The Brazilian playmaker was at the heart of City’s win over Sunderland on Saturday, scoring from the penalty spot and passing to Darius Vassell before the substitute struck to put City back into the lead.
Between thee two moments Elano should have scored again himself, putting a great chance over the bar, and he was influential throughout the match to his manager’s obvious pleasure.
“It’s good to see a player like Elano coming back and doing so many good things again, because we need the real Elano and I hope he stays like this until the end of the season,” Sven declares.
“He’s been out of form a little bit for some time, he and Petrov have been important for us in terms of scoring and creating goals all season. Petrov was out of the team for a while, Elano was out of form so it’s good to see them back like this.
“Elano’s the player with imagination who can see things, play team-mates in and score goals as well, but he worked hard defensively against Sunderland as well. That was important with what kind of game we knew it would be.”
Eriksson is convinced that the players brought in this season, like Elano, will flourish next year having acclimatized to the Premier League.
“All the players who came to the Premier League for the first time this season should be even better next. Corluka did well against Sunderland as well, maybe that is his real position, he’s very good as a centre half.”
