Indeed. I was looking forward to his return actually. He's had a horrible time of it so far.
Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
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Indeed. I was looking forward to his return actually. He's had a horrible time of it so far.
I agree with most of that post but the bit about Berba is just plain bollocks.
He can play a different role than that. I would like to see us use him in a 3 man midfield in some of the more difficult fixtures.
If we would get in a proper deep lying playmaker and an actual defensive midfielder, for example Carvalho and Rakitic we could play like this in some of the more difficult fixtures:
-------------Carvalho-------------------
-------Fellaini--------Rakitic-------
Mata---------RVP----------Rooney
With Mata and Rooney cutting inside, that or replace them with actual wingers
Against some of the smaller teams were we don't actually need to play with a real defensive midfielder, Fellaini can play in a two man midfield behind a number 10 (Mata or Rooney) toghter with a deep lying playmaker.
The best comparable player that fulfills this role is Carrick, he isn't really a playmaker, nor he is a real defensive midfielder but when in form he can be a heck of a usefull player.
If we don't bring in a deep lying midfielder in the summer, I hope Moyes has the sense to use Rooney for that role, he has all the qualities to play like that, but it shouldn't be stop and go, he should get the time to settle in that role.
That we should never have gotten him for £27.5m I agree with, that there were players beter suited to our current formation I also agree with. That Fellaini will never or could never be more than a sub for the number 10 and will never be United quality, I don't agree with. Nor that he is the worst transfer that we ever did.
I can't help thinking that a lot of the opinions about Fellaini only being able to play as some sort of combination target man/number 10 come from people who only ever watched him play against United and can only remember the previous season. Granted, that is where he played the last few times we played against him (and he was usually unplayable - one of the individuals we've found it most difficult to nullify in recent years) but he's played as a CM for club and country loads of times. He only got shoved up front at Everton because they lacked strikers. The fact he did a very good job playing in what is not his natural position shouldn't be held against him. It definitely shouldn't be used as evidence that it's all he's good for.
What is bollocks about it ?
He is our second most expensive signing after Mata and he has never been a vital player for us. We had to bring in RVP to get the player we wanted Berbatov to be.
He never played on the level he did at Tottenham here and he had 4 years time to settle in and prove himself. He is a quality player but not everything in the time revolved around him and he had to do alot of hard work in his position, he was seen as too lazy to actually do that and was often criticised because of it. The only decent season he had at this club was 2011, were he scored like 20 goals in the PL, hardly an amount worthy of a player that plays as a striker at a topclub and was our record transfer (before Mata).
He was sold to fullham because he never realised his potential and at fullham he never really set the world on fire either. Not being beter than a midtable player than. A classy one that score the odd screamer goals but not a guy that wins you silverware or that puts in worldclass performances game in game out. When spending £30m (definitely then when it was really seen as a massive purchase for us) I expect alot more !
A miserable and completley failed transfer, as simple as that. He should never have been here at United.
I just want to see him get a good clean 5+ game run so I can really see if he is genuinely useless and not good enough or if he's just struggled to settle and hasn't been fit since day one. I imagine it is the latter and I really hope it is too.
Berbatov was never worth 30m but he wasn't a complete failure, that's just absurd.
Very good post, it really puts things back into perspective however easy it is to dish out criticism.
Not at all. We wouldnt have won the title that season if not for Berba. His goals when Rooney was having a moan is what led us to the title.
Also, I simply dont get this bollocks about him not working hard or being lazy. He was never a crazy chaser or presser even when at Spurs yet we went ahead and bought him. Then we're blaming him for not doing something he's never done? Does that make sense?
Berbatov's body language has always been hated by fans, he always looks lazy but I honestly it's always been unfair to call him that. The direct comparison in terms of effort to a player like Rooney has always been unfair on him too.
He simply put, was the same when he was at Spurs. We then bought him and then proceeded to criticize him for doing what he always had done. Its ridiculous. If you want a striker that'l hassle defenders, buy one. All this buying players and then asking them to do things they don't do is one of the big problems with us.
Then we have people claiming Berba was nothing more than a mid table player. Madness. He never excelled here and given our style under sAF, it was no surprise. People just totally miss how the style of play of a team or a player's style is so critical to how he performs in a given setup. We're seeing something quite similar now with Kagawa. Unless we change, he'l be a top player that will simply be poor here.
I only agreed with the parts of his post regarding Fellaini, I agree with you regarding Berbatov.
Same here. Its only the Berba bit I dont agree with. The rest is spot on.
I assume it's because his best ever season he was played as a number 10 more often than not. Before last season in my opinion he was just a mid table midfielder who didn't really stand out in a mediocre team.
Imagine if Tiote had an amazing season at left back where he was the best full back in the league and we bought him for £27m. If we then played him in central midfield and expected a "£27m quality" central midfielder we'd be disappointed.
Just my $0.02.
He was 25 when we signed him though. You'd expect his best ever season to be his most recent one.
Anyway, even last season he was still playing as a CM for his national side and playing well, by all accounts.
Nope. Some people writting him off because they have seen him playing for 5 years and aren't convinced by him. I wasn't happy for this transfer similar to the transfer of Young for us, (or similar to being happy for Liverpool when they signed Downing). Not the worst signing ever, but a player who is seriously overpriced, lacks almost all the neccesarily attributes to become a top midfielder and wouldn't even hope to make the bench of European best teams. And hopefully becoming as good as them is our target.some people writing him off before he's played a game for us fully fit. My oh my.
Not in a foreign position I wouldn't. I'd expect him to have standed out as a central midfielder as that's apparently his natural position and where he wants to play.
Again I think the Tiote comparison is quite a good one. A midtable destroyer who would be decent backup at a top team. Not worth £15m+ and not bought as a first choice.
Although I am aware that a lot of people rate him higher than this so hopefully I've just seen him on 10-15 of his average CM performances. I saw a clip of a game vs Arsenal where he looked much better than this.
Can't say I've paid much attention to him at all, other than when we played against Everton (and he was a nightmare) and in games for Belgium since we signed him. I'm going mainly on the opinion of others but there was an Everton fan on here who is generally very sensible and he said Fellaini was great when he was played deeper, with a whole load of stats to back it up.
I also remember reading about one of his first games for Everton under Martinez when he had more touches of the ball than any other player in the PL that weekend. One of the journos on Football Weekly (one of the sensible ones) said he was magnificent in that game. He's been generally pants for United but the first half against Everton was very encouraging. Ditto one of the CL games (can't remember which one) With a bit more fitness and confidence I don't see why he can't be a very good signing.
I think we all have our fingers crossed! Christ knows we need a consistently competent central midfielder. It'd be a fairytale if he put in a host of quality performances in the run in that was the difference between 4th and 5th.
Paint me cynical though.
He was very good atgainst Everton in the first half. If he can play at that level consistently he would be a decent backup choice (assuming that we eventually sign some good midfielders).
On CL he was good in the game you are mentioning but made 9 fouls or so which eventually resulted with him getting send off in the last minute of the match.
Nope. Wasn't that game. Was another one. The first one against Bayer?
Well RVP also never was a crazy chaser or presser when he was at Arsenal, yet he works perfectly fine here at United and he is never criticised for being lazy. Berbatov just looked at times like he couldn't be arsed if the ball wasn't in his area of play. He was a quality finisher and he had a majestic technique, but its not enough as a topclass player, it may have been enough at Tottenham but it isn't at Manchester United.
As I said RVP was brought in as the player Ferguson expected Berbatov to be. His allround game and contribution was overestimated when we purchased him and he never should have been our record transfer buy. I have nothing against the person of Berbatov, but he didn't fit here at United and alot of people overhyped his ability, he really isn't amongst the top strikers and we should never have purchased him £30m, that is why I list him as a failure transfer. He just never produced what was expected of him and that makes signing him for £30m a bad transfer. Doesn't mean Berbatov is a bad player, Kagawa isn't a bad player either, just not what we need and hence a transfer that didn't work out.
Many people are already saying Fellaini won't work out aswell, I'am just saying its too soon to say that. Just like with Berbatov we need give him a fair chance to prove himself, which he hasn't been given. He might be a potential bad signing, but he definitely isn't a failure yet, its too soon too talk about failure and even if he doesn't prove to be a £27.5m player for us, it doesn't make him our worst signing, Berbatov also didn't prove to be a £30m signing for us. Hence why I took him as an example of a transfer that has been far worse (or potentially equally worse).
I didn't thought that he played that well in that game (against Socidedad bar the silly fouls he was realy good) but it looks that a lot of players (here) thought that he played well against Leverkusen.
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/mom-vs-bayer-leverkusen-cl-18-sept-2013.377124/
He is been selected by many posters in top 3 players in that thread.
Top scorer in the PL and was the main reason for us winning the PL that year, scored vital goals and would probably have secured us another PL title if he was not put on the bench for a not to great Welbeck. For me, he was great.
In the right setup, I.e narrow formation with quick aggressive pressing, fellaini would be a useful weapon for us from midfield. We need to change our style though, particularly to get the best out of fellaini, kagawa and mata. And it would be worth it as well.
That's going too far in the other direction.
And he was initially dropped in favour of Hernandez.
The other direction? What I said happened. How can it be anything other than great that when he made such contribution? He fell out of favour, but you can't blame him for that, it was certainly not for his efforts on the field. Anyhow, back to Fellaini.
I liked Berba, and he was good that season, but it's worth remembering that 11 of the 20 goals he scored in the league that season were scored in 3 games against Liverpool, Birmingham, and Blackburn. He also missed that sitter against City in the FA cup semi.
He should have had more chances the following season, but I can see why Fergie preferred Welbeck a lot of the time. Danny was playing well and scored some big goals for us.
You hope Fellaini pulls a 'modric' for us - he's got the size and has shown before he can score goals - teh question is can he do this from midfield rather than as a #10..
He scored nearly as many crucial goals as Hernandez, who was hailed for always scoring important goals.
The thing about Fellaini is that we would have to ask him to become the kind of midfielder he never has been, an attacking and creative midfielder. All footballers have IMHO the ability to evolve and grow into better footballers over time, but based on what we've seen Fellaini do over the last few seasons there's nothing in his game today today to suggest that he's got it in him to link up with skillful teammates to create scoring chances.
He's big and strong, physical and somewhat immobile. He's not nimble in tight spaces in midfield, although he is strangely nimble in tight spaces in the opponent's penalty box. It was ruled out for offside early in the season (it might have been the West Brom match), but he scored a lovely goal off a low Kagawa pass (fact check, please!) that would have salvaged a draw. During that 10-15 minute spell in that match Fellaini looked really good, and it was all in the last third.
But in the middle third he looks lost, content to chest the ball down and get rid of it as quickly as possible. What I was hoping we'd see from Fellaini is the drive that Ando had to bring the ball up the middle of the pitch over a 20-30 yard run. Early days, but we saw nothing like that from Fellain in his 8 game run before his injury.
At this point it's best to give Fellaini the benefit of all doubts, but he's going to have to do more than what he seemed content to do in that 8 game run.
Well that's just a kick in the balls. feck sakes.
I was actually looking forward to him being back too. 
We've finally replaced Hargreaves!!!
Injured again, extremely frustrating. Looks like this season will pass him by at this rate.
Yeah, that's a fair point. I just don't think he was so good that dropping him, to give Welbeck and Hernandez more game time, was such a bad move the following season. We did win 9 more points and score 11 more goals in the league.
Prospects for next season don't look that bright either, assuming a high profile central midfielder arrives, leaving a lot of players competing for one place. When Carrick finally retires or moves on, there may be a suitable opening for Fellaini; that's if Moyes is still in charge.
Where in the name of all that is holy is Fellaini?
He had various injuries, then was on the bench last night. He'll play against Palace at some point.
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