I don't rate him but he was very good yesterday. Battled well, kept Fabregas quiet and steady enough on the ball. He falls asleep at corners and free kicks though. He almost always starts with a player and ends up a free man.
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Fellaini had a lot of injury issues last season (wrist, back etc) and Im pretty sure he played several times when he was not 100% - also Moyes sometimes played a system with him and Carrick both as no6s which did not work at all.
Plus, although many refuse to acknowledge it, Fellaini did actually have several good performances for us last season - not as good as he has been in last couple of matches though, which is why everyone is finally sitting up and taking note of what he can offer.
We look a different team with him in, our midgets no longer getting bullied out of the game and no longer toothless.
Could be one of our most important players this season, who'd have thought that?
Could be one of our most important players this season, who'd have thought that?
So... he's pretty good, isn't he? A lot of us, myself included, may well be left with egg on our face. Good on him.
I wouldn't go as far to say he's pretty good, but he's something different to what we have and probably something we need when we go up against midfielders like Yaya/Matic/Dembele and teams like Stoke.
Offers a massive threat on corners too, it was his header from a set-piece that made Courtois save on RVP's goal, so could well have scored 2 games out of 2.
He just didn't get much of a chance last season , he came to us late, was in and out due to injury but from what I've seen this season he's looking like an excellent addition.
He certainly brings something different to the pitch for us and his passing and marking has improved vastly from last season.
I still dont think he should be a starter for MUFC, but he can definitely be our super-sub.
I still dont think he should be a starter for MUFC, but he can definitely be our super-sub.
I suppose it's only fair to overreact positively to a good performance after all the over the top negative stuff from last season. But that's still what it is, a bit of an overreaction by some.
He's shown us he's capable of doing a bit of a destroyer job in midfield and use his height and good technique at bringing balls under control in the box. But he's still pretty indisciplined tactically if we're trying to keep a defensive shape. More importantly, starting him in midfield (especially with the instructions he has to get into the box) means we're almost left with no midfield when we attack, given the number of attacking players we put on the pitch. I think we saw this most in the second half, where all of our attacks ended up having to start and finish from out wide rather than penetrating through the middle at some point during the move. This might improve with Rooney as the n.10, he has the physicality to drop deep and basically function as a midfielder in possession, but we'll struggle to not be predictable with Fellaini in the middle.
He's shown us he's capable of doing a bit of a destroyer job in midfield and use his height and good technique at bringing balls under control in the box. But he's still pretty indisciplined tactically if we're trying to keep a defensive shape. More importantly, starting him in midfield (especially with the instructions he has to get into the box) means we're almost left with no midfield when we attack, given the number of attacking players we put on the pitch. I think we saw this most in the second half, where all of our attacks ended up having to start and finish from out wide rather than penetrating through the middle at some point during the move. This might improve with Rooney as the n.10, he has the physicality to drop deep and basically function as a midfielder in possession, but we'll struggle to not be predictable with Fellaini in the middle.
This is definitely a worry if we persist with him. He's been effective, but because his game is relatively limited, teams will soon work on nullifying him if he continues to play and teams who are solid defensively will, in all likelihood, do it fairly well.
How did he flick that ball to the left side of field?
The other possibility is that he will raise his game. We saw the effects that scoring against West Brom had yesterday. His confidence will be even higher after a MotM performance against probably the best team in the league. I haven't seen him operate at that higher level myself but I note some of our resident Evertonians say he still has more to give.
Yeah, but even if he continues to raise his game, he's still fairly limited in a sense, and opposition teams may work to stop him and nullify us through the middle.
Jedi mindtricks obviously, can't be his limited technique we keep hearing about.
I really noticed the difference yesterday. I swear at one point they did a close up shot of Fabregas and Mata right after Cesc had fouled him and he did a fake push at him. No idea if it was intimidation or because they know each other but poor little Juan just can't seem to get himself into a game lately.
I'm not going overboard. I honestly think Fellaini was our best player against Chelsea. Januzaj had a decent game, but failed with too many take-ons. Same goes for ADM. Blind were solid, but Fellinis muscle power took Matic out of the game. And Fabregas - I hardly noticed him being out there!
I think the bolded is pretty unfair. We were one badly defended set piece away from keeping a clean-sheet against the best team in the league and a lot of that was down to Fellaini's tactical role of stopping Fabregas getting on the ball. In any case, I don't think Van Gaal much cares about Fellaini's ability to 'keep a defensive shape', that's part of Blind's role and if LVG wanted two 'disciplined' defensive midfielders against Chelsea he could have played Carrick and Blind.
A key difference between LVG and a lot of other managers is that against better teams LVG's instinct isn't to set the team up to drop back, stay solid and let the opposition play in front of a brick wall. Rather he set us up with a plan to get stuck in, stop Chelsea playing and dominate the game ourselves, a gameplan which Fellaini carried out brilliantly and on another day (with some better performances from our big name players) could have won us the game.
I'd tend to put our lack of attacking impetus through the middle down to Mata's poor form and lack of physicality, as well as the fact that it's natural to want to get your best player on the ball as often as possible and it so happened that he was playing wide in this game. Stick Rooney in rather than Mata and you've got someone who is at least capable of challenging the likes of Matic physically.
He is another option in midifeld, one that's very different who may find a specialised role within the squad similar to Park under Fergie. The big question is will he retain his place in the team once Herrera is back fully fit?
The great thing about Fellani's new found form is that it gives Van Gaal options, as well as provides important depth in case someone gets injured.
He had a good game against the best team in the league and his confidence is improving as well. He certainly gives a different option when attacking, especially from set pieces. I think he will become quite important for us this season. Van Gaal certainly sees something in him.
Yaya dominated him last season so I'm not sure thats really fair on fellaini to expect him to hold his own against one of the worlds best CMs
I think he finally looked fully fit for the first time, showing the ability he seemed to have when he played for Everton. Very promising performance.
I also rated him before everyone else did.
The recent Guardian article on him gave an interesting spin on him. It was unfortunate that he was brought here by Moyes and suffered from the expectations that came with it. If he were bought by any other manager, I doubt we'd have been so harsh on him last year, maybe even giving him some time to bed in. But with Moyes, we expected DM to know how to get the best out of Fellaini, but I think he did him a disservice by playing him out of position a bit by asking him to be a strict DM, instead of a box-to-box or even a pseudo-#10. Heck, if Moyes wanted to put in so many crosses, then he should've had Fellaini in a more advanced role.
It seems LVG has given more detailed instructions to Fellaini and actually trusting him to do the job. Moyes seemed to hold him back and defer to the vets too much. Fellaini seems to have regained his confidence and gave a rampaging, bull in a china shop performance. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do for a player (see Alex Song, Sigurdsson, etc.).
It seems LVG has given more detailed instructions to Fellaini and actually trusting him to do the job. Moyes seemed to hold him back and defer to the vets too much. Fellaini seems to have regained his confidence and gave a rampaging, bull in a china shop performance. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do for a player (see Alex Song, Sigurdsson, etc.).
They couldn't do it for around two seasons with Everton. In a club like Man United you have more people to worry about (Rooney, RVP, Di Maria, Januzaj, Mata).
If you waste your "man marking" on Fellaini the other players will run rampant.
We could have won if we played him further up the pitch. What really annoyed me yesterday was the many times he was in the box and the cross was under/overhit. Shame that the one time Di Maria got it right, it was the last minute of the game.
I love the way LvG pronounces his name. "Fellaani" 
you mean you also like him when he plays like shit?
I always rated him, and always believed in him… NOOOOOO not at all, I hated him, (the footballer not the man) since his time at Everton because he’s more a destructor than a beautiful playmaker. It’s true that last year we needed reinforcements but we expected more.
You’re all right saying that we were very hard with him for various reason but especially reasons he wasn’t at fault.
I mean we wanted Fabregas an Alcantara last year and we missed them, instead we had Fellaini and all the frustration we had from this missed window (we can add all the other targets we missed) went in Fellaini’s shoulder. Straight away, when we were still Fergiesque, he was ok, play safe balls and looks better than Cleverley and Ando combined (during his first game at home against Leverkusen).
But it’s true that he had (after the derby) a terrible injury with his wrist and when he came back, in New Year, he was the symbol of Moyes. And then he also had his back problems. And this image from his mentor, the man who brought him was his burden last year. He was the player who symbolized Moyes on the pitch, the same story, and a part of the hatred (or pain personally) we had for Moyes went to him. This should have been the same thingm but the team is better, and he’s not anymore the coach’s favorite (we turned to RVP) and his more free now we have less expectation with him (as Di Maria, Mata and co should do a lot more before him)
Anyway, I would be precautious with him. He was terrible last year and two good games cannot changed a chaotic year
You’re all right saying that we were very hard with him for various reason but especially reasons he wasn’t at fault.
I mean we wanted Fabregas an Alcantara last year and we missed them, instead we had Fellaini and all the frustration we had from this missed window (we can add all the other targets we missed) went in Fellaini’s shoulder. Straight away, when we were still Fergiesque, he was ok, play safe balls and looks better than Cleverley and Ando combined (during his first game at home against Leverkusen).
But it’s true that he had (after the derby) a terrible injury with his wrist and when he came back, in New Year, he was the symbol of Moyes. And then he also had his back problems. And this image from his mentor, the man who brought him was his burden last year. He was the player who symbolized Moyes on the pitch, the same story, and a part of the hatred (or pain personally) we had for Moyes went to him. This should have been the same thingm but the team is better, and he’s not anymore the coach’s favorite (we turned to RVP) and his more free now we have less expectation with him (as Di Maria, Mata and co should do a lot more before him)
Anyway, I would be precautious with him. He was terrible last year and two good games cannot changed a chaotic year
He wont play every game. But a very good option to have. With Carrick also available...a good mix of midfield players.
No I mean I always believed he had the potential to do well for us before it was cool to.
Just some observations I would like to add.
1) His performance is promising, but we must not get carried away. The most important thing for Fellaini now is to get some level of consistency.
2) If he can maintain this level all the time then he will add a whole new dimension to our game. Give us a physical presence and provide targets for crosses and long balls. Like a lot of people are saying. He gives us options.
3) His gameplan, I think, is simple. He plays a box to box role. When United has the ball, he runs forward to the opponent's box to be the target man. Same like he does for Belgium, I think.
1) His performance is promising, but we must not get carried away. The most important thing for Fellaini now is to get some level of consistency.
2) If he can maintain this level all the time then he will add a whole new dimension to our game. Give us a physical presence and provide targets for crosses and long balls. Like a lot of people are saying. He gives us options.
3) His gameplan, I think, is simple. He plays a box to box role. When United has the ball, he runs forward to the opponent's box to be the target man. Same like he does for Belgium, I think.
Absolutely. I can't see him becoming a first choice, but as you say: He gives us options. Tidy squad player to have.
Yup. As I've said before. He's here already and it's not his fault that he cost us so much. That is sunk cost and we cannot do anything about it. He is, however, trying his best to perform for us. There is no harm in keeping him and seeing what happens. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by that. After last season, if he can turn things around and achieve that consistent level of performance and give us options, I'd consider it an unexpected ROI already. And if he can get even better, then ... even better!! lol.
The good thing is this year is that he doesn't have to be the main solution and doesn't have the weight of expectation. Also, helps to have players that are playing relatively well. All around him last year were players that just were performing poorly. Now he doesn't have to try and be the stand out player, he just needs to go and play.
I don't think he'll end up being a sure starter under LVG because he like Herrera will be kind of those horses for courses type players.
One thing unfortunate in a twisted way about yesterday and the performance against West Brom (the latter I just read), is there will be that level of expectation again on him and should he fail - which is entirely possible depending in City's mood, especially Yaya Toure, he'll end up with being put down again. Hopefully most of us and LVG keep in mind that Fellaini is going to be one of those really useful players over the course of his time here - even if he cost too much to be that but, that's not his fault.
I don't think he'll end up being a sure starter under LVG because he like Herrera will be kind of those horses for courses type players.
One thing unfortunate in a twisted way about yesterday and the performance against West Brom (the latter I just read), is there will be that level of expectation again on him and should he fail - which is entirely possible depending in City's mood, especially Yaya Toure, he'll end up with being put down again. Hopefully most of us and LVG keep in mind that Fellaini is going to be one of those really useful players over the course of his time here - even if he cost too much to be that but, that's not his fault.
Have to say, thought he had a great game yesterday, and I certainly have not been slow to criticise him in the past. Please God he keeps it up and leaves me with a healthy smattering of egg on my face.
he was magnificent yesterday, his best game for us.
sorta performance that he used to give against us before, which is the reason we signed him.
sorta performance that he used to give against us before, which is the reason we signed him.
He was never bad as some people made him over here...it s just some people are simply clueless and internet fora are full of them.
Hang on, let's not go into full revionism mode just yet, after 1 good performance eh?
Are you joking he ripped us a new one and ripped Arsenal a new one (several times) for Everton and was basically unplayable at times. You can de-value that period or his specific role in those games as much as you like but very few PL players are unplayable in any given circumstances all that often.
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