{"id":553823,"date":"2026-03-30T08:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553823\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T08:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T08:01:08","slug":"nottingham-forest-shades-of-gazza-the-rise-of-englands-eliot-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553823\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest: Shades of Gazza &#8211; the rise of England&#8217;s Eliot Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Anderson, 23, was eligible to play for Scotland due to his Glasgow-born grandmother and was selected by Steve Clarke for their Euro 2024 game with Cyprus. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He pulled out injured before opting for England &#8211; and then helped the Three Lions win the European Under-21 Championship last summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/liverpool\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liverpool<\/a>&#8216;s Harvey Elliott was named player of the tournament, scoring six goals including the opener <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/cz6g18dz2dpt\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in the final win over Germany<\/a>, but Anderson also stood out and was picked in the best XI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Anderson featured alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/afc-bournemouth\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bournemouth<\/a>&#8216;s Alex Scott in midfield to provide England with a solid foundation &#8211; and the Forest player&#8217;s tireless running was particularly impressive <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/cp86mjyr58dt#:~:text=England%20fought%20for%20their%20victory,also%20kept%20Spain%20from%20levelling.\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in the 3-1 quarter-final win over Spain.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His injury-time penalty eased England into the semi-finals, where they beat the Netherlands, before defending their title in Bratislava. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The summer was to be another platform for Anderson as he continued his form into Forest&#8217;s chaotic season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Despite four managers and the club sitting 16th, embroiled in a Premier League relegation battle, he has been a consistent presence. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/live\/c3wlw8zyvw6t\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the crucial 3-0 win at Tottenham<\/a>, which moved Forest three points above the drop zone, Anderson created the most chances (three), completed more passes (38), won possession the most (nine) and made more tackles (six) than any of his team-mates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He has impressed staff with his commitment and regularly talks to the coaches to discuss the best way he can improve and contribute to improve the team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His positional awareness has also earned praise although his work-rate and desire to cover as much ground as possible mean he often tires himself out &#8211; a potential backhanded compliment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A demanding individual, on himself and his team-mates, Forest view him as having the potential to become a complete player. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s been a big two years. I think I&#8217;ve done pretty well, to be honest, in the time I&#8217;ve been here, on and off the pitch,&#8221; said Anderson, who moved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/newcastle-united\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle<\/a> for \u00a335m in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve matured as a person as well and thanks to the club for giving me that platform, going out there and letting me do my stuff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;In players&#8217; careers, you never know where you&#8217;re going to be. Moving from your hometown is a big step in your career. It was definitely something I needed to do and it has turned out really well. So I&#8217;m happy I made that step.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His form has inevitably brought speculation over his City Ground future &#8211; with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/manchester-city\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester City<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/videos\/cly2m5l3424o\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">who he scored against this month<\/a> &#8211; believed to be at the front of the queue to sign him this summer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;m just focusing on my football at the moment and performing and trying to give everything for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/teams\/nottingham-forest\" class=\"ssrcss-18834jl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nottingham Forest<\/a>, really,&#8221; added Anderson. &#8220;So that&#8217;s all that&#8217;s on my mind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">His expected seventh cap against Japan comes after he made his debut in September against Andorra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I hope so,&#8221; Anderson told BBC Sport when asked if he saw himself as an England regular now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There&#8217;s just so many good players in the England team. Obviously, I&#8217;ve played this year, but I&#8217;m also needing to perform in the Premier League and in the Europa League to keep the spot.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anderson, 23, was eligible to play for Scotland due to his Glasgow-born grandmother and was selected by Steve&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-553823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}