Marouane Fellaini image 27

Marouane Fellaini Belgium flag

2015-16 Performances


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5.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
33
Goals
4
Assists
1
Yellow cards
6
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van Gaal had the entire team playing well for a good part of last season. I honestly thought we would run away with the title this season.

I don't want to start another van Gaal rant. But I am scratching my head about what has happened so far this season......:confused:
Its safe two say the switch from 4-1-2-3 to 4-2-3-1 has severely blunted out attacking instincts. Going forward we were better with a midfield set up of one holder and two attacking midfielders.
 
I thought he was pretty good in the first half. Won the ball back well, and made a very important header from that corner right at the near post.

I cheered that nutmeg in the first half more than I cheered the goal.

He was the best of a bad bunch. And he was no more than average.

I hate the way LvG either plays him really deep or really far forward too. Scrap the number 10. No one plays it well enough to warrant it.
 
I'm not one of his critics, I just ignore him. He shouldn't be at the club. It's that simple.
 
I'm not his biggest fan but the circumstances have not been fair to him, I've got to say. He's never played well in midfield and he's never going to, at the highest level. He is not a central midfielder and it's unrealistic to expect him to perform well playing as one. He does try his best, that's evident for me and I do appreciate that. I think he realizes his limitations and tries to do as well as possible within them but it's never going to be good enough. Either play to his strengths or don't play him. The abuse he's getting is unnecessary though. It'd be like criticizing Smalling for being shit when playing as a winger.
 
Before we bought Martial last minute, VG's plan was to have this guy as our 2nd choice forward.

Ridiculous really.
 
I'm not his biggest fan but the circumstances have not been fair to him, I've got to say. He's never played well in midfield and he's never going to, at the highest level. He is not a central midfielder and it's unrealistic to expect him to perform well playing as one. He does try his best, that's evident for me and I do appreciate that. I think he realizes his limitations and tries to do as well as possible within them but it's never going to be good enough. Either play to his strengths or don't play him. The abuse he's getting is unnecessary though. It'd be like criticizing Smalling for being shit when playing as a winger.

This mostly echoes my thoughts. He has a great attitude and a fairly unique - but limited - skillset. In the right sort of system he can be an excellent PL player - we saw that at times last season, and we saw it during his time at Everton.

As @Scarecrow says - the level of abuse he gets from 'fans' is unnecessary and completely disproportionate to his level of contribution. Many people on here clearly made up their mind on Fellaini long ago, see him as a reminder of Moyes or whatever, and literally just have it in for him. He is not what is wrong with our team and has been no worse than the vast majority of our players so far this season, and was one of our better players last season. Go figure.
 
I honestly cant blame him for the most part, cos hes never been a 2 man midfielder type. Yet we still insist on feckin doing it (defensive midfielder at that, or sometimes we are looking for him to be box to box).

Its just insane, yet the management continue to do it. In fact he (along with Mata) should have been the first sub to go.

Honestly, he should be a plan C which is total desperation, losing with 5-10 minutes to go and putting him behind two strikers and just chucking him into the box to cause a nuisance cos thats all hes good at right now. (saying that, he hardly even jumps now).
 
We already fecking are.
I think we can still salvage this situation if we act fast, as we have good number of players who are class but are being held back by LVG. (e.g. herrera, martial)

problem is, we will probably dither until it's too late, again. and it will set us back, again. if you interpret that as us being the new milan already then I won't object to that.
 
This mostly echoes my thoughts. He has a great attitude and a fairly unique - but limited - skillset. In the right sort of system he can be an excellent PL player - we saw that at times last season, and we saw it during his time at Everton.

As @Scarecrow says - the level of abuse he gets from 'fans' is unnecessary and completely disproportionate to his level of contribution. Many people on here clearly made up their mind on Fellaini long ago, see him as a reminder of Moyes or whatever, and literally just have it in for him. He is not what is wrong with our team and has been no worse than the vast majority of our players so far this season, and was one of our better players last season. Go figure.


My gripe with Fellaini is not with the whole Moyes saga, that was not his fault. Who wouldn't take the opportunity to play for United?. I do not dislike the guy (the first player I took a selfie with before he made a name at Everton). The guy is just not good at football. We can't keep on playing the "limited" card all the time, it's just an excuse not to make us look like harsh fans. One would think that Fellaini is just some 18 year old kid coming from a a foreign league. Heck, if he was a youth player, playing the way he is playing I seriously doubt our fans would want us to acquire his services.

We can't keep on using tactics to shy away from the fact he should be doing better as a professional footballer. Fellaini is a PL footballer, plying his trade with one of the biggest team in the world WITH almost a decade (TEN YEARS) of PL experience under his belt. He is only behind Rooney and Carrick in our team in this regard (let that sink in) and ALL we can say is that he is good at chest control. Come on, let's be honest and fair.

I coach young players and they have a responsibility to improve certain aspects of their game. This has nothing to do with the coach but the individual himself. I am not convinced that Fellaini has any stand out attribute rather than those that are totally dependent on his physique, which in itself is not a skill. I am not impressed by the tallest guy on the pitch being able to reach a ball at height over shorter players, this is not a skill. The same way you should not be impressed by an 18 year old athlete outrunning a 50 year old athlete. Sometimes we make clips of players that these young players can watch to learn from and hone their skill. I can tell you that Fellaini is the one player that we have found it difficult to make a worthwhile video for a young player to assess. He is 28/29, I believe and should be around his prime, yet we don't know, neither does any of his managers know, I doubt even if he knows what his best position is. Really?

I believe he is trying to impress but he is not good enough to be considered a PL footballer. I would struggle to place him in a championship team looking for promotion. He plays for the club I support but that does not mean he is worth the hype.

re: excellent
Has never happened, will never happen. Just another fact of life.
 
My gripe with Fellaini is not with the whole Moyes saga, that was not his fault. Who wouldn't take the opportunity to play for United?. I do not dislike the guy (the first player I took a selfie with before he made a name at Everton). The guy is just not good at football. We can't keep on playing the "limited" card all the time, it's just an excuse not to make us look like harsh fans. One would think that Fellaini is just some 18 year old kid coming from a a foreign league. Heck, if he was a youth player, playing the way he is playing I seriously doubt our fans would want us to acquire his services.

We can't keep on using tactics to shy away from the fact he should be doing better as a professional footballer. Fellaini is a PL footballer, plying his trade with one of the biggest team in the world WITH almost a decade (TEN YEARS) of PL experience under his belt. He is only behind Rooney and Carrick in our team in this regard (let that sink in) and ALL we can say is that he is good at chest control. Come on, let's be honest and fair.

I coach young players and they have a responsibility to improve certain aspects of their game. This has nothing to do with the coach but the individual himself. I am not convinced that Fellaini has any stand out attribute rather than those that are totally dependent on his physique, which in itself is not a skill. I am not impressed by the tallest guy on the pitch being able to reach a ball at height over shorter players, this is not a skill. The same way you should not be impressed by an 18 year old athlete outrunning a 50 year old athlete. Sometimes we make clips of players that these young players can watch to learn from and hone their skill. I can tell you that Fellaini is the one player that we have found it difficult to make a worthwhile video for a young player to assess. He is 28/29, I believe and should be around his prime, yet we don't know, neither does any of his managers know, I doubt even if he knows what his best position is. Really?

I believe he is trying to impress but he is not good enough to be considered a PL footballer. I would struggle to place him in a championship team looking for promotion. He plays for the club I support but that does not mean he is worth the hype.

re: excellent
Has never happened, will never happen. Just another fact of life.

Absolute bollocks. Not good enough for United but don't discredit his great years at Everton.
 
Can't be used as a DM. Not as CM. Not a striker and has no skills or vision to be played as a 10... A useless player, and surely not United material. Needs to be sold to Sunderland asap..
 
He's probably not even second or third choice in the positions he's best in on paper, we should sell him in the summer.
 
He was useless but whole team was, crucial he is sold in the summer along with few others.
 
Absolute bollocks. Not good enough for United but don't discredit his great years at Everton.

My good sir, please what do you define as great because I'm struggling to see it. You are really just overrating performances if you are calling them great years! Tim Cahill did more at Everton than Fellaini and I would not call that great! Lowered standards here.
 
No.
Just because he had 4 good matches, it doesn't mean he was one of our better players.

Amazing how much people go on about those few games, he was decent overall last season, awful in his first season and has been useless this season. He has been a really bad addition to the squad and a huge waste of money.
 
Amazing how much people go on about those few games, he was decent overall last season, awful in his first season and has been useless this season. He has been a really bad addition to the squad and a huge waste of money.

That is because haven't watched football long enough to know the difference between a top player and an average player on a purple patch. Benjani, Santa Cruz, Stephen Ireland etc all had fantastic runs in the PL but that doesn't mean they were fantastic players.
 
He's been a square peg in a round hole ever since he arrived. We're not going to play in a way that gets the best out of him for any real extended periods so we might as well sell him.

He tries his best and I have a lot of sympathy for him given how unfair a lot of fans have been on him but the reality is he should never have been bought in the first place.
 
Surprised he was our lowest rated player. I thought he was one of our better performers. He was decent in the first-half but he did fade in the second. I thought Herrera was far worse than him.

*hides from fear of abuse for not praising Herrera*
 
Amazing how much people go on about those few games, he was decent overall last season, awful in his first season and has been useless this season. He has been a really bad addition to the squad and a huge waste of money.

In each of his three seasons I would argue that he has been at the very least, no worse than the "average" performance of the squad.

Year 1: Under Moyes, the entire team played badly, Fellaini included. One can make a case for mitigating circumstances such as playing the first half of the season a wrist injury, and that he had no preseason (something often used to excuse other players if they do not exactly hit the ground running). These factors are dismissed out of hand by the Fellaini haters (buzz term, but appropriate in this case) of course. On the whole, not really any worse than most of the other outfield players, but an easy target for the fans who didnt want him from day one (amongst other factors such as overpaying, and having a shite midfield which Fellaini was never going to be the solution to).

Year 2: One of our better players over the course of the season. The whole "had 4 good games" claim is just biased revisionism. For much of the season, our best play revolved around the Blind/Fellaini/Young triumvirate on the left hand side, he was usually one of our best performers (ie MotM or close) in the big games against the likes of Chelsea and City, including very good performances in a DM role. Did this despite apparently being on the verge of being sold, and the fans being on his back right from the off.

Year 3: Not utilised much initially by LVG except as an emergency striker. Another victim (certainly not the only one) of the switch to 4-2-3-1 which left him without a really suitable position in the team. We have shown an annoying tendency to employ hoofball when he is on the pitch - which is hardly the players fault but the managers. Nonetheless, in a season where we struggle to score or do anything worthwhile, I would suggest that Fellaini has had more impact and looked more likely to actually impact the game in a positive way than the likes of Mata, Herrera, Memphis (apart from a couple of good games) and Rooney (ditto).
 
In each of his three seasons I would argue that he has been at the very least, no worse than the "average" performance of the squad.

Year 1: Under Moyes, the entire team played badly, Fellaini included. One can make a case for mitigating circumstances such as playing the first half of the season a wrist injury, and that he had no preseason (something often used to excuse other players if they do not exactly hit the ground running). These factors are dismissed out of hand by the Fellaini haters (buzz term, but appropriate in this case) of course. On the whole, not really any worse than most of the other outfield players, but an easy target for the fans who didnt want him from day one (amongst other factors such as overpaying, and having a shite midfield which Fellaini was never going to be the solution to).

Year 2: One of our better players over the course of the season. The whole "had 4 good games" claim is just biased revisionism. For much of the season, our best play revolved around the Blind/Fellaini/Young triumvirate on the left hand side, he was usually one of our best performers (ie MotM or close) in the big games against the likes of Chelsea and City, including very good performances in a DM role. Did this despite apparently being on the verge of being sold, and the fans being on his back right from the off.

Year 3: Not utilised much initially by LVG except as an emergency striker. Another victim (certainly not the only one) of the switch to 4-2-3-1 which left him without a really suitable position in the team. We have shown an annoying tendency to employ hoofball when he is on the pitch - which is hardly the players fault but the managers. Nonetheless, in a season where we struggle to score or do anything worthwhile, I would suggest that Fellaini has had more impact and looked more likely to actually impact the game in a positive way than the likes of Mata, Herrera, Memphis (apart from a couple of good games) and Rooney (ditto).
Well said. I really couldn't say it better. LIKE!

Fellaini is not as talented as Rooney, Mata or Herrera, but he wasn't worse than them (and others) this season, on average. I mean, who is really having a good season in the midfield and up front (other than Martial)?
 
Van Gaal seems to have no idea what Fellaini's strengths are anymore (NOTE TO LVG: It's his sodding chest control, ability to hold up the ball and bring others into play...you feckin' lunatic) ... this after he worked out what they were for a very brief period last season.

It's as if he's just decided to ignore all his findings and do what would lead to being the most shit for both Fellaini and Manchester United... actually, this method could be transferred to most of the things he does as our manager,
 
In each of his three seasons I would argue that he has been at the very least, no worse than the "average" performance of the squad.



Year 2: One of our better players over the course of the season. The whole "had 4 good games" claim is just biased revisionism. For much of the season, our best play revolved around the Blind/Fellaini/Young triumvirate on the left hand side, he was usually one of our best performers (ie MotM or close) in the big games against the likes of Chelsea and City, including very good performances in a DM role. Did this despite apparently being on the verge of being sold, and the fans being on his back right from the off.

:lol:

Very good performances at DM, lord have mercy.

Fellaini went on a good run of matches, which pretty much started after a shit match against Arsenal in the FA cup, he was important against Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City. In there was a shit match against Aston Villa.

Chelsea completely nullified him, he was rubbish against Everton, horrible against West Brom, poor against Crystal Palace but scored the curcial winner. Useless against Arsenal and not sure what to say about his performance against Hull.
 
Surprised he was our lowest rated player. I thought he was one of our better performers. He was decent in the first-half but he did fade in the second. I thought Herrera was far worse than him.

*hides from fear of abuse for not praising Herrera*

He's a poor quality footballer. Are his feet made of wood or something? I'm otherwise struggling to explain how the ball ends up 6 yards away from him every time he tries to control it.
 
Van Gaal seems to have no idea what Fellaini's strengths are anymore (NOTE TO LVG: It's his sodding chest control, ability to hold up the ball and bring others into play...you feckin' lunatic) ... this after he worked out what they were for a very brief period last season.

It's as if he's just decided to ignore all his findings and do what would lead to being the most shit for both Fellaini and Manchester United... actually, this method could be transferred to most of the things he does as our manager,
Except he hasnt done that in a while, even at number 10.

The guy was asked to do a job in midfield against a league 1 side. That should not have been beyond him.
 
Annoy at what seems like ages for him to control the bloody ball and then ages to pass it. He doesn't have the skills to play fast transition football from defence to attack.
 
Souness destroyed him and LVG on Be In Sports Doha, saying that playing him in central midfield is just madness when he has no awareness of what's going on around him whether it's in attacking or defending situation. Too slow on the ball, not natural and basically pointless.

That is because haven't watched football long enough to know the difference between a top player and an average player on a purple patch. Benjani, Santa Cruz, Stephen Ireland etc all had fantastic runs in the PL but that doesn't mean they were fantastic players.

And these players had much more impressive purple patches than Fellaini.
 
Why do we keep playing him in centre mid? He can't dictate play, he can't spread passes, he isn't good with the ball at his feet. He's only effective when he's right up against their centre backs. It's not his fault he's shite there, every fan can see it so why can't the manager?
 
Its safe two say the switch from 4-1-2-3 to 4-2-3-1 has severely blunted out attacking instincts. Going forward we were better with a midfield set up of one holder and two attacking midfielders.

Yeah. A lot of people wanted him sold in the summer, I wasn't one of them because we saw he can be effective playing in the system you mentioned so was fine with him being a squad option. If we're not going to play that formation anymore then there isn't any point of him being here at all, he's shite in any of the positions in a 4-2-3-1. Actually I'm not sure any of our midfielders can be best utilifrom the current set up, perhaps Schneiderlin aside. Herrera certainly isn't a #10 or a deep lying midfielder, and Carrick and BFS would surely prefer to have the deep lying midfield role to themselves rather than having another player in their space.
 
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