[stevoc]

He was poor but you have to wonder what Mourinho's thinking is with Fellaini. Thats two homes games in a row against relatively small technical spanish sides that he's started in central midfield, and in both games we played about as well as you could expect with a player like Fellaini starting in your CM.

It's baffling he isn't a central or defensive midfielder and certainly not at Champions League level. He can do a job behind the striker or for dealing with aerial threats in his own box and thats pretty much it. Playing him in midfield and expecting him to provide any sort of tempo, link play or attacking threat is again baffling.

He should have played Mata, Pereria or i don't know the actual central midfielder he just fecking signed for £50+ Million in there.

 

[FootyGirl88]

At this point there's no point in blaming him he is what is - I blame Jose more than anything.

 

[DocRockter]

And yet, he should have had 2 assists tonight(Alexis and Lukaku).. go figure..

 

[Sylar]

Why did we go away from him being the deepest midfielder that goes back deep and allows the cbs to split and let the full backs push on?

Seemed matic and he swapped roles from the Burnley / young boys? Matches

 

[Backrow Singer]

My highlight of tonight’s fixture was in the second half. Marouane spent three or four seconds watching the player he was supposed to be picking up receive the football, turn, check his hair was in place, pull his socks up and drive at the heart of our back four before he decided to lazily trundle over and follow him back. Even with what’s going on, I thought it was quite impressive so fair play to him for that.

 

[Frank Grimes]

A warrior, pity there's not more like him in the club.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

Solid, but doesn't work with Matic who is in this horrible run of form. Should just go back to playing solo at the base and building the attack around him transitioning the ball quickly from in front of it.

 

[Ekeke]

I'm not a big Fellaini fan but I didnt think he was overall bad yesterday. He did win the ball 6 times afterall, although the majority was in the 2nd half. But without a doubt Valencia passed circles around our midfield at times and it did not work at all with him and Matic together. I think he was the better of the 2 for sure.

 

[AdamAdams]

thought he was the best of our 3 midfielders. Pressed the hardest and moved the ball quicker than the other 2

 

[norm87cro]

The guy baffles me. Not only did he look out of his depth on the DM positions but our only real chance came from his insane chest control around the 70th minute which Sanchez fecked up

 

[Aren86]

Its a sad time when the only person who looks a natural fit in our team is Fellaini.

 

[Norris]

Not his best game at all today. Was pretty useless.

 

[2mufc0]

I understand he has his strengths and has made contributions but in terms of play style he personifies everything that is wrong with the way we play football.

 

[Eggberto]

He should never have been given a new contract.
As a footballer he is very limited, he can’t pass move than 5 yards, he slows the play down as he appears incapable of passing in front of a team mate to run on to. As a holding midfielder he can nether man mark or link the play.
His only use is as an impact sub / target for the back post when Jose has run out of ideas.

 

[IAmAWinner]

I thought he helped change the game. Well done.

 

[King.of.Red]

our lucky charm.

 

[The United]

We might hate how many times we have to use him to use him to break the defense(which is like almost every game)'in an ugly way' due to our shit attacking play but he is a very useful player to have in the squad.

 

[PaulRich]

Being used correctly now IMHO - pretty useful squad option although admittedly never the most pleasing on the eye. His attitude can never be questioned.

 

[Kazi]

2-nil down. Fellaini comes on.

Need I say any more?

 

[GM K]

2-nil down. Fellaini comes on.

Need I say any more?

Yes, you should.

2-nil down. Fellaini comes on and we went on to win 3-2.

 

[11101]

Fair play to him, he may be limited in some areas, but the things he is good at he will always deliver. If we use him as a squad option i'm happy for him to stay. It's when he is our plan A, B and C that its a problem.

 

[Jeppers7]

Easily our best outfield player. Problem is we need him both defensively since without him we have no midfield control and leak goals, but we also need him to score our goals.

Wrong thread

 

[Jeppers7]

Played a key role. Even did quite well with the ball at his feet. I'll never be a fan but credit where it's due.

 

[sergiosigurvinson]

He helped our team to turn around the game.
He brought in our team what it needed. Grinta, determination, fighting spirit and that's why José loves him so much. They both believe in each other.

 

[Foxbatt]

Give him the credit he deserves. The only player who got booed by our own fans .
I love his attitude and the way he goes about it.

 

[ash_86]

I'm going to say it, Fellaini is our Giroud. When he is in the final 3rd, we seems to attack much better as he brings people into play. Mourinho thought Lukaku would be that guy but he isn't. We should stick with him at top in a 4-4-1-1 formation or similar.

 

[KennyBurner]

Fellaini is good coming of the bench but thats about it. Against very technical midfields he isnt going to be of much use. Against chelsea he must not start or else they will just pass the ball around us. We need to battle them technically and so will need a trio of Pogba, fred and matic. Mourinho needs to get this right next week and bring him of the bench to defend crosses when we are winning by 1 with 20 mintes left.

 

[ManUtd1999]

Fellaini is good coming of the bench but thats about it. Against very technical midfields he isnt going to be of much use. Against chelsea he must not start or else they will just pass the ball around us. We need to battle them technically and so will need a trio of Pogba, fred and matic. Mourinho needs to get this right next week and bring him of the bench to defend crosses when we are winning by 1 with 20 mintes left.

He has done very well in many matches that he started, including against Chelsea, Manchester City and Europa League final.

Most recently, he did very well as a starter against Burnley and Watford. Sure, he won't always deliver, but who always does?

 

[KennyBurner]

He has done very well in many matches that he started, including against Chelsea, Manchester City and Europa League final.

Most recently, he did very well as a starter against Burnley and Watford. Sure, he won't always deliver, but who always does?

You missed my point about him starting against technical teams. This is no longer the chelsea of old. They play on the front foot now while passing quickly. Fellaini will get shredded trying to close down. Not only that but he isn't a very good passer of the ball and will also leave us stranded on the counter. That is why we need Fred for this game to quickly transition.

Nobody is doubting the importance of fellaini but lets make one thing clear, he isnt a good enough starter no matter how many brilliant first team appearances he makes. We need to start incorporating fred more into how we play so that we can progress better this season.

 

[ManUtd1999]

You missed my point about him starting against technical teams.

I read that part, but here is exactly what you wrote in the previous post:

Fellaini is good coming of the bench but thats about it. Against very technical midfields he isnt going to be of much use. Against chelsea he must not start or else they will just pass the ball around us. We need to battle them technically and so will need a trio of Pogba, fred and matic. Mourinho needs to get this right next week and bring him of the bench to defend crosses when we are winning by 1 with 20 mintes left.

And so the first sentence is the one to which I responded, and it had nothing to do with technical teams, etc. The reader of this sentence thinks that you think that Fellaini is, in general not only against a specific type of teams, good enough only of the bench.


EDIT: I just read this part:

Nobody is doubting the importance of fellaini but lets make one thing clear, he isnt a good enough starter no matter how many brilliant first team appearances he makes. We need to start incorporating fred more into how we play so that we can progress better this season.

Imagine someone saying that about any other player. There is nothing to say about that... it's just unbelievable!

 

[Robbie Boy]

Potential Ballon D’or winning stuff from him.

 

[Foxbatt]

Matic is going to get overrun by Chelsea. He has been cack for sometime now.

 

[Black Adder]

Great mentality and attitude, he does look clumsy sometimes and gives unnecessaray fouls, but his overall aproach is top notch! He'll always try his best even if evertyhing is going against him, doesn't shrink under pressure but strives on it. Very good squad player to have.

 

[breakout67]

Why should Fellaini not play because he is 'too slow' or 'not good enough' while being one of our top performing players? Surely whether someone is good enough is based on their performances and not a personal standard set by some random caf poster?

He's very good in the sweeper centre back role, handles the first ball into the box and brings the ball out from the back. He's also a threat in the box.

 

[Schneckerl]

Nobody is doubting the importance of fellaini but lets make one thing clear, he isnt a good enough starter no matter how many brilliant first team appearances he makes.

That sounds weird to me. You should field the team which gives you the best winning chances and if that includes a player with unorthodox qualities so be it.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Hope that puts to bed the myth that we can't play fluid attacking football with Fellaini in the team. It all comes down to mentality.

 

[arthurka]

Fast becoming José's plan A,B and C.
Fellaini has his uses but the sad state of our club makes him look instrumental.

 

[KennyBurner]

That sounds weird to me. You should field the team which gives you the best winning chances and if that includes a player with unorthodox qualities so be it.

Don't know how that can sound weird to you? He doesn't give us the best chances of winning he gives us another style of play which we opt for when losing. Our best team does not include fellaini.

 

[Foxbatt]

If he is good enough for Belgium in a midfield that has kdb then he should be good enough for United at least as an option.

 

[starman]

I would rather play him in as a no 10 and Sachanez playing off him then Lukaku as a target man

When we do go long at least there is a method to it. Balls that are played into Lukaku just bounce off him, attack after attack breakdown because of it