Anthony Elanga shares what he and Callum Hudson-Odoi said on the bench during Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest

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Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi combined to secure a memorable victory for Nottingham Forest against Liverpool on Saturday.

The Sweden international assisted the England international to ensure the Garibaldi left Merseyside with a 1-0 win, and a first victory over Liverpool at Anfield since 1969.

After the game, Anthony Elanga shared what he and Callum Hudson-Odoi spoke about on the bench before coming on to win the game for Nottingham Forest…

What Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi discussed

Interestingly, the Nottingham Forest No.21 said he saw parallels between Saturday’s 1-0 win over Liverpool, and the 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge under Steve Cooper last season.

Elanga told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Since the start of pre-season the atmosphere has been good. We got the new players in early. We come here to Liverpool and not many teams can beat them and play the way we did – we got rewarded with it at the end.

“This game reminded of the game we played at Chelsea (Chelsea 0-1 Nottingham Forest), it’s a special win today. Me and Callum (Hudson-Odoi) spoke about it on the bench – when we come on we would make a difference. We have started the season well, but we have still got 35 games left – we have to go game by game. Last season we played the big sides and played well, it was marginal difference and they were clinical. Today we were clinical.”

The Reds certainly were clinical, fashioning just two big chances at Anfield – according to SofaScore – but still managing to stick one of those chances into Alisson Becker’s net.

Fantastic attitude from Nottingham Forest duo

Elanga and Hudson-Odoi, who are close pals, could have easily felt aggrieved to be left on the bench by Nuno Espirito Santo at Anfield, as both had previously started every Premier League game so far this season.

However – as the Swede told BBC Radio 5 Live – they instead focused their energy on how they could make an impact as substitutes, and carried that out to perfection after being thrown onto the pitch.

Clearly, Nuno has created a strong atmosphere around the squad, and hopefully, Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten start to the 2024/25 campaign continues for many more weeks to come.