One for the defensive midfield highlights reel, the 22-year-old putting in a commanding performance on his England debut, dominating the midfield, stamping his mark on Thomas Tuchel’s troublesome defensive midfield position.
I’ll admit, I had to look that one up. Turns out it’s the top league in the state of Hesse, one of German football’s Oberligas – the fifth tier of German football, making it, by my estimation, around National League level.
Elliot Anderson leaves the pitch after a fine England debut (Photo: Getty)
Declan Rice is his best player in that position, but Tuchel wants Rice to play further forwards – Rice, after all, now does so for Arsenal and is one of the world’s most gifted central midfielders, so it makes sense – and Anderson, who has impressed since moving to Nottingham Forest in summer 2024, has been given the chance to see if he can be the key to unlock Rice in attack.
And Anderson was brilliant. A standout player.
He was brilliant at winning the ball back.
Elliot Anderson v Andorra 127 Touches114 Passes94% Passing accuracy34 Passes into the final third7 Duels won pic.twitter.com/U0kVDT5TjN
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) September 6, 2025How much can one measure a player from dictating a midfield against Andorra’s central midfielders Pau Babot and Marc Vales, a 35-year-old who plays for Atletic Lleida, in the Segunda Federacion, Spain’s fourth tier (more googling reveals). And while Vales can play in central midfield, he usually plays at centre-back.
“It was nice to see,” Tuchel said. “Some of the guys being a bit nervous and not afraid to admit.”
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“The team around him made it as easy as possible and he had a very strong performance,” Tuchel said.
“Today was more how he adapts to the situation. How he adapts to his nerves.
“He showed it. He played with freedom.”
And even Roy Keane, the god of defensive midfield who can be hard to please, offered praise.
“I think Bill Shankly said years ago that a time to judge a player is when he has time on the ball regarding decision making and the pace of a pass, the type of pass and he definitely had an impact.”
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Does he get passed out of the game in a World Cup knockout? Is he beaten off the ball? Does his confidence plummet? Does he make mistakes?
“He has the physicality and the mindset to play in the more difficult games,” Tuchel said. “And after this performance he’s clearly in the mix to play against Serbia.”
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