Van Gaal thinks otherwise.
27
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Van Gaal thinks otherwise.
Fellaini is not playing badly, he's done well, however his limitations as a player affect the entire side. Fellaini simply isn't capable of quickening the pace of our play in midfield, his first touch and ability to run with the ball are nothing to shout about. Its a bit unfair to him, because Fellaini has been putting in good performances recently, but I feel he should be dropped because that will allow us to play differently.
Bingo
I think he'll still start against Arsenal to bully their midfield of soft lads. Then I expect Herrera to come in for him vs Hull.
Absolutely. People calling him awful, woeful today just have an agenda. He was ok. Did some good stuff, some bad, like basically everyone out there.
Ah right, so we must all agree with what LVG does. All those calling for RVP to be dropped must be wrong, because LVG doesn't agree?
When people say he's not suited to 'these type of games', would they class the West Brom game as 'those type of games', when he come on and changed the game for us?
How can he quicken the play when he has statues in front of him? He was linking up with Januzaj a few times now there is someone who was slowing down the play. A few times Fellaini made the pass to Januzaj and could have had the return but Januzaj just stopped, let the defenders get into position and then lost the ball pretty much every time.
It's just people talking in cliches. Lazy opinions.
This.
Nah, most of the criticism is fair today. I've defended Fellaini a fair bit over the past year, and he's a better, more threatening player than that. That box to box role is an important one and he really has to turn the screw when in there.
No, this comment about Rooney is not ridiculous, our wingers have been shit since we've switched to 4141, if a man that's responsible for dictating our forward play doesn't fecking see it and keeps spraying it to the wings which is an easy option to pick ( even more easy than a bloody sideway passing ) then he's simply too thick to play #10. That's the difference Mata brings. People can go talking shit all they want how he's not involved in game and other bullshit but the difference he's made when on the pitch was immense. He's kept it through middle even though he was deployed on the wing. Many times he's came for the ball and instead of playing it to the wing like Rooney did the whole match, he kept it in the middle, slowed down the play when necessary rather than forcing it to Adnan or ADM who were losing duels and putting us on counters, same shit happened against City last week.
Blind was mostly playing as a CB today, switched to CDM around the time we scored the goal. It's vital for him to keep it simple and backpass, play it safe, without idiotic risk. It's the players like Rooney and Mata who we should expect better forward play from. Rooney doesn't bring that in the #10 role in this formation.
I think now that we have Carrick back, Fellaini should play more from the bench, come on late in the game and try and make an impact.
No he didn't. He defended very well and put in more tackles than Fellaini despite being the #10 in the formation. Fellaini, as a box-to-box, provided no real impetus going forward and was pretty useless in our attacks apart from being a target man.
I'm not saying you have to agree, but he must be doing something right if Van Gaal is continuing to pick him.
He put in 0 tackles, congratulations, not even a failed one.
And yea as said, Rooney did close to feck all going forward too, even passing wise for which Fellaini is often criticised for.
Apart from RvP, Di Maria and Januzaj who were shit; the rest of the outfield cast put in bang average performances. All were equally mediocre. At least Carrick/Blind have the excuse for being out of position, Fellaini was played in his preferred position and was nothing special. Only problem is he does put in his 6/10 performances which should not be the standard we should be happy with.
How many successful tackles/blocks did Fellaini put in? Genuinely curious 'cause I cannot remember any one particular moment.
He should be played in a very specialized role , against big teams to mark their midfield playmaker ala the job in fabregas. He should but be starting home games against the likes of palace .
I'd agree. If Carrick can find some of his better form, he's a much better option to have in midfield than Fellaini.
To some extent that's a symptom of the system, if I were picking the team Januzaj would not be in it either. Our best players like to play two-touch football, they pass and move, Fellaini for all his strengths does not provide that. If we were playing to fit our most talented XI we'd go back to the diamond and put Di Maria in alongside players he can play triangles with like Herrera. I recognise that Herrera is probably still half fit but after the international break we need to get him back in the side so we can be more fluid in our build up.
Rooney didn't do that the whole match. He did it a few times. Yes, our wingers have been poor - so what? You just completely stop using them? Effectively turning our team into a 9 man team? Sounds like a sensible approach alright! Saying he did it all match .. well that really shows you have an agenda against him. He did it 4 or 5 times I'd say. Also saw him trying to play Van Persie though at times, and them linking up, maybe you missed that?
Mata, yeah he did well when he came on. But he was absolutely terrible in the recent 3 games he started in there, so I can understand why he has been left out lately.
I know where Blind was played. But I mean in general, when he has played CM for us he plays the ball sideways about 90% of the time. I like him, he's a tidy little player, so I'm not using that as a criticism of him. I just think it's unfair to then use it as a criticism of Fellaini. Who, incidentally I saw try plenty of forward passes and try to beat his man at times. But people will only see what they want to see.
One failed and one succesful tackle, 6 clearances, 7 won and 6 lost aerial duels, 1 interception.
Fellaini is perfectly fine at one and two touch passing.
In fact what usually happened would be that he played the pass, move for the return and not get it from Januzaj.
He did OK. Again the fact that for 45 minutes we had Di Maria wasting corners, and Valencia doing his usual "smack against the first mans shins" tricks it doesnt really help Fellaini.
In the first half Januzaj, ADM and Valencia wasted every opportunity that we had out wide. In the second half when we had a couple of decent crosses/corners, Fellaini looked threatening
He arguably should have had a penalty when the defender had him in a headlock, and it was Fellaini's layoff which set us up for the goal.
Basically, he wasnt outstanding but he contributed more than several players did (including RVP, Rooney, ADM and Januzaj). Most of the criticism strikes me as unjustified.
In the first half Januzaj, ADM and Valencia wasted every opportunity that we had out wide. In the second half when we had a couple of decent crosses/corners, Fellaini looked threatening
He arguably should have had a penalty when the defender had him in a headlock, and it was Fellaini's layoff which set us up for the goal.
Basically, he wasnt outstanding but he contributed more than several players did (including RVP, Rooney, ADM and Januzaj). Most of the criticism strikes me as unjustified.
Not quickening the play isn't a criticism of him it's just his passing is a limitation, the movement isn't great but that happens when the midfield lacks creativity and a limited passing range. Players know he only plays short simple passes so when he has the ball that's what they look for, if it was scholes on the ball you would see players making completely different ones. He did ok today but he is a limited player there is no escaping that and those limitations affect the team, he isnt' the only one but it is true.
It's shite like this that makes me realize you haven't watched much of Fellaini at all....
He's ok at it, however he's nowhere near as gifted at it as Herrera, Di Maria or even Blind. His touch lets him down a lot, his ability to run with the ball simply isn't very good, and if you want to get a passing carousel going he's not the guy you'd trust to start it off.
Sorry but you're talking bollocks. You're blaming the lack of movement on him?!
He should be dominating the aerial duels given his height. As I said, he did OK. What are his stats in terms of chance creation/through balls/defense splitting passes (or whatever fancy term that's used)? That is what I am really interested in knowing.
I don't give a shit if people call agenda, I thought he was very poor today unless the ball was in the air, nowhere near good enough with the ball at his feet and lacks mobility, compared to Matic he's miles away from what a top side needs from it's powerhouse CM.
I'd put Fellaini on the same level as Blind passing wise.
He has one of the best first touches in our squad. Obviously Herrera and Di Maria are better at the little passes since they are completely different type of players.
He's a decent footballer. Adds height and physicality to the side. But obviously someone you wouldn't ideally want as first choice.
Probably shit but I can't think of a single defence splitting pass anyone in the team made so to focus on him is bollocks. Who would he have made a defence splitting pass to exactly? The movement up top was shit, that's the problem as far as I'm concerned.
Yup, that's me having agenda against Rooney. Man known for spraying it to the wings in every single match. I've said that he's created two real chances - one was near the end to RVP and the other one was from the corner for Fellaini. RVP and Rooney had less than 11 passes between themselves so they hardly 'linked up with each other', bar that one good chance really and probably a couple of worthless passes. So yea, I wish I had a chance to miss this fantastic link up play but sadly there was close to none for me to miss.
And Mata being 'terrible' is just another repeated ad infinitum cliche I can't be bothered with, sorry for that.
Did well, will defo start against Arsenal.
I'd agree with you that I don't think in the long term he is a good enough midfielder to be playing regularly for us, if we have designs on being a top side again. But I didn't think he was very poor today. He was average, didn't really mess anything up of note in a huge sense, neither did he do much bar the one header.
I strongly disagree. His chest control is very good. His trapping of balls along the floor leaves a lot to be desired, especially when he tries to run with the ball.
However, I go back to my main point: He has been playing well, but not so well that a system that would bring the best out of better players should be ditched to keep him playing.
He's created 0 chances if you're asking. Rooney created two. I think it was rather easy to count throughout the game as we've made very little things going forward and that seems to be both mine and yours problem. Thing is that we look at the source of this little creation in two different players - you in Fellaini, me in Rooney.
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