Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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Could see him buzzing about twatting people while Kroos runs the show in a big CL game. Give it a few years...
 
You were the one that stated other teams in Europe have starters around his level. I was just pointing out that it is not true.

But they do and have done in the past.

How many appearances did Darren Fletcher get in our 08 CL/PL double? Or 09 when we got to the final? He was great for us, but he wouldn't have been able to get into the other teams starting 11s. Our system got the best out of him and he was effective for it.
 
But they do and have done in the past.

How many appearances did Darren Fletcher get in our 08 CL/PL double? Or 09 when we got to the final? He was great for us, but he wouldn't have been able to get into the other teams starting 11s. Our system got the best out of him and he was effective for it.

I am not that sure about that. Defensive minded players tend to be seriously overrated in the CAF. As I said before I used to pass a substantial number of my time in here defending Gattuso despite him being crucial for AC Milan and Italy CL/WC glory.
 


Match comp.

Do we think this is his best performance for us?


In this comp I've noticed thing that I've felt during match, another match where we're trying pressing as a team. Definitely something Moyes has added to our game but it isn't always working, no idea if it's players that are just not used to it yet or if it needs certain type of players on the pitch.

That 9:40 though :drool:
 
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That was grand, showed some nice touches and good passing as well as being an asset defensively. I really like him.
 
Cheers for the vid @MoneyMay.

I definitely think this was his best game in a United shirt so far. You can tell his confidence was up from the Palace game, where again, I thought he had a good game. Long may it continue.
 
He looks awkward on the ball, but in reality he's quite composed and can certainly pick a pass. Especially with his head. :p

I'm really pleased that he's starting to settle. I'd personally start him in every game possible from now until the end of the season. He's a massive improvement over what Cleverly has served up this season.
 
Fellaini was the pre-eminent figure. He had the most touches (98) and made the most passes (71) of anyone on the pitch. He was everywhere, covering 12.04km according to the Premier League tracking data. Again, that was more than anyone on either side. He was at the heart of things and gave his team a platform from which to play.
 
It was clearly Marouane's best performance for United, by a considerable distance.
 
It was clearly Marouane's best performance for United, by a considerable distance.

Definitely. People were bigging him up after the Palace game, but I thought he was average.

Looked like a different player today though, apart from his token dopey foul.
 
FittingIcyHyena.gif
 
If he keeps improving like he's been over the last couple of weeks, then he could become a good player for us
 
Haven't watched United in a few weeks due to moving to Spain and not having my life sorted yet. I take it he's playing well judging by the comments. My question is, genuinely well? Or, "better than he was, still fairly average but we're taking any small victory we can get nowadays" well?
 
Genuinely well. Best performance yet.

Although, I think the first 45 against Everton would be right up there but got forgotten about because of the result and the fact we got overrun towards the end of the game (which I put down to Fellaini's 40 year old partner in central midfield running out of legs, as much as anything else)
 
From seeing him this last two games, I think it's fairly apparent that the injuries were hampering him quite a lot at the start of the season... this weekend he looked like a player who is fully-fit and has some confidence about him.

Bigger tests coming up mind, so we'll see how he copes.
 
Being one of the minority who actually saw positives in his signing, i am so so happy that he has put in a couple of decent performances of late.
I thought he was the best player on the park on Saturday. He basically controlled the game. Bossed it. A few more performances like this and i will be able to say ''i told you so''

In all seriousness i think the realisation has now set in for him that he is a Man Utd player , which does effect some players. Until recently, i thought he has always played like someone who had won a competition to play for Man Utd. Now he is over that and has his injuries behind him, i look forward to see him reach a level of consitancy, which should keep some of the haters of his back.
 
Haven't watched United in a few weeks due to moving to Spain and not having my life sorted yet. I take it he's playing well judging by the comments. My question is, genuinely well? Or, "better than he was, still fairly average but we're taking any small victory we can get nowadays" well?

I thought he was good, and had a few little tricks and flicks (for example in the gif Theon posted above) that suggest he's getting back to the confidence of his Everton form. Racked up some pretty impressive stats both in possession and defensively whilst also looking good on the pitch, the odd clumsy tackle aside. Played a key part in the 3rd goal with the kind of 1 touch passing that his doubters claim he's entirely incapable of.

All in all, his best performance over the course of a whole game for us I'd say, and probably one of the best from any of our midfielders this year. Seems a completely different player since he's come back from injury, hopefully he can push on and play similarly against better opposition.
 
Very good from Fella in the last 2 games he's started. He's looked much more composed on the ball and always looks to get into the box when he can. Hoping he starts vs the Scouse as him & Carrick can actually dominate the scouse midfield.
 
Dare I say it, I thought he made more of a difference for us than Mata on the day.

Without a shadow of a doubt.

I think Mata's not quite clicking yet. Very early days for him, though.

Fellaini's been injured a lot but has been training with his new team mates for much longer than Mata and it shows.
 
I like him, he seems like a genuinely nice guy and he was ecstatic in the interviews after he had signed. Great presence on the field against Albion and debunked a myth or two about his technical ability and mobility.
 
All in all, his best performance over the course of a whole game for us I'd say, and probably one of the best from any of our midfielders this year. Seems a completely different player since he's come back from injury, hopefully he can push on and play similarly against better opposition.

Thought he did well. It's not surprising to me that he's improved after having the wrist problem seen to. Injuries affect concentration and disrupted concentration is never helpful when playing football.
 
People are so fickle haha 2 good games and they change their tune, if you didn't think he was a good player judging by his first games here where he hadn't settled and was injured, rather than 4 years of great play at Everton then you don't understand football.

Players need to be given a chance to settle in, glad he's shutting people up as it was always clear that he was atop player. People make their minds up so quickly nowadays.
 
Exactly. We dont need stats to see that he is a very mobile player. There are other "myths". The one about his 1st touch being similar to what you said about people looking at his size and making the determination that his 1st touch is average. He pulled off a number of quality 1st touch moves in the game. How he recieves the ball and his body shape in receiving are technically very good and his passing range is also better than he is given credit for. The weight on his passes is very nice as well, he often passes balls in to space for team mates to run on to and the weight of those passes make the football look seamless.

Indeed, he's actually a very good technical player and can pull off as many 'fancy flicks' as other players. I've said it before about him but because he's first and foremost a defensive minded CM he's less thought of. People will always fawn over attacking players because they're usually the people that do 'explosive' things rather than those like Fellaini.

I try and watch United as much as possible and you've looked a much more solid outfit when he is playing.
 
Genuinely well. Best performance yet.

Although, I think the first 45 against Everton would be right up there but got forgotten about because of the result and the fact we got overrun towards the end of the game (which I put down to Fellaini's 40 year old partner in central midfield running out of legs, as much as anything else)

Oi, I've got a 40 year old partner and she has great legs.

I don't really to be honest, I'm mid-twenties and single.
 
He's been pretty impressive his last two games for us, and sporadically earlier in the season. Currently I think he should be our first choice center midfielder along with Carrick. One thing I have noticed, and I'm probably just being picky, but he seems to be deferring to the more creative players quite a bit. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but he does seem very happy to just let Rooney or Mata take over the ball from him if they are near by. He does add a lot of stability to our side and his touch and footwork has been impressive as well. Those injuries early in the season must have been affecting him quite a bit because he has been a completely different player since he came back.
 
He played very well. I'm not sure how much of it is down to him playing well and how much is due to a trick our midfielders have been performing for a while by constantly turning in shocking performances, which then lowers the level needed for a good/great one.

I'm leaning towards it being a good performance by any level though. It was encouraging, but he will still need to improve in order to be good enough to be an undisputed regular I think.
 
I dont think there is anything wrong in deferring to the more creative players. I know you said it isnt necessarily a bad thing, I just wanted to underline that point. Seems like a sensible division of labour if he focuses at what he is best at and let's the Rooneys and Matas of this world do their thing.
 
After all the criticism he has had though it is important he puts in a similarly strong performance against Liverpool and in some of the other tougher games we have coming up. Playing well against Palace and West Brom is great but it isnt going to be enough to silence his critics for long.
 
I dont think there is anything wrong in deferring to the more creative players. I know you said it isnt necessarily a bad thing, I just wanted to underline that point. Seems like a sensible division of labour if he focuses at what he is best at and let's the Rooneys and Matas of this world do their thing.

I guess my only gripe with that is that I would like to see him be a little more expansive with his passing, ideally you want your center mid to be able to pick out a pass. For now though I think that's fine, he's slowly building up more confidence and hopefully we see that as he's given more game time.
 
I guess my only gripe with that is that I would like to see him be a little more expansive with his passing, ideally you want your center mid to be able to pick out a pass. For now though I think that's fine, he's slowly building up more confidence and hopefully we see that as he's given more game time.
Go and look at the highlights video moneymay did, there are some passes where he picked out nice channels to free up other players.
 
The anti-Fellaini brigade are fools. Not because they're wrong - because it's far too early to tell if they are right or not.

I've really enjoyed his performances in the last two games. Not perfect but there are some encouraging signs.
 
Dare I say it, I thought he made more of a diffe.rence for us than Mata on the day.

I have no doubt that Fellaini was probably more effective than Mata against West Brom, however, Mata, in my opinion, is the reason we have been keeping the ball so well of late. Although on paper Mata was on the right, with him being able to roam inside, it allowed us to have that extra body in the midfield for us, thus giving us more options off the ball.

With 65 passes, Mata was our 3rd highest passer, behind our two centre midfielders; Fellaini and Carrick.

It may not seem Mata is making a massive impact because he's not scoring or making many killer passes, but our style of play has changed since he's been in the side, in my opinion.
 
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