MOURINHO: THE KEY TO FELLAINI'S FORM
Jose Mourinho has pinpointed the respect he has for Marouane Fellaini as being key to the midfielder's impressive performances of late.
"I always thought that he was a player with special qualities and players with special qualities are players with a place in your team or in your squad," the boss said. "I knew he was a player with a lot to give, but I think the relation between the players and the managers are very important in their performance levels, confidence levels and self-esteem levels.
"I think we managers are guilty many times of good things the players do and we are also guilty of bad things, or players not performing as well as they could do. I think that's part of our careers and
I think Marouane is performing very well because he feels I respect him as a player."
Mourinho also feels his positive treatment of Fellaini after he conceded a penalty late on against Everton at Goodison Park last term has helped the player.
"His mistake last season [at Everton] is what I can accept in a player," the boss added. "If a goalkeeper makes a mistake for a goal, I accept [it]. I accept a player that misses a penalty kick and gives a penalty away – I accept all these kinds of individual mistakes that are part of the game and part of football players.
"What I did with Marouane was what I do normally with players. [Phil] Jones made a bad mistake for Stoke's second goal. Did I kill him? No. Is he going to be on the bench on Sunday? No. Life goes on and that's the way I do [it] and that’s the way I did [it] last season with Fellaini.
"When players make a big mistake and everyone knows they did it, players are the first ones to know they did it. They don’t need any more criticism from the manager than they get from the fans or the media. It’s just being pragmatic and common sense."
http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-F...-is-key-to-recent-Marouane-Fellaini-form.aspx
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Marouane is a skillful player.
