Nope. Fellaini vs Leverkusen was better than Jones' performance vs Liverpool.
Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
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Nope. Fellaini vs Leverkusen was better than Jones' performance vs Liverpool.
He really didn't often play in a midfield two for Everton last season at all he played the vast majority of their games behind the striker.
Also for Belgium it seems he plays mostly in a midfield three in the system they use.
Fellaini was good in the first half of that game but very poor in the second and was rightly subbed off after getting disposed often.
I agree that Carrick is great at it, just wanted to show that maybe Fellaini's weakness isn't the end of the world as Carrick is even weaker in that particular regard. I don't have a problem as long as our opponents has to run around Carrick/Fellaini and can't run straight through. It is why I compared Fellaini with Carrick in the stats because defensively Fellaini had a better game last night than Carrick.
I mean everybody knows Fellaini has a really weak range of passing. He has very solid short-medium passes but he can't for his life make a cross-ball over the entire pitch nor find a through-ball behind the defense from the midfield line. It just screams for an offensive midfielder in front of them and not a second striker in Rooney.
I have no real interest in international football, so couldn't possibly comment. That said, I've watched more than my fair share of PL football to comment. At points last season, Everton were playing Neville, Osman and Gibson as part of a double pivot. Fellaini frequently played higher.
Hopefully Moyes will recognise this, and hopefully he'll show some cojones to make the all-important tactical switch.
The more he plays the more I start to dislike him.
He's not good enough by far, but he isn't what cost us the game yesterday. Taking him off left one actual CM on the pitch and it pushed us further and further back. He might have been poor but he was helping share the midfield burden with Carrick and he actually managed the same number of passes as Carrick did despite playing 15 mins or so less. The midfield was worse when he came off and I'm no Fellaini fan.
The buck stops with Moyes for this signing, not the players fault if he's not good enough.
He looks like Jones does when he plays midfield, devoid of positional sense and just wanders. We've signed a player who can only be afforded such a style in a midfield 3.
Impatience on a new signing here is startling.
When we signed Carrick, all of us were expecting a Roy Keane and everyone got pissed off at Carrick for not running around tackling or controlling the whole game or scoring more goals. It did take time to catch up on what our plans with Carrick were and how he was to fit in.
We should atleast wait for a season to see how it unfolds with Felliani, it could be just that both as a fans we are not aware of what his role is going to be and he is still getting accustomed to it.
When we signed Carrick, all of us were expecting a Roy Keane and everyone got pissed off at Carrick for not running around tackling or controlling the whole game or scoring more goals. It did take time to catch up on what our plans with Carrick were and how he was to fit in.
We should atleast wait for a season to see how it unfolds with Felliani, it could be just that both as a fans we are not aware of what his role is going to be and he is still getting accustomed to it.
Carrick was a lot better than this. Fellaini can't move, can't pass and can't defend. They dribbled him for fun yesterday as he wasn't there, he was even worse than against Shakhtar.
I was against the signing from the start, and I still can't believe Moyes spent 30m on this lump.
I was against the signing from the start, and I still can't believe Moyes spent 30m on this lump.
Agree on the first point, but Carrick was really good in 06/07 and I don't remember many complaints about him at all. Of course, he did have Paul Scholes at his peak alongside him, which unfortunately, Fellaini does not.
He always plays in a three-man midfield. Usually together with Witsel and Defour/Dembele. It's difficult to judge a player by performances in his national team in my opinion, but for Belgium, he usually plays ok. Strong, good in recuperation and provides a good supply for the wingers De Bruyne and Hazard.
But then I actually don't think he's playing that badly for United as some are making out. Especially yesterday I certainly didn't think he was playing worse than the most of the other players. Things also started going wrong when he was taken off. Many people are taking him as a scapegoat for United's problems now. I understand that people are disappointed by the lack of transfers this summer and Fellaini is not the real solution for United's problems (nor was he meant to be I think when Moyes bought him) but the criticism is way over the top.
I don't understand it, we knew we were getting a passer of the ball with Carrick, surely everyone did too? It's like some United fans don't know who a player is or what he is like until he joins United. I had certainly seen enough of Carrick at West Ham and Spurs to know he'd be a hit here.
The most worrying part of the Fellaini thing is that his best position is clearly where Everton played him, off the main striker with balls hit to him and playing to his strengths. He just can't move enough to play in midfield.
He wasn't terrible or anything but simply he didn't defend that well and he wasn't really contributing offensively. Exact same problem as Clev even if they approach the game differently. Carrick shouldn't have to be chief defender and chief instigator of moves in the middle but at the moment bar the odd flash/game from someone he has to be.
I can't decide which was the bigger mistake of the summer, signing this talentless lump or passing up the chance to sign Ozil.
In a weird way I take how inept he's been at times as a positive. He looks genuinely lost at times in a way that I never saw him do at Everton, where he always had the demeanor of somebody who's bossing it. Which give me hope that he's got more to give if he can get settled and adjust to the role. He's no Fagregas, granted, but I'm sure he's a better player than we've seen so far.
He was.
The thing is, he just looks so so out of place in the United team. Its all good and well saying he needs time to settle, or he needs to gel with his team mates, but no amount of settling or gelling is going to make up for the fact that he's just not a very good footballer. He can't tackle, he can't track runners, he gets pushed off the ball with ease (bizarre for such a big lad), he's unbelievably slow, he has the turning circle of an oil tanker, he doesn't dribble, his shooting is average, he can't pass beyond 10 yards. He's basically everything all the naysayers said, and that the rest of us tried to ignore, which is just a big lump that can win headers and chest the ball down.
And the really really sad thing?....We're completely stuck with him now.
And the really really sad thing?....We're completely stuck with him now.
The technical deficit was to be expected, in all honesty. We all knew that he wasn't the silkiest operator having seen him at Everton for years. What's harder to swallow is that he's playing like a complete soft touch at the moment. The shirt seems to be weighing very heavily on his shoulders at the moment, and he's lost that imposing presence he had at Everton.
Its actually pathetic how easily he's letting people dribble or walk past him. Or how easily players are bullying him off the ball. His effort is appalling too. Just strolling around half arsed most of the time.
I actually hate him already.
The way Schneiderlin just sauntered past him yesterday in the 2nd half was a fecking joke.
Schneiderlin actually looked a class apart from Fellaini yesterday.
Ive been saying postive things about Morgan Schneiderlin fo at least two years now. :-)
Do you have any idea how much you sound like your posting on a Justin Beiber forum?
You do realise that when I say I hate him, I obviously don't mean Fellaini the person, but Fellaini the footballer?
So to be clear, you're not going to self harm over this?
I'm hoping nerves have gotten to him and he'll eventually find his feet, or rather his big fecking stupid head.
Ah, well I suppose that's an appropriate standard to judge a £27.5m signing. And to be fair, he was terrible anyway. For years we keep banging on about not finding the players who can improve us, and this is the best we come up with. A player who cannot control or pass the ball, with no mobility at all. Paulinho went for £17m, has all the excuses of being 'new, settling' etc, and has looked light years ahead of Fellaini. The club that signed him also got Sandro and Dembele in recent years just to take the piss further.
They way everything kept breaking down with Fellaini yesterday made it clear to me that we did not even necessarily need a 'great' player in his place. I believe a merely competent one would have done.
I will confess that I was not adverse to his signing per se, although it was strictly on the premise that he was one of at least two midfielders, with his role being a mere screening one when needed. I mean, to think we prioritised him over a player of De Rossi's ability and pedigree, not to mention for about £10m too - smacks of stupidity on the part of Moyes.
Even his short passes are wayward and bounce all over the place.
Fellaini is that. He underperformed. He's out of sorts at the moment, lacking in confidence. What we saw yesterday is not his true level. The lad has largely been playing below his standard. There's no reason to conclude all manner of doom and misfortune on the basis of his bottom level.
And there's no evidence that Moyes prioritized him over De Rossi or anyone else. All we know is that Moyes wanted a couple of CM signings - and that Fellaini was one of them. Given we were in for the likes of Fabregas, I think we can safely conclude Fellaini was not Moyes' number one target. Someone fecked up, the business was not sorted as planned - that's the long and short of it.
Dogshit
Well hopefully he improves.
Rudi Garcia's comments that we came in for De Rossi too late (on deadline day) indicates to me that Fellaini was a bigger priority. If he had been pursued with the same vigour as Fellaini, then I imagine we would not have been too late. Perhaps Moyes could have wanted 'a couple of CMs', with one of them definitely being De Rossi, as opposed to 'Fellaini plus one'.
He was poor against Southampton, there's no denying that, however I think he will come good for us sooner rather than later.
On a side note, I still believe that we should have gone in for Dembele when we had a chance, he's quality. Spurs have so many good midfield options it makes me slightly sick.
Well, according to De Rossi himself that deal wasn't likely anyway - I doubt we would've gotten him regardless of the timing. But regarding priorities I maintain that the likeliest scenario here is that Moyes had decided to bring Fellaini with him at an early stage - and that the reason we waited so long and ended up overpaying for him was that we insisted on this double deal with Baines for far too long. The main target was someone else: Fabregas, then Modric, then perhaps even De Rossi, yes. But Fellaini was not the first name - he was the easy and obvious target who ended up looking like a somewhat strange purchase because we didn't exactly handle the affair brilliantly. That's my take on it anyway. Moyes didn't get his man - and he knows it. He will be looking to buy a top class CM before too long.
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