Okay, he was 'useless' then, as opposed to 'lazy' in that particular game.
Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
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Okay, he was 'useless' then, as opposed to 'lazy' in that particular game.
I don't know about that, Shaktar scored not long after he went off.
Actually we've been pretty good in that match, we've kept the midfield and their players away from us, Fellaini was integral part of our midfield then and he was far away from useless.
Exactly. He was average on the ball, despite having a high passing accuracy, but ultimately he was really good defensively at closing space down.
Southampton also scored only after he went off (and barely troubled De Gea while he was on the pitch) - he's been poor on the ball but has screened the defence pretty well in a couple of games.
Ando out, New Man in leaves us with Carrick, Cleverley, Fellaini and New Man. I'm thinking New Man and Carrick as the main pairing, Cleverley and Fellaini as back-up next season (or possibly as early as January). I'm presupposing, of course, that New Man is a top class player - the one we were meant to get in this summer in addition to Fellaini.
A deer in the headlights at the moments. He's not even elbowing anyone. Needs to learn our system and players better and needs to get a defined role from Moyes. It will take time. Fellaini is good enough to make it here. What his role will be we still don't know and Moyes probably still doesn't know.
This is my point, you seemed to imply there would be 'new man x2', as you said Moyes had apparently mentioned post-Fellaini signing. I can't see how we can now get more than one 'new man'. On the basis that this team/squad needed two new men to come in and actually really contribute, and one of those spots has now seemingly gone to Fellaini - he need to step it up, seeing as, with a £28m outlay, we will unlikely sign two more new men in midfield now. If we do, then we will probably sell someone in addition to Anderson.
what are you on about? We dont need 2 more midfielders - Carrick, Fellaini, Cleverley and one more signing is enough - Anderson can go and Giggs will retire. Powell will also come into the squad next season.
The thing is with me, I'm biased where Fellaini is concerned. I never wanted us to sign him, and I've never thought he was good enough to fit in our midfield. It seemed to me that David Moyes thought so too considering how late we got him in. I'm hoping he proves me wrong though as we need someone who can bully opposition midfielders.
Regardless of how late we got him, there's absolutely no way Moyes would have bought him if he didn't think he was good enough. If David Moyes spent £27m on a player he didn't think was good enough for Man Utd then we may as well just resign ourselves to relegation now cause our manager probably has no brain.
Maybe last resort would have been a better choice of words. That was what it seemed like to me.
We needed two more midfielders. We now have bought one, in Fellaini. So far, that has not altered our need for two midfielders, although is likely to restrict us from buying a further two. Therefore, I hope he improves dramatically, as we will likely only get one more whether he does or not.
Well, that was poorly worded on my part: He mentioned "a couple" before the Fellaini signing (which to me implies a major signing and Fellaini as the second one, given who we went for this summer). There was also a piece in The Times recently where a "source" claimed he was still looking for a couple. One may take that as one pleases, but if he is indeed on the hunt for two midfielders in addition to what we have, we could be talking about New Man 1 (the big signing) and New Man 2, who may be an up and coming player of some description, someone to challenge Cleverley perhaps. I'm only speculating here, but I don't think it's outrageous for us to keep five CMs in the squad. Carrick is getting older, after all. Powell, as mentioned above, could be another candidate for New Man 2, for that matter. Moyes may prefer to give him a place in the rotation rather than buying anyone.
Anyway, I agree with Rood: If we can sport Carrick, New Man, Fellaini and Cleverley, we're better off in that department than we've been in a long, long time. And there would still be room for one more, actually. Let's say this New Man 2 is someone who can properly challenge Cleverley/Fellaini - that can't hurt us.
We're overloaded at the moment in terms of wingers and strikers - not in terms of central midfielders.
he was very good against leverkusen. there was so much promise all round about how we'd kick on from there with van persie, rooney, valencia all looking great and the middle 2 fantastic. city hammering us has yet again had a huge knock on effect.
ive a feeling we'll embark on a nice winning run soon and the performances will improve with each win. i hope that includes fellaini individually also.
ive a feeling we'll embark on a nice winning run soon and the performances will improve with each win. i hope that includes fellaini individually also.
Yeah - not to say it would imply he's positively deranged. He wanted him alright and he thinks he's good enough for United, obviously. The question is good enough for what particular role and purpose - as always. And my conviction is that Fellaini was meant to be the "other", less impressive CM signing - which would've put him in a very different light IF the master plan had come to fruition.
Would still be an odd last resort, as he could have gotten better players both earlier or on deadline day as a last resort. De Rossi was available for about £10m. We seemed to prioritise Fellaini over others. I don't think he featured as low on our list as many are implying. His signing demonstrated we had big money to spend. Tottenham signed two central midfielders for one third and two thirds of his price, respectively, who are likely to have done at least as good a job.
Fellaini was a wanted man by Moyes, to the extent that he wasn't even scared off by his clause expiring.
Berbatov had every chance to make it here, but he just couldn't find that extra gear he required.
To say though it was obvious from the start is ludicrous, he was immensely talented.
It's because he never had that extra gear......He just didn't fit from the start.....amazing player with great attitude but he slowed our attack down.....he could do things that no one else in the team could do but like Veron he just didn't fit....I think it was obvious to most fans from the start that he was slowing down the attacks and he was likened to Veron in all the papers after his first couple of games here
But his fee suggested he was meant to be more of a main man. We were probably in need of a £30m-£40m midfielder, and the 'less impressive one' did not need to be another £30m one. If he was, then he would still be expected to be better than Fellaini.
A midfielder for what Fellaini cost, plus another one for about £10-£15m would have sufficed. Even then, I must confess that I would still hope the £10m-£15m midfielder was better than Fellaini. I mean, we could have easily picked up Kevin Strootman for example, for about £15m, and gone after a marquee. if we failed to land the bigger name, it is still no reason to waste £30m on someone not intended to perform a significant role.
Yes it has - you are just being ridiculously negative about Fellaini. Fair enough he hasnt set the world alight but to try and claim that we are no better off in midfield than at the start of the summer is idiotic.
I'm not buying that to be honest. We could have spent big money on better players earlier in the window. Moyes could have bought Fellaini earlier than he did but didn't. That to me says he was after other options and Fellaini was plan B or even C. De Rossi has already said he didn't want to leave Roma.
No, you are being unecessarily positive about him. I accept that it is early days, but what use did we have for a midfielder to come in and perform badly? All Fellaini has added is a 'body' at this stage. Anderson has barely featured because of his arrival, and so far, he has not performed at a level that is above Anderson's - so no, as it stands our midfield is the same as it was at the start of the summer. To saythe Fellaini has improved it so far is the idiotic declaration.
De Rossi said that he considered leaving Roma for the first time this summer. I believe his words were along the lines of 'I thought maybe it was the right time to go. For the first time, I asked Roma to listen to any offers'. He changed his mind after a supercup defeat to Lazio or something, saying he couldn't leave with that as his last game. His manager also said we came in 'too late' to do a deal.
Again, this indicated we were happy to let that deadline pass while we pursued Fellaini.
Well I think he has - it is clear that you have an extreme negative view.
Fellaini has been average while in posession, but he has improved us defensively in midfield - you just have to look at the Shaktar and Southampton matches, when we were 1 up and looking pretty comfortable until he went off - then went on to conceed and twice draw matches we were winning.
He does need to improve though and I think he will as it is early days and he has shown far more in the past.
I think I must be the only one here who is seeing a constant stream of 'this player doesn't fit with Carrick, we need this player to fit with Carrick, we need to buy another player and move this player to fit with Carrick, this player doesn't go with Carrick'.... It's painting a bit of a damning picture in a light a lot of people don't want to see.
I still think Fellaini would partner well with Cleverley if given the defensive role and the general freedom to mix it up with the mobility side of Cleverley's role that Carrick just doesn't have.
I still think Fellaini would partner well with Cleverley if given the defensive role and the general freedom to mix it up with the mobility side of Cleverley's role that Carrick just doesn't have.
Christ on a bike you've had a massive shocker there. Have a lie down.
That's a silly thing to suggest, no? Carrick definitely isn't the problem, if that's what you're alluding to.
I actually think Cleverley works well with Carrick just don't think Cleverley is a top, top CM.
We seem to be going through a feck of a lot of midfielders trying to find one who will partner him. It's also been tested when he was out a couple of seasons ago that we have more mobility and create more in the center (more goals) when he's not there. I'm not going to come right out and say it but it paints a vivid picture none the less.
He's by far our best option in the middle, obviously, so in that sense he certainly isn't the problem. But he is not a youngster anymore. If we're looking at a quartet of CMs going into next season - Carrick, Fellaini, New Man and Cleverley - those other three shouldn't be judged solely on how well they fit the part of Carrick's sidekick. I think that is the point here. Fellaini's best role for us may not be as Carrick's sidekick - but rather as a foil for someone else.
A feck of a lot of midfielders? That would be when we didn't buy one for 6 years and spent periods with the likes of Jones playing there. Fellaini's a much better player than he's shown so far but I'm not sure we can get away with 2 players who are as slow and as unlikely to create chances in our midfield.
Really? Cleverley is the perfect fit for him because he establishes a perfect balance between attacking and defensive duties. Even Scholes in the second half of 11/12 worked well with Carrick, which suggests that he isn't the problem. The problem is that when you have players like Carrick and Fellaini, you simply can't play them together regularly. You have to find players who complement them. More importantly, you have forgotten that Cleverley and Anderson left us defensively vulnerable. They did not have enough discipline. Besides, regardless of mobility, in a 4-4-2, you're always going to have someone who "sits".
GIVEMESPORT ~ Marouane Fellaini: 'I can replace Paul Scholes'
In fairness to Fellaini what he actually says is:
Very bullish though. Hopefully that translated onto the pitch and doesn't end up with him being crushed by his own words like when he said he thought he could be like Roy Keane...
In fairness to Fellaini what he actually says is:
Very bullish though. Hopefully that translated onto the pitch and doesn't end up with him being crushed by his own words like when he said he thought he could be like Roy Keane...
I wish I shared your optimism...
Even the quote in the article is incorrectly translated. What he really said was this:
"Je ne remplace personne à Manchester United. J’essaie de jouer mon jeu. Pour l’instant c’est difficile mais je vais réussir".
"I don't replace anyone at Manchester United. I try to play my game. At the moment it's difficult, but I will succeed."
Bizarre how these media are incapable of even translating the simpelest of quotes.
Carrick has probably one or two seasons at the top level at the most. When that happens, we shouldn't be thinking about replacing Carrick, it'll be a new midfield consisting of two different types of players. It's the same years ago when people were obsessing with finding a Roy Keane replacement, and in the end we never had to anyway.
Fellaini's future could lie in replacing some of Carrick's defensive duties/qualities, while adding some new ones of his own. He's more physical, better aerial ability etc, and I think all these will come to the fore when he settles in properly. What he doesn't have is Carrick's range of passing, and ball-distribution and I think these responsibilities will be passed on the other midfielder, or spread to other players.
Some may say Cleverley is doing a better job partnering Carrick right now, but he's compromising his own natural attacking game just to fit in. He's dropping deeper and running a lot just to cover Carrick's deficiencies, and doing a pretty decent but not fantastic job at it. This may work against him when Carrick finally hangs up his boots, because he may have stunted his own development by then.
IMHO, whichever midfielder we sign next needs to be someone who can play alongside Fellaini in the long run, with Fellaini as a deep lying midfielder.
Fellaini's future could lie in replacing some of Carrick's defensive duties/qualities, while adding some new ones of his own. He's more physical, better aerial ability etc, and I think all these will come to the fore when he settles in properly. What he doesn't have is Carrick's range of passing, and ball-distribution and I think these responsibilities will be passed on the other midfielder, or spread to other players.
Some may say Cleverley is doing a better job partnering Carrick right now, but he's compromising his own natural attacking game just to fit in. He's dropping deeper and running a lot just to cover Carrick's deficiencies, and doing a pretty decent but not fantastic job at it. This may work against him when Carrick finally hangs up his boots, because he may have stunted his own development by then.
IMHO, whichever midfielder we sign next needs to be someone who can play alongside Fellaini in the long run, with Fellaini as a deep lying midfielder.
If Fellaini improves us defensively then eventually it should be clear in the stats. Right now it isn't. He's been on the pitch for just under 380 mins (that's equalivalent to 4 complete matches lasting 95 mins each) in all competitions during which time we've conceded 5 goals. Minus Fellaini we've conceded 10 in the equivalent of 9 matches. We've conceded soft goals from corners with him missing and also when he's been on the pitch; indeed his failure to stay with his man at a corner cost us a goal against City.
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