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Elliot Anderson follows Joey Barton advice to the letter – Watch this superb goal here (video)

2 years ago
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Joey Barton had been talking about Elliot Anderson, yet again, as Bristol Rovers establish themselves as real promotion contenders.

The 19 year old Newcastle United loan player having had a dramatic effect on Bristol Rovers’ season.

The League Two club having picked up only 35 points in their opening 25 games (10 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats), averaging 1.44 points per game.

Whilst with Elliot Anderson involved in now their last 16 league matches, Bristol Rovers have picked up another 31 points (9 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats) at an average of 1.94 points per match.

The latest of these contributions from the Newcastle United loan midfielder came on Saturday, when Rovers visited promotion rivals Tranmere.

The home side scoring on 56 minutes and if that had remained the only goal of the game, it would have seen Tranmere climb into the play-off places and Bristol Rovers drop out.

However, only seven minutes later, Elliot Anderson to the rescue with a quite superb goal (watch below).

Joey Barton had said (see below) that if Elliot Anderson wants to catch the attention of Eddie Howe, he has to start delivering more regular goals and assists, on top of his excellent all round performances.

As you can see from this goal that earned Bristol Rovers a point and the NUFC loan player his seventh direct goal involvement (scored four and three assists). Elliot Anderson shows exquisite technique and composure as he controls a difficult ball with his chest in a busy penalty area, takes one touch with his right foot as he swivels and then a brilliant left foot finish.

Go to 1.20 on the video below to watch this excellent Elliot Anderson goal.

His exceptional contribution so far, have propelled Bristol Rovers into the promotion picture, Saturday’s goal keeping them fifth in the table with five matches to go, clubs 4th to 7th go into the play-offs and Rovers now two points clear of eighth.

Joey Barton talking to the Bristol Post:

“He (Elliot Anderson) has got a lot of quality that’s for sure.

“I haven’t seen anybody (as talented in League Two)…there have been a few good players, certainly in the opening gambit of the season when Swindon came here they had a few good ball players, (Harry) McKirdy, people like that, some quality operators.

“I think he (Elliot Anderson) is superb.

“I think our fans have taken to him because he gets you off your seat.

“You would be really pleased watching him have the ball for 90 minutes because he’s just got such quality.

“The challenge for him is getting that final (part), he gets in one-on-one and chops everyone but you need them goals.

“That’s what’s going to make Eddie Howe sit up and take notice because unfortunately, Eddie probably won’t watch our game. He would not watch but he’ll just see if Elliot has assisted or scored. 

“For El, I think if you get sent from a Premier League club to League Two, he’s been getting loads of rave reviews, so he’ll be aware of it but to get anywhere near Newcastle’s first team next season with the money they might have available to them, he needs them goals or assists.

“I think at the level above you might have a sniff (of signing him next season), that’s the horrible thing as a coach because we could have a really good team in League One or if we’re in League Two next year we could lose lots of our players.

“But we’ll find them, I know where they all are. Luckily for me, I’ve got an unbelievable team that can find good players and that’s a group effort.

“To find Elliot Anderson in the midst of us chasing down a transfer target which was priority number one for the whole of the window, but that didn’t work out.

“To have Plan B, C and D is a credit to our recruitment staff and the work they do. As a manager, you get very focused on target one, ‘Let’s take that off the board’ and you start making plans for that.

“But then they’re like ‘Hang on if this doesn’t happen we need to be prepared and take B or C’.

“Elliot was Plan B, believe it or not. Sometimes you need a bit of luck because plan A was definitely not as good as Plan B. He wasn’t, I’ll tell him to his face.”

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