Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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I wasn't too keen on us signing him instead of other players. But I've got a feeling he's gonna make me change my mind. You can't miss him on the pitch... the size of him and that crazy afro.

But we suddenly look a much bigger threat from set plays. In general play as well he was winning everything in the air with ease, then passing and moving freely up the pitch. Very early days but i'm sure he'll be very useful. He's a nasty, physical specimen who looks a nightmare to play against. Glad it's the oppositions problem, not ours any more.
 
noodlehair said:
He did well but Palace were terrible.

Why would anyone be surprised that he has a good touch and can keep possession? That's half the reason why we bought him for feck sake. Are there people who actually think Everton only used him as a target man?
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i can say without a shadow of a doubt that there are people who think that
 
noodlehair said:
He did well but Palace were terrible.

Why would anyone be surprised that he has a good touch and can keep possession? That's half the reason why we bought him for feck sake. Are there people who actually think Everton only used him as a target man?
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To be fair it was hardly the most challenging game. I'll be convinced when he does it in big games or when he comes up against the teams that usually run through our midfield.
 
Decent start from him for us. Nothing really fancy and never really needed to do to much. You can see he is going to easily dominate the midfield in the air, which is a bonus and should help us win the ball back easily at times and limit that long ball out ball.
 
Dargonk said:
Decent start from him for us. Nothing really fancy and never really needed to do to much. You can see he is going to easily dominate the midfield in the air, which is a bonus and should help us win the ball back easily at times and limit that long ball out ball.
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Just the kind of match you want to bring on a new signing, experienced or otherwise. Looked all right to me. Nice chest down and shot that, with a wee bit more power, would have beaten the keeper.
 
Doesn't look like he'll be making himself anymore available for our defenders to pass to than Cleverley or Anderson from the looks of it, which I suppose is to be expected but a bit of a problem running through our central midfield IMO. If ever a team dedicates a player to stop Carrick playing (like we did with Welbeck and Alonso) we'll struggle.
 
noodlehair said:
He did well but Palace were terrible.

Why would anyone be surprised that he has a good touch and can keep possession? That's half the reason why we bought him for feck sake. Are there people who actually think Everton only used him as a target man?
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SER19 said:
i can say without a shadow of a doubt that there are people who think that
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:lol:
 
Fergus' son said:
Doesn't look like he'll be making himself anymore available for our defenders to pass to than Cleverley or Anderson from the looks of it, which I suppose is to be expected but a bit of a problem running through our central midfield IMO. If ever a team dedicates a player to stop Carrick playing (like we did with Welbeck and Alonso) we'll struggle.
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One game, not even 90 min and you can already imagine his future availability for passes ????
 
Fergus' son said:
Doesn't look like he'll be making himself anymore available for our defenders to pass to than Cleverley or Anderson from the looks of it, which I suppose is to be expected but a bit of a problem running through our central midfield IMO. If ever a team dedicates a player to stop Carrick playing (like we did with Welbeck and Alonso) we'll struggle.
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Really?
I thought he offered himself lots.. 49 touches, 1 more than Anderson yet he played half the minutes, and 50% of Carrick's yet again playing 1/3rd of the minutes.
In terms of passes, he made 46, 7 more than Anderson and more than half of what Carrick played (80).
Of course, his minutes all came against 10 men - but he definitely offered himself and got on the ball a good amount.

100% (4/4) Long ball accuracy. 89% accuracy overall with passing (a failed through ball and 2 headers lost making most of the 11% failure).

What's the site which shows peoples positions and the passes they played?

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/71...ue-2013-2014-Manchester-United-Crystal-Palace
 
Alock1 said:
Really?
I thought he offered himself lots.. 49 touches, 1 more than Anderson yet he played half the minutes, and 50% of Carrick's yet again playing 1/3rd of the minutes.
In terms of passes, he made 46, 7 more than Anderson and more than half of what Carrick played (80).
Of course, his minutes all came against 10 men - but he definitely offered himself and got on the ball a good amount.

100% (4/4) Long ball accuracy. 89% accuracy overall with passing (a failed through ball and 2 headers lost making most of the 11% failure).

What's the site which shows peoples positions and the passes they played?

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/71...ue-2013-2014-Manchester-United-Crystal-Palace
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Thanks for those stats.

Perhaps I was wrong, but I don't think he is as comfortable in possession as Cleverley, though he is stronger on the ball. Really hope you're right and Rio/Vidic will be comfortable passing the ball to him in tight midfield areas rather than opting for the hoof.
 
A spine of Vidic, Fellaini and Van Persie. Three nasty cnuts fouling and elbowing people on the pitch. Good stuff and a better option than Anderson or Cleverley if miles overpriced.
 
Dargonk said:
Decent start from him for us. Nothing really fancy and never really needed to do to much. You can see he is going to easily dominate the midfield in the air, which is a bonus and should help us win the ball back easily at times and limit that long ball out ball.
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Anybody expecting a 'fancy' player to step out at Old Trafford today really doesn't have a clue. That's no jibe at Fellaini either, as he obviously wasn't bought to be fancy. He keeps thing simple and did well today, regardless of the opposition. Could have easily scored twice too.
 
sullydnl said:
To be fair it was hardly the most challenging game. I'll be convinced when he does it in big games or when he comes up against the teams that usually run through our midfield.
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Well yeah, I'm not sure he's good enough but think he was worth going for and giving a chance, and think he'll be a big help for Carrick.

But, he's always been comfortable on the ball and he's always been a decent passer. He had a great season last year playing in midfield, doing midfield things that midfielders do. It's hardly a revelation. It's the reason we've bloody bought him! He hasn't even been used as a target man by Everton all that often, at all...In fact the only time I can really remember him being effective in that kind of role was against Manchester United.
 
Shark22 said:
Anybody expecting a 'fancy' player to step out at Old Trafford today really doesn't have a clue. That's no jibe at Fellaini either, as he obviously wasn't bought to be fancy. He keeps thing simple and did well today, regardless of the opposition. Could have easily scored twice too.
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I didn't mean it in that way. More a kept things simply and did his job without doing anything else or putting his mark on the game
 
Fergus' son said:
Doesn't look like he'll be making himself anymore available for our defenders to pass to than Cleverley or Anderson from the looks of it, which I suppose is to be expected but a bit of a problem running through our central midfield IMO. If ever a team dedicates a player to stop Carrick playing (like we did with Welbeck and Alonso) we'll struggle.
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I'm with alock, I thought it was noticable how often he was trying to take the ball off the centrebacks. He didn't seem to mind taking it when he was being pressed in that area either. It helped quite a bit I thought (until Vidic went into refuse to pass the ball to anyone other than De Gea mode in the last few minutes).

He didn't do anything special with the ball but he had no problem playng it forwards when the pass was available. He probably needs to play against a few less tame opponents before we get a real idea of what his role will be. It looked today like he was doing the defensive/buld from the back part of Carrick's job which could prove useful if it allows Carrick to be more adventurous.
 
marjen said:
Keano's greatest asset: Not letting anyone drop their performance lever for a single second. His mentality towards winning was unrivalled by anyone I've seen in a United-shirt.
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Let's hope Fellaini has been studying and learning carefully. Would you argue with a bollocking from that hair?
 
I was impressed today. He won the ball in the air. He won tackles. None of our other midfielders really do that. I think he will be a beast for us.
 
A small thing I noticed today was Fellaini dropping deep to receive the ball, this allowed Carrick to push further up the pitch before receiving the ball.
 
I liked his performance. Id like to see how he deals with midfields that press us but to be fair we don't respond to that well as a unit. Even Carrick tends to struggle in those situations.

It was jus great to see us play with two proper established central midfielders instead of Carrick and one bloke who is still learning the trade. And I loved how physically imposing he was. We have no one similar in midfield. He's going to do well for us.
 
Obviously not the best game to judge him on but he was good as if not better than anyone who started. Will obviously need better opposition to give him a real analysis but looks like he can pick a pass out and he'll venture forward from time to time.

That volley would've been a great way to kick things off had it gone in.
 
Only criticism I have of him today is that he looked a bit slow. Doesn't seem the most mobile of players.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
Only criticism I have of him today is that he looked a bit slow. Doesn't seem the most mobile of players.
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Harsh to be critical of something he has no control over. I'd say he IS very mobile without being extremely quick. He's not got genuine pace but he gets around the pitch very easily.
 
Love the fact that players seem to bounce off him when they collide. Not to mention how many headers he was able to win and divert to our attacking players. He seems to have a good range of passing too but of course there was barely any pressure from crystal palace at that point. You can already tell that he is going to improve our midfield and more importantly provide an alternative to Carrick in case he needs a rest.
 
I'm just glad we don't have to play against him any more. That performance against us at the start of last season was probably one of the most dominant displays I've seen against a United team. He just absolutely shat on us throughout the entire game, it was shocking.
 
KingEric7 said:
I'm just glad we don't have to play against him any more. That performance against us at the start of last season was probably one of the most dominant displays I've seen against. He just absolutely shat on us throughout the entire game, it was shocking.
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Man amongst boys was what came to mind.
 
KingEric7 said:
I'm just glad we don't have to play against him any more. That performance against us at the start of last season was probably one of the most dominant displays I've seen against a United team. He just absolutely shat on us throughout the entire game, it was shocking.
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Worth noting that Fergie learnt from that game. In the next one we put Jones on him and barely saw him all match and won comfortably.

But I agree, it's always nice to have one of those irritating-as-feck-to-play-against guys on our side.
 
Encouraging. He did the simple things well and looked to keep it safe and solid. Now I'd like to see him against a decent team with 11 people on the pitch.
 
Kept it simple which was what was required, especially on his debut it was important to keep calm and composed and not make silly mistakes. He won the ball efficiently, his passes were good - he is never going to be a creative playmaker but a lot of people here have easily underrated his technical ability, and he demonstrated his strength more than once to protect the ball.

Again, I feel a partnership of him and Carrick is extremely well balanced whilst also allowing us to accomodate a more attacking minded front four (RVP, Rooney, Kagawa and Nani would be my choice) as he is capable defensively, but we can also push him forward to become a threat from set pieces.

Always said he would be a good signing - we overpaid for him, but that is irrelevant now.
 
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