Diallo using a bit of disguise with the backwards touch and then delivers from

that right channel to the back post a type of cross that Haaland has scored from on numerous

occasions. The other role that best suits Elliot Anderson would be that number six position. If

Man City slot him in as the six with Rodri potentially leaving or just being, well

constantly injured, well, Elliot Anderson could be trusted to allow others to bomb on whilst he

covers the mass space. Last season, we saw him in basically a two-man midfield with Gibbs White

having more of that three role as the number 10 and that meant that Anderson had to cover so much

distance to help Forrest defend. Here we see him protecting the central space in case this man

decides to try play inside but as soon as that player decides to play in beyond the Forrest

defense Anderson eats up ground to win the ball back. Because of his past with Nottingham Forest

he has this sort of timing and appreciation for when to make certain jumps to protect his defense

which for Manchester City could be really important for them being able to maintain pressure at all

times now anderson's technical qualities are something that is huge for manchester city in

possession so that enzo mareska will really really love but his athleticism and his physical traits

well they're what really make elliot anderson special which means you get the best of both

worlds you get a player who in possession can be the difference maker and someone who allows you to

constantly pressure the opposition but also someone who out of possession constantly make

sure that you're secure. Someone who hunts down balls, someone who chases down the opposition

And that is huge for a Man City midfield that maybe has grown a little bit tired, has grown

a little bit old over time, because Elliot Anderson is going to be huge for them next season

I've been Jacob Horsford, this has been 442, $150 million. Elliot Anderson's worth every

single penny. And I'll see you all later for some more tip-top ysis. Peace