Not good enough to play at the top of the diamond, lacks the positional intelligence and passing accuracy of Blind or Carrick to play at the base. So that leaves him covering for Ander or Di Maria and I'd honestly rather play Januzaj or Pereira in either of their roles if feck forbid, either picks up an injury. With only 1 game a week until January I don't see any use for him, by then Newcastle will have hired Pulis and he'll give us £12M for him.
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Fellaini is a ball watcher. I'd rather see us try Rojo there if we were that short of numbers. Or a youth player if we needed Rojo in defence. Just not Fellaini.
Try him as a defender. If that won't work then I really don't know what to do.
It's the same as with Moyes, once he leaves apart from a couple of posters everyone will admit what a huge mistake his signing was from beginning to the end.
He's better than Fletcher.
Easily, the guy should be given a chance in this team to show what he can bring to the table and not be judged on last year when many fans directed a lot if their irk for Moyes onto the direction of Fellaini. (I'm not holding out much hope for him but I think he does deserve a chance)
Fixed.
This.
You half fixed it. He's fitter and better. Obviously his superior fitness contributes to that but it doesn't change the fact that at this point he is better.
Nope. Fletcher is still the better footballer overall. Better defensive awareness, better passing ability, better first touch and so forth. Most of his current problems stem from a lack of fitness. That's about the only area apart from aerial presence where Fellaini has an upper hand. But that issue can be managed.
Darren's problems this season stem from playing almost every single game under Van Gaal since his appointment and that has brought him to his knees. However the remit of a backup midfielder once Carrick returns to fitness will be to sit on the bench and come on sparingly.
Fletcher doesn't quite have the stamina to start 5+ games in a single stretch. But if he's given short rests and brought on in certain situations to shore up the midfield, there still plenty left in his locker.
I know who I'd rather trust in the big matches if one of Herrera, Blind, Di Maria or Carrick are injured. And that's Fletcher because he's cerebral and can literally put in a shift as and when required. I don't trust Marouanne in those type of matches at all.
The gulf in technique is too vast for him to make a significant contribution. eg. Bayern where the poor guy looked woefully out of his depth against genuinely world class midfielders.
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He used to be one of the key players for Everton. I think that he's at least good enough to play as backup for our team 
He used to be one of the key players for Everton. I think that he's at least good enough to play as backup for our team
That's not saying much is it ? Ashley Young was arguably Villa's best player. It's relativistic. Infact I'm not sure he'd get into the current Everton side to be honest. Martinez had them playing some great footballer with the basis of 2 technically proficient midfielders in Barry and McCarthy. Is Fellaini even better than Besic on a purely technical or tactical level ? Can't say with certainty to be honest.
I disagree on the defensive awareness, passing, and first touch. Have you seen Fletcher lately? His first touch involves the ball bouncing off his foot 5 meters away from him. Darren's problems partly stem from a lack of fitness, however the main issue for him is that he is just not up to it anymore. As I said though, his lack of fitness all contributes to his issues. He can't put in a shift anymore, well not from what I have seen. Yeah, Fellaini looked out of his depth. So did Carrick and nine other players that night. I can't remember if Fletcher had played but I guarantee you he would have looked out of his depth also.
Everton and the way they played suited Fellaini perfectly and any team who replicate that will get a good player, any team that doesn’t will not get much out of him.
When Everton deployed him in midfield he often played as the most attacking player or had a free role, they hit lots of long balls into him from the keeper and the back four, his job was to chest it down and lay it off, win headers etc which he is very good at. He would feed the ball to the likes of Pienaar and Baines then make his way into the box to get on the end of a cross or long diagonal ball and he could cause problems for any side. Take that sort of service away from him, play it to his feet, try to get him to pass and move, expect him to track runners, play passes more than 10-15 yards and he is half the player. Unfortunately for Fellaini at Utd he is never going to be used as he was at Everton and he will never be the same player no matter how many chances he gets.
I don’t see the point in doing anything other than selling him ASAP to get back as much money as we can, I know a lot of fans think it is unfair and he should be given more chances but that is just the way it goes, if he isn’t good enough and doesn’t fit in then it’s time to move him on whether he has been here for 1 year or 10 years. I don’t think LVG can rate him as anything other than backup judging by our signings and the strong interest we have shown in other players so I expect he will be shipped out on loan in January.
When Everton deployed him in midfield he often played as the most attacking player or had a free role, they hit lots of long balls into him from the keeper and the back four, his job was to chest it down and lay it off, win headers etc which he is very good at. He would feed the ball to the likes of Pienaar and Baines then make his way into the box to get on the end of a cross or long diagonal ball and he could cause problems for any side. Take that sort of service away from him, play it to his feet, try to get him to pass and move, expect him to track runners, play passes more than 10-15 yards and he is half the player. Unfortunately for Fellaini at Utd he is never going to be used as he was at Everton and he will never be the same player no matter how many chances he gets.
I don’t see the point in doing anything other than selling him ASAP to get back as much money as we can, I know a lot of fans think it is unfair and he should be given more chances but that is just the way it goes, if he isn’t good enough and doesn’t fit in then it’s time to move him on whether he has been here for 1 year or 10 years. I don’t think LVG can rate him as anything other than backup judging by our signings and the strong interest we have shown in other players so I expect he will be shipped out on loan in January.
Like some said, we wont play him to his strengths, even as a squad player he doesnt suit us. I cant see van Gaal throwing him on and changing his philosophy just for Fellaini, even in the last minutes of the game and is that really what he wants? No. Use the money to buy Strootman in Januray.
We're underrating him quite a bit on this forum. I don't like him playing for United, he doesn't suit us, but I don't mind having him as a substitute or replacement player in our squad. Our other squad options compared to him would be Anderson and Fletcher, and I think Fellaini would be chosen ahead of them when fit.
I don't think replacing him with a top midfielder would be a priority in the January transfer window, I'll be happy if we managed to get a good defender into our team instead.
Let's just agree to disagree. I'd rather a burnt out stallion than a healthy donkey.
How about we get both a central midfielder and a defender ? What's the use playing him close to 100 grand just to be sat on the bench ? We could get someone like Saul who has 200 % more potential for 15 million and pay him a quarter of Marouane's wages. What's the use just keeping him on ? Let him go and find regular football elsewhere, playing for a team more suited to his talents.
I think we might want to wait until the summer transfer window to purchase a good midfielder, like Strootman? Unless we can bring him in during January, of course.
Fair enough.
But who knows - maybe someone like Schneiderlin is available in January and going by Koeman's recent comments he very well might be. I'd prefer him over Fellaini in fairness. If we stick with a 4-3-1-2, a quartet of Ander, Di Maria, Blind and Schneiderlin + some academy product like Pereira or Rothwell would be good enough IMO.
I'll throw it into the fire.
Van Gaal said we needed to keep possession, which is true, but I was also thinking we needed a bully in CM today (and might need again if another situation like this arises). So, can Fellaini be THAT guy? And yes, I do think the problem was further back, but I feel Leicester would have been less comfortable had we had a Fellaini stating right there in front of the CBs.
Van Gaal said we needed to keep possession, which is true, but I was also thinking we needed a bully in CM today (and might need again if another situation like this arises). So, can Fellaini be THAT guy? And yes, I do think the problem was further back, but I feel Leicester would have been less comfortable had we had a Fellaini stating right there in front of the CBs.
No.
Fellaini isn't very good in that position. And gets out jumped by midgets when he is defending.
Carrick would have sorted us out.
I was expecting a call for him to play CB when I saw the thread bumped.
Of course. But then again, Carrick isn't a bully.
I dont think doing what he did vs Olympiacos works for like 30 minutes.
Forgot he still played for us ffs.
We don't need a bully. We just needed someone who can keep possession.
Also means we dont have an intelligent player in there making 8 interceptions and tracking back to clear the ball out of his box 6 times
They were also dangerous from set pieces and Fellaini gives away too many in dangerous areas
The last thing we needed defensively would have been this guy
In attack though? Probably would have had more of an impact than Januzaj and Mata
Shocking today. Shouldn't play for the club again after that performance.
Me too. At least we've got better options in midfield now though, no matter how poor the result today was.
Sorry, I was just trying to be in keeping with the theme of the thread.
IF he can get form and keep possession well then he would have been a good sub for the game I think. We needed someone to come on and slow things down. I'm not sure he could do it, but if he could then he would have been handy.
Well he wouldn't speed things up, that's for sure.
Once we went long ball, he'd have been a better option than Mata. Is very able to hold up play and retain possession.
All i see now about him as a player now are petty digs at his ability. The guy has attributes & strengths that could be utilised from time to time. He's a proven very effective footballer in the Premier League. Never his fault the berk who bought him tried to convert him to a position he isn't good enough to play at United. He should be used as a target man for however long he's at the club, some times we'll have to go long ball, it's the nature of our league!
He's too slow to break down play really and he's not even good at breaking up play when its near him. As far as being a bully, he's really more of a fanny.
Funny thing that, you know, shipping five goals and all. We certainly needed something a little bit more than 'keeping possession'. Seems we probably could do with some players that can stay in shape and defend.
He has played at the base for Everton in the past and done very well. He might not be the most mobile of our midfielders but pound for pound defensively to tie up a ragged game he (on form) would probably be our best option right now. A like for like for Blind who could probably do a job with his alertness and pick up around the deeper player. There is no real need to be fantastic in possession spraying the ball around in the last 30 minutes of a game if we are trying to stabilize.
He's not far away from returning so at least that is an extra body for lack of nothing better.
The only question Fellaini is the answer to is "Who should we sell next?"
Unless he was a world class CB all along and only played as a midfielder in Everton to bamboozle his future club, I don't see him improving our game the slightest bit. He's a major step down from Blind and Herrera. Di Maria doesn't even belong in the same sentence as him.
Same here. But now that I think about it, it isn't a very bad idea and it might actually work out well. Not sure if he'd be willing to play there though.
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