Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
- Thread starter RonaldoVII
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There's no point after that silly mistake.True, but my point still stands
True, but my point still stands
If anything it shows that he wasn't playing as a number 10 because he stays back to cover during that attack.
It's not just one or two games. I followed Everton the season before this and there were plenty of games which was Fellaini against the opposition.
Moyes devotes a fair bit of his ST column to mop-heid. Worth a read. Am on phone so can't be arsed typing a summary. Go outside and buy a newspaper, tight-wads!
Fellaini to start for Belgium Vs Russia.
Want to see some Januzaj too please Wilmots!
Want to see some Januzaj too please Wilmots!
He's pretty much admitting that he was never intended to be a starter, isn't he? (I've only read the summary on the official Noggie fansite). Baffling really, when you consider how much he decided to pay for him.
He didn't decide to pay that much for him.
WHEN Belgium began their World Cup against Algeria last Tuesday, we were all hoping to see this machine, this assembly of really talented players producing something special together.
Teams can grow at tournaments and maybe the Belgians will improve and wow us in the end, but I have to say I was disappointed with them on first sight. For some reason their special talents didn’t look a team. Their setup seemed a little predictable and I didn’t see a style of play conducive to the talents we all know Belgium possess.
The start of said article made me chuckle. The irony obviously lost in him, I refuse to believe he is an intelligent man.
I'm sure he's had some say in it.
This?
Former Manchester United manager David Moyes believes that Marouane Fellaini can emerge from the wreckage of a dismal first season at Old Trafford and evolve into an important player for the club.
Moyes, who was sacked in April after enduring a traumatic first campaign in charge of Manchester United, signed Fellaini from the duo’s former side Everton on deadline day of last summer’s transfer window for £27.5million but the Belgian midfielder suffered a torrid debut season, making only 19 starts and failing to score a single goal.
It is understood that United would be receptive to offers approaching £18million for Fellaini, with the former Everton midfielder emerging as a scapegoat for much of the debris of Moyes’ dismal season in charge.
Sportsmail understands that Fellaini is determined to fight for his future at Old Trafford and would only contemplate a move if new manager Louis van Gaal was to indicate that there is no future for him at the club.
Writing in his column for the Sunday Times, Moyes admitted that Fellaini found the ordeal a difficult experience:
‘I felt for him over the criticism he took. He’s a shy boy, a humble boy, a quiet personality. Despite appearances - the hair makes him look like an extrovert - he’s a gentle, sometimes, emotional soul who is so desperate to do well and he was hurting because he wasn’t able to show his true self at the start of his United career.’
‘Without going over old ground regarding last summer’s transfer window, I want to make two points. The last thing we wanted was to makie him my first signing as United manager and the only signing of the summer.
‘That was always going to bring too great a spotlight on him. But by the time we got to deadline day the club hadn’t been able to close a couple of big deals and there was no choice.’
Fellaini demonstrated his qualities with a match-turning performance from the substitute’s bench in Belgium’s 2-1 World Cup win over Algeria, scoring with a crucial goal to lead his side to victory.
‘His size is such a threat to the opposition,’ Moyes continued,’He’s technically gifted, especially when it comes to chest control, and he’s formidable in the air - though, actually, I feel he should score more headers than he does. He can run.
‘He has brilliant fitness, a brilliant attitude. What we saw him do against Algeria was what I brought him to Manchester United for.
'He took time to settle at Old Trafford but in the final month of last season was becoming an influence, a different sort of player to the ones already there and one who was having an impact in games and helping produce goals. I feel he still has the potential to go on and be a good United player.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...layer-believes-David-Moyes.html#ixzz35NoT8r80
He's obviously going to defend him though - and it says it all when his best technical ability is chest control from the man who knows him best.
Again, Fellaini's biggest admirer and supporter can basically only point to his size, aerial ability and chest control as his biggest assets. And that is why so many of us don't think he is, or ever will be, good enough for a Manchester United team. Not because we're haters or because we're being unfair, but just because his assets are not those that suit a midfielder playing for a team with genuine aspirations of being the best.
Its pretty obvious, that with the right set up (as at Everton) he can be a major threat. But you have to basically play around him, and set everything up to play through his aerial ability. And that is not something, I would imagine, any of us want a United team to do. Because a) its horrible to watch and b) it wont be successful at the highest level of the game.
Its pretty obvious, that with the right set up (as at Everton) he can be a major threat. But you have to basically play around him, and set everything up to play through his aerial ability. And that is not something, I would imagine, any of us want a United team to do. Because a) its horrible to watch and b) it wont be successful at the highest level of the game.
Exactly - most Fellaini supporters want him to stay not because of their conviction in his ability but because of our history of giving players time etc. He's not good enough to play in a midfield two for us and there's no way he should ever play ahead of Rooney, Mata, Kagawa heck even Januzaj in the number 10 role.
Sexy tricks from the bogbrush.
I don't agree with this. I personally think it's a lazy opinion. Is it fashionable to make a comment on how he requires long balls to get the best out of him? Or that he fits West Ham and Stoke's style of play? It completely ignore the fact that he performed well as a central midfielder in two different systems (Moyes and Martínez). Naturally, when your side lacks a good centre-forward, you'll look for alternatives. Moyes had Fellaini, so he utilised him behind the striker.
Fellaini himself even said that his best position is in midfield:
This was at the start start of last season - Fellaini putting in a very good performance under Martínez:
It completely debunks the myth - as do his other central midfield performances under Moyes at Everton - that he can't play as one. I do think that, however, he needs to improve his work rate.
With us, he has been average. He had a couple of good performances towards the end of last season, but his performances were lacking strong authority. Injuries, lack of confidence, and not adapting quickly enough all had a negative impact. I understand the frustration with him - and the reproachful looks he's been given by many - but it's really not black and white. I do also think that the criticism is exaggerated and lacks perspective. Most of the posts I tend to see that criticise Fellaini are all of the same essence and I think that's unfair.
Yes he can play in central midfield, but that doesn't mean it a) gets the best of him or b) he's good enough to play there for United.
When the team is set up to get the best of him, i.e utilizing his aerial ability and chest control, he's a far more effective and useful player. His best football for Everton came there. He lacks the technical ability or the discipline to play central midfield at the highest level. I.e a team that has ambitions of winning titles and CL's. I don't understand why people find this such a great insult.
When the team is set up to get the best of him, i.e utilizing his aerial ability and chest control, he's a far more effective and useful player. His best football for Everton came there. He lacks the technical ability or the discipline to play central midfield at the highest level. I.e a team that has ambitions of winning titles and CL's. I don't understand why people find this such a great insult.
He's playing the furthest in a three man midfield today. KDB is playing deeper as a box-to-box, whilst he is the apex just behind Lukaku.
That's what I expected when I saw the team sheet. All the media outlets have him playing as part of the double axis.
From what I've seen this half, they're trying to be more direct and have Mertens and Hazard play off Fellaini's knock downs. It's not very fluid at all, I expected better football from Belgium.
With the players they have available you have to look at the manager. On paper they are one f the favourites in my book. Reality is much different.
I admire people who are still hoping or exepecting him to come good.
LMAO at Russians trying to get Felliani off the ball then. Do they not know how many have failed? He's #TheCornerFlagBeast
Well nobody has said 'he can't play as one', just that he can't play as a very good one.
The video shows him doing things that Ki Sung Yueng could do, things Tom Huddlestone could do (in fact, both could do more given the same spot in the team in that game), etc, and it's one of his best performances of the season.
He's definitely had some pretty good games as a centre midfielder a few years ago (one stand-out against Chelsea in the cup, I think) but there's no denying that he looks a more useful player when given a free role near the striker, and given simple instructions to make his presence felt, flick the ball on in the vague direction of the goal and get his chest on it.
I agree those who say that all he can do is flick it on are being lazy - it's not all he can do, and he can be quite tidy and offer a an added bit of physicality in games against teams we'd dominate anyway (Palace and Cardiff), but what else does he do well enough that's suited to a deeper role in tougher games against even teams like Everton or Newcastle?
I'd also disagree that he lacks work rate, at least most of the time. I think the reason he never seems to sprint or move with any intensity (except when he legs it into the box for a cross) is because half the time he hasn't a clue where he should be positioned off the ball, so he just jogs around in the rough area of the pitch where a midfielder should be. Sometimes he even just runs, turns around, runs back, turns around, runs back to where he was.
When he has a direct man close by to tackle he usually goes for it with intensity (often too much), it's his poor reading of where to move and who to follow that leads to him spending half the game jogging about doing nothing. And that lack of proper reading is extremely unlikely to ever change.
Good post that @Speak
He can 'do a job' in midfield against the lesser teams, of course. But so can many many players in the league. But when we face teams of genuine quality, he's going to stand out, and not in a good way. We've already seen in this season, against the likes of Palace he looks decent (nothing more nothing less), but the minute he came up against real quality, he struggled, and struggled really badly in all honesty.
I disagree with the workrate bit though, I personally think he's unbelievably lazy.
He can 'do a job' in midfield against the lesser teams, of course. But so can many many players in the league. But when we face teams of genuine quality, he's going to stand out, and not in a good way. We've already seen in this season, against the likes of Palace he looks decent (nothing more nothing less), but the minute he came up against real quality, he struggled, and struggled really badly in all honesty.
I disagree with the workrate bit though, I personally think he's unbelievably lazy.
I don't know why people try to defend fellaini - can you not see that unintelligent football fans need a scapegoat, always have and always will, you're not going to change peoples mind - they know that fellaini is a championship level footballer and that only moyes, martinez and whoever this belgium manager is think otherwise, possibly due to some brain defect from birth
After watching him today I've finally decided I'd be delighted if we sold him.
The most shocking thing is his horrible work rate defensively.
He's unbelievably easy to just run past or pass past. He's always reading situations too late/moving too slowly to get stuck into players and ends up committing fouls or handing the other team a great breakaway opportunity.
In terms of tactical intelligence and ability he's got nothing on any other midfielder in the club, let alone any midfielder which we should be aspiring to add to our squad.
I didn't think it was possible but I'm actually ended up rating him less than I did when he signed for us as a central midfielder. He's been even poorer than I predicted, and I basically predicted he'd fail horribly here.
He's unbelievably easy to just run past or pass past. He's always reading situations too late/moving too slowly to get stuck into players and ends up committing fouls or handing the other team a great breakaway opportunity.
In terms of tactical intelligence and ability he's got nothing on any other midfielder in the club, let alone any midfielder which we should be aspiring to add to our squad.
I didn't think it was possible but I'm actually ended up rating him less than I did when he signed for us as a central midfielder. He's been even poorer than I predicted, and I basically predicted he'd fail horribly here.
I don't rate Cleverley all that highly but I'd be disappointed if we sold him before we sold this guy, awful player to watch as well as not being very good, looked a cab horse next to Witsel.
I hadn't seen much of Fellaini and was in the camp of hoping that'd he was better than given credit for, but he's actually a worse parody of what his doubters were saying.
He did nothing tonight to disprove the theory that he is not good enough for United. The fact he got picked for a second-rate PL team for years or gets picked by a (despite the hype) second-rate international team is neither here nor there.
It took you this long? He's a good player, but one who should not play for a top club. We need to do what Liverpool did with Carroll, realise we made a mistake and move him on quickly.
He was shit when we bought him, he was shit when he played for us, and he's still fecking shit now. An awful signing, pound for pound he could be the worst signing in United history.
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We have no central midfielders worthy of being in a CL winning squad.
Not just United's...only one I can think of that's worse is Carroll to Liverpool for £35m. Torres maybe but at least he was once a world class player, so you can understand the risk to a point.
I can't believe how some of you haters underestimate Fellaini's ability to control a ball, or even a pair of balls at the same time, with his chest.
Actually, many people have degraded his capabilities in midfield - sometimes to further their agenda. My problem with these claims is that they're mostly founded on Fellaini producing a good season in 12/13 behind the striker. And so, everyone seems
I don't understand this point. Are you trying to downplay the performance? Fellaini produced a very good performance against Norwich, under Roberto Martínez. Either I'm completely stupid or he seen something in him to play him in that type of role. One of my points being that I rate him as a defensive midfielder, rather than a box-to-box midfielder.
He had quite a few in 11/12. To reiterate, Moyes used him behind the striker because Everton lacked a good striker. Moyes then played him in midfield for us because we have one world class striker (Van Persie) and Rooney for the SS position. At Everton, Martínez changed the system and moved Fellaini into his best position - and that resulted to a couple of good performances at the start of the season for Fellaini. It's one of the reasons why I have a little bit of hope that he'll come good for us next season. Under circumstances where we are looking for a goal to equalise or win a game, then that's when we should utilise the tactic you mentioned. However, people need to stop acting as if he's a one-dimensional player because he isn't.
That's not a question for me to answer. It's up to Van Gaal on how he approaches these sort of games. For clarification, I don't think Fellaini is a very good/quality player, but I do think he's a good player that can show more than last season.
I was referring to his work rate with us. Fellaini, without any doubt, was the least-hardest worker in our team last season. It's not acceptable to leave strikers in the box or to chase reluctantly after the ball. What's ironic is that he was poor defensively against Manchester City (A) and then even worse at home against them. He didn't apply himself fully and that's incredibly disappointing. By default, Fellaini is a hard-working player. He does very well to mark players and that's what you expect to see. In the game against Russia today, there was a bit of play where he marked one of the Russian players and looked eager to not lose him. That's the opposite to the eagerness he displayed last season. If he wants to start appeasing our fans, then he needs to show that consistently for us.
It's the United mantra. In fairness though I do think perhaps a season under a competent manager is owed to him. Everyone pretty much look crap last year. I think it'll be a bit-part role though, but that might help him as far as perception of his performances go.
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