Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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NoArroJusBeta said:
There were alot of articles about it for months in 2012 and 2013 that Chelsea wanted him and that Arsenal wanted him has even been confirmed by Fellaini himself who declared to ESPN that he didn't want to join Arsenal because he preffered a move to Manchester United. (http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/252465.html). Don't be an idiot spouting things like could you ever imagine Wenger going fellaini, he went for him and he went for far worse players aswell in his time at Arsenal. Wenger is hardly the symbol of making smart transfer deals. if you refer to the fact Arsenal would never be looking for a physical player like Fellaini, well they signed Flamini as that type of player because they couldn't get Fellaini.

I also said none of them wanted to pay £27.5m for him while we ended up doing that because we messed up in the summer, if we wanted him we could have signed him for £7m less months before that, but we had the worst managed transfer summer in the history of transfer summers and we ended up losing out on everybody and panicked and signed Fellaini for a ridiculous fee. It is bad I agree, however doesn't mean the guy is useless and also doesn't mean no other teams were interested in him or wouldn't even go near him.

You people sorta make the connection in your head that United is doing worse now after signing Fellaini hence why Fellaini and every possible thing he does wrong or isn't ideal about him must be the cause of all the problems we are having at United right now. While actually it is the other way around and Fellaini is struggling and underperforming because he is playing football under less than ideal circumstances at a club that has like a million problems going on since SAF left. If things stabilise and he gets time and support he'll come good and he'll prove he isn't a useless player. However if you label him like that from the start and will take any stone you can throw at him, then how can he come good ?
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Oh yeah, a player is saying on The Sun that the entire world wanted him. Cool, I believe that.

Wenger never went for players who don't have any technique. Yes, Arsenal had worse players than Fellaini. But they never tried to spend a lot of money on players who have problems even controling the ball with the feet (he is good with the chest though). Wenger going for Fellaini doesn't make sense. Chelsea wanting to sign him but then non signing him because they thought that 20m is too much makes even less sense.

I don't think that it will matter at all how he will be treated from the fans. He will play as long as Moyes is here, and then get shipped ASAP when the new manager comes.
 
Reapersoul20 said:
Christ, I mean at least Fellaini has an excuse for playing shit; his first Manchester derby, his first season here, marred by injury, surrounded by shit and being played out left. The conclusion you have come to is completely and totally ridiculous.
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Well for one, it wasn't his first Manchester derby, for two the conclusion is not ridiculous - especially considering it's a conclusion that plenty of others have come to.

He got nowhere, near Toure - not only that, he wasn't even interested in getting near Toure. Not once. He just let him do whatever the hell he wanted. Carrick was basically asked to do the job of both him and Fellaini tonight - and yet you call that one of the worst performances in recent history? Really? (He was one of our few players who actually tried to launch attacks with adventurous passing - and was the only midfielder doing any form of decent defensive work - not that he had a good game or anything mind).

He put in half arsed tackles, ambled around the middle of the pitch (when he wasn't being high-up on the left wing for some bizarre reason), generally lacked the correct amount of effort required, and quite honestly was atrocious.

But no, everyone else must be basing this opinion on a per-conceived notion... the whole of the Stretford End must have been watching a different game for that matter too. Maybe you didn't see it that way, fine, but it's absolutely not totally ridiculous to think that he was our worst performer today - nor must that opinion be based on what people think about his transfer to us in the first place.

Not only that, but he should have been sent off - for elbowing someone for no apparent reason - when he was in possession of the sodding ball! That in itself should be a mark down on any performance.
 
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Mockney said:
fellaini-zabaleta.gif
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Just as I said he wants to forcefully push Zabaleta away using his elbow. Its goes completley bad because he holds his arm up to high, which happens to him because he is tall and it is more difficult to hold them down (he can't go sitting on his knees to do it now can he) definitley in the heat of the moment he has been struggling with this quite often. His intention (at least the way I see it) is to shield off Zabaleta not hit him in the head, the guy has big arms and he is clumsy and in the heat of the moment he ends up with his elbow in zabaleta his head making it look like he was deliberatly elbowing him.

I agree it deserved a red because Fellaini being big and clumsy doesn't excuse this, it is also no accident as he clearly sees Zabaleta coming. I don't agree with people saying it is an act of violence and he deserves a lenghty ban over it because it is accidental. He want to shove him, doesn't intend on hitting him in the head. If a smaller player does this he'll end up pushing Zaba away with his shoulder, maybay elow in the stomach and it is also a fault but nobody goes calling him a violent piece of scum. With Fellaini he is big and he doesn't control his arm width too well, hence why it ends it the face. Zaba is also making the most of it ofc, just look at the way he is falling, first holding his balance when it hits, then he feels the contact decides to go down and hold his nose (while Fellaini never hits him in the nose) acting like he has been butchered...
 
Revan said:
Oh yeah, a player is saying on The Sun that the entire world wanted him. Cool, I believe that.

Wenger never went for players who don't have any technique. Yes, Arsenal had worse players than Fellaini. But they never tried to spend a lot of money on players who have problems even controling the ball with the feet (he is good with the chest though). Wenger going for Fellaini doesn't make sense. Chelsea wanting to sign him but then non signing him because they thought that 20m is too much makes even less sense.

I don't think that it will matter at all how he will be treated from the fans. He will play as long as Moyes is here, and then get shipped ASAP when the new manager comes.
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Believe what you want, I know alot of Arsenal fans being excited about the prospect of signing him in the summer, I know there were alot of rumours in the summer and Fellaini said Arsenal wanted them and he refused them, after which they decided on landing Flamini as the power guy on the midfield. If you don't want to believe it because it fits your own story about nobody wanting Fellaini, than fine believe what you want to believe.
 
NoArroJusBeta said:
Just as I said he wants to forcefully push Zabaleta away using his elbow. Its goes completley bad because he holds his arm up to high, which happens to him because he is tall and it is more difficult to hold them down (he can't go sitting on his knees to do it now can he) definitley in the heat of the moment he has been struggling with this quite often. His intention (at least the way I see it) is to shield off Zabaleta not hit him in the head, the guy has big arms and he is clumsy and in the heat of the moment he ends up with his elbow in zabaleta his head making it look like he was deliberatly elbowing him.

I agree it deserved a red because Fellaini being big and clumsy doesn't excuse this, it is also no accident as he clearly sees Zabaleta coming. I don't agree with people saying it is an act of violence and he deserves a lenghty ban over it because it is accidental. He want to shove him, doesn't intend on hitting him in the head. If a smaller player does this he'll end up pushing Zaba away with his shoulder, maybay elow in the stomach and it is also a fault but nobody goes calling him a violent piece of scum. With Fellaini he is big and he doesn't control his arm width too well, hence why it ends it the face. Zaba is also making the most of it ofc, just look at the way he is falling, first holding his balance when it hits, then he feels the contact decides to go down and hold his nose (while Fellaini never hits him in the nose) acting like he has been butchered...
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The hell?? :lol:
 
NoArroJusBeta said:
Believe what you want, I know alot of Arsenal fans being excited about the prospect of signing him in the summer, I know there were alot of rumours in the summer and Fellaini said Arsenal wanted them and he refused them, after which they decided on landing Flamini as the power guy on the midfield. If you don't want to believe it because it fits your own story about nobody wanting Fellaini, than fine believe what you want to believe.
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It doesn't fit my story. It fits perfectly with everything we know about Wenger.

Unless you believe that Wenger wanted to completely transform his free flowing football with a lot of pointless short passes into a hoof the ball to Fellaini and then use him literally as a weapon to assault opponents, him trying to sign Fellaini it doesn't make sense. Then his release clause was relatively low on modern football, so if someone wanted to sign him, they would have signed him.
 
.Rossi said:
The hell?? :lol:
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What is so strange about it .

He wants to push hence why his elbow is sideways and not pointed towards his head, if he wanted to inflict damage you go elbow first to the head of the player you don't go shove him sideways with your arm...

Ofcourse he shouldn't do this on his head, but he doesn't want to hit him on the head he want to push him away he doesn't realise how high his arm is (as I said his elbow is a few inches higher than that off a normal height person and hence why its level with zaba his head) and accidentaly hits him in the head.

Just tell me one thing that isn't plausible about this...

Also look at when it impacts, he hits him on the neck/cheek and you can see Zaba still being balanced when the elbow/arm connects, a fraction later Zaba suddenly falls down (when he feels the contact) and when he hits the ground he feels his nose (while Fellaini never hit the nose). Why the feck does he fall down when he is still balanced and why the feck does he grab his nose when he was impacted on the neck or cheek ?

Its uncarefull, its wrong and it is red but it is not violent, it is accidental. He isn't looking to deliberatly hurt people or something like that.
 
All my fears of him when we were linked with him are being proved. Like anyone, he needs time but even his fans have to be honest, he is the furthest thing from a United player. I get embarrassed when I see him out there.
 
NoArroJusBeta said:
Its uncarefull, its wrong and it is red but it is not violent, it is accidental. He isn't looking to deliberatly hurt people or something like that.
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Fellaini is all elbows, always has been. I'm not calling him a bad person but on the pitch, he is a dog of a player and has been since I first saw him at Everton.
 
I don't think I've ever hated a player that plays for United as much as I do Fellaini. It literally hurts my soul watching him play for us. Not only is he a terribly useless, pointless and talentless lump....he's also a lazy, coward of a player.

He brings absolutely nothing to the team, nothing at all. I keep seeing people describe him as 'strong', but he's not. He's big and tall yes, but that doesn't automatically make him strong. He's constantly getting outmuscled by far smaller and physically less imposing players. He also regularly ducks out of any physical tackles, and now seems to have resorted to cowardly and pathetic attacks on other players. He's an absolute disgrace.

Not only does he have no real talent, defensively he can't tackle, can't mark, has no positional sense, is possibly the clumsiest player I've ever seen at United, and has the mobility of an oil tanker. While offensively he offers pretty much nothing unless the ball is in the air. Infact, the only real standout ability he has is that he can bring the ball down on his chest like no one else I've ever seen. If chest control from long punts forward was an ability that defined a player, he'd be the best in the world. Unfortunately, unless you play for Stoke, its pretty much pointless.

But the one thing that makes me absolutely lose my shit, that makes me go beyond not really liking him, to passionately hating him, is just how unbelievably lazy he is. He just casually saunters round the pitch, he jogs here and there, occasionally he'll put some effort in to get into the area, but once we lose the ball, he just watches as the opposition stream forward, while he just jogs back, as if he has all the time in the world. Its one thing to not be good enough technically, but its quite another to think you have the right to put in as minimal amount of effort as you can get away with. Berbatov, who was 10000x the player Fellaini is, did that, and couldn't get away with it. So god knows why Fellaini thinks its acceptable, especially as he's playing centre bloody midfield!

I hope the FA review that incident with Zabaletta and ban him for at least 3 games. Purely to take away Moyes' ability to select him.
 
Sam said:
He brings absolutely nothing to the team, nothing at all. I keep seeing people describe him as 'strong', but he's not. He's big and tall yes, but that doesn't automatically make him strong. He's constantly getting outmuscled by far smaller and physically less imposing players. He also regularly ducks out of any physical tackles, and now seems to have resorted to cowardly and pathetic attacks on other players. He's an absolute disgrace.
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This is one of the things that really gets to me. The least a player like Fellaini can be is a physical presence, he should be able to win a battle but he doesn't even have that in his locker and when you can't do that at Old Trafford, with his physical attributes, you simply are not cut out for the job.
 
Haven't watched the match but yea, judging from that gif he was lucky not to get sent off.

I for one like that somebody elbowed this fecking cnut Zabaleta though.
 
It was a terrible performance. Exposed his recent good games as flat-track bullying. Really disappointing.

Still think he might come good. Emphasis on might. So many other players in our squad are much better than we're seeing this season, the same could be true of Fellaini. Does anyone think he wouldn't even have competed with Clichy for that backpost header if he was playing full of the confidence he had in an Everton shirt?
 
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Pogue Mahone said:
It was a terrible performance. Exposed his recent good games as flat-track bullying. Really disappointing.

Still think he might come good. Emphasis on might. So many other players in our squad are much better than we're seeing this season, the same could be true of Fellaini. Does anyone think he wouldn't even have competed with Clichy for that backpost header if he was playing full of the confidence he had in an Everton shirt?
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That was shocking. I was like 'what the heck was he waiting there for?'. He was so much better in that everton system but here with our players, i don't just see it. He is not really infused into our kind of play and his attributes as i listed above doesn't help in that matter.
 
I will give him some slack on that back post header with Clichy. Not trying to sound better than any non players but any player will tell you those ones can be tricky to attack, when the defender is tracking back and has the flight of the ball, it's hard to know whether to get in front, challenge from behind etc. It was bad to see but I can sympathize with him a little there.

One thing that was unforgivable for me though, was on numerous occasions he was no more than 2-3 metres away from a City player moving slowly with the ball but because he wasn't goal side, he just ran along side not even attempting to challenge. He just thought, well there are players goal side, it's their job to defend. Liverpool against us won the ball so many times from behind, when we dwelled on the ball, they pounced from the blind side, they were hungry and that's something Fellaini isn't.
 
Fellaini a United player in one of the most important positions in the team just doesn't register with me.

My biggest gripe with Moyes.
 
that elbow to Zabaleta was retarded. After that yellow he was scared to get close to any City player which negated the whole point of playing him in the 1st place. I hate that with him in the team we are forced to play longballs. The best chance we created was Rafael's low cross which Rooney missed and Mata skied. To think he'll be around for years.
 
He had an average game with a stupid moment. No worse than the rest of the team.
 
Revan said:
For how long will Fellaini be here after Moyes get sacked. I guess between 1 and 10 days after the new manager comes. Terrible player who gets owned everytime we play a good team. He should have been sent off today in the first half. As awful as the guy who brought him here.
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Rodgers flogged Carroll immediately when he arrived at Anfield, the scousers weren't happy as he couldn't recruit a replacement, but Rodgers just knew he couldn't use such a useless lump like Carroll.

Moyes and Fellaini out in the summer would be fantastic, even if we didn't buy anyone I'd be happy.
 
Awful, awful player. Among the worst to ever play for United, and that's before even considering the crazy money we paid for him.

He's also a complete dickhead and looks to hurt other players frequently.

He was lucky to play for Everton, let alone United.
 
One of my fears when linked with him was his behavior and to see it out there was bad to see. I hate when playing, you come up against players who can't match it, so they need to resort to elbows.
 
Sadly this player has become the on pitch embodiment of the David Moyes management malaise. He looks somewhere approaching decent against the dross of the Premier League but put him in with a big hitter and he looks like a stickleback swimming with sharks.

His comedic appearance and ungainly movements only serve to compound the absurd and tragic hilarity of the position in which the club finds itself.

But by the orders of our dear leader we will stand by our man until the bitter bitter end.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
Awful, awful player. Among the worst to ever play for United, and that's before even considering the crazy money we paid for him.

He's also a complete dickhead and looks to hurt other players frequently.

He was lucky to play for Everton, let alone United.
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Everton having more fluidity is down to Fellaini leaving, and not Martinez being a genius.
 
Sultan said:
Everton having more fluidity is down to Fellaini leaving, and not Martinez being a genius.
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Yep, I said the same thing to Pogue a few months back.

Everton didn't win any of their opening three fixtures when Martinez was forced to play Fellaini. Their form picked up as soon as he shipped him out and replaced him with McCarthy.
 
My only saving grace with him is that he gets in a talented Belgium team. So he must be doing something right for them.

Any Belgium watchers? How does he play for them?
 
I was starting to change my mind on him in his past few games. Recently he has looked classy on the ball, sublime first touch and covered alot of ground. His passing and his defending have all been good.

Last night, he just looked so far away from the level required of him. I don't even think he was terrible, as he looks quite handy when we are in possession, but when not in possession he was sub-standard, immobile and looked like he didn't really give a shit, as he just sort of walked around whilst the opposing players he should be hounding happily had the ball, strolling through our midfield.

It wasn't just him either. Carrick, Ferdinand and Evra were all guilty of just watching the game happen around them. I like the idea of us having a combination of youth and experience, but the experienced heads are so sluggish and really lack any urgency or have any sense of danger. Fellaini is still relatively young. He should be playing with exuberance and enthusiasm, but he doesn't. When he wants to, he can be quite mobile and can play with a surprising amount of pace, but he is prone to laziness, and drops his game to a pace which makes Berbatov look like Aaron Lennon.

Yaya and Fernandinho constantly got goalside of Fellaini and Carrick, and both showed zero desire to recover that ground and close down the space that they both had to play football in. It was just too easy for City.
 
I said in September that playing him next to Carrick would be a recipe for disaster. Playing 2 player's next to each other when their biggest weakness is a complete and total lack of mobility is ludicrous. I also made a thread regarding the fact that Carrick's lack of mobility is a big part of our central midfield weakness these last few years. You pair him with any other midfielder and the work that they have to get through to cover for this would be difficult even for the likes of Fernandinho. This is the bizarre part of his signing. He is a more clumsy, less disciplined, less intelligent and positionally aware version of a midfielder we already have.

Basically, in the modern game you can't have a player in the middle of the park who has a total lack of mobility. Instead of phasing out a very good player that has this weakness, in favour of new signings that don't, we buy another player who has this weakness and also has a hatful more. It was and is the most bizarre signing I have seen us make. The only explanation is that Moyes felt he needed someone... anyone that was "on his side" (in this case he should have signed someone like Jagielka for £5~m)

Even if Moyes is in charge come next season I fully expect 2 central midfield player's to be signed who will push Carrick/Fellaini out of our starting XI. Two player's in the mould of Toure/Fernandinho or Ramires/Matic who both get around the pitch, one holding and breaking up play and one playing box to box. Fellaini is neither of these 2 player's and unfortunately never will be.

The saddest thing is I don't think Moyes has the balls to admit his mistake (everyone makes them, but like Fergie with Veron having the balls to admit them early takes guts) and move on with a £10~m loss. Selling Fellaini now for £15~m, whilst keeping Carrick/Cleverley/Fletcher in addition to the 2 aforementioned additions would give us 3 loyal/experienced squad player's and 2 new (hopefully) better players to move forward with. Keeping Fellaini means getting rid of Cleverley/Fletcher/Carrick, who in my opinion would all fulfill the squad role better.
 
Reapersoul20 said:
If you think Rafael isn't prone to the odd petulant, potentially leg-breaking tackle once in a while then there's no point in talking to you before the red-tinted specs get welded off.
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My point was that you're criticizing people for their over the top reactions while claiming Rafael "tries to break his opponents legs three times a year", sounds level headed.
 
thegregster said:
Herrera would have cost only 4mil more........................
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Fernandinho only cost 8m more and people were having a go at City for spending that much on him. The gulf in quality between Fellaini and Fernandinho is similar to the one between the conference and premier league.
 
Sunny Jim said:
hes elbow on Silva was shocking
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It was on Zabaleta Jimmy, tell me, were you as shocked when Kompany elbowed Welbeck ?

Watching the match now, it's unbelievable how shit we've looked in the middle despite playing 3 players there, unbelievable. No aggression, no pressing, no possession game, nothing really.
 
For me, it's not entirely fair to judge him on the performances we've seen so far. Because they've come within the context of a team which is underperforming as a whole.

I mean, Mata hasn't really set the world alight here either, and no-one would argue he isn't talented enough for United. It's just that we haven't seen the best of him yet.

The same could be true of Fellaini, who let's remember was good enough to have interested Chelsea and Arsenal as well as United.

I think Fellaini also suffers in the eyes of some fans from being too closely associated with David Moyes, who they despise, and so they aren't prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip.

But in a settled team that is playing well and is full of confidence, I do still think he can be useful for us.

Whether that'll be under David Moyes, I don't know . . .
 
thegregster said:
Herrera would have cost only 4mil more........................
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This still irritates me a lot.

NessunDorma said:
For me, it's not entirely fair to judge him on the performances we've seen so far. Because they've come within the context of a team which is underperforming as a whole.

I mean, Mata hasn't really set the world alight here either, and no-one would argue he isn't talented enough for United. It's just that we haven't seen the best of him yet.

The same could be true of Fellaini, who let's remember was good enough to have interested Chelsea and Arsenal as well as United.

I think Fellaini also suffers in the eyes of some fans from being too closely associated with David Moyes, who they despise, and so they aren't prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip.

But in a settled team that is playing well and is full of confidence, I do still think he can be useful for us.

Whether that'll be under David Moyes, I don't know . . .
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Scholes called it. Frankly, under a better manager Fellaini wouldn't be near the first XI (he would never have been signed!)
 
#07 said:
This still irritates me a lot.



Scholes called it. Frankly, under a better manager Fellaini wouldn't be near the first XI (he would never have been signed!)
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Scholes as well said that Cleverley was doing good and that Valencia is a good player.

Your point ?
 
NessunDorma said:
For me, it's not entirely fair to judge him on the performances we've seen so far. Because they've come within the context of a team which is underperforming as a whole.

I mean, Mata hasn't really set the world alight here either, and no-one would argue he isn't talented enough for United. It's just that we haven't seen the best of him yet.

The same could be true of Fellaini, who let's remember was good enough to have interested Chelsea and Arsenal as well as United.

I think Fellaini also suffers in the eyes of some fans from being too closely associated with David Moyes, who they despise, and so they aren't prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip.

But in a settled team that is playing well and is full of confidence, I do still think he can be useful for us.

Whether that'll be under David Moyes, I don't know . . .
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That's what I'm clinging to as well.

If you were to judge our squad on this season alone you'd probably only say Rooney, RvP, De Gea, Evans and (at a push) Rafael are United quality.

If that's true, then our problems run far deeper than Marouane fecking Fellaini...
 
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