Fellaini the Impact Sub: Help or Hindrance?

MyOnlySolskjaer

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It seems Fellaini is our go-to man when we're chasing a result. Quite a different approach to the days of Solskjaer/Chicharito ala Sir Alex.

Do you feel it helps us to go more direct/route one and balls are flung everywhere, pinning the opposition back and ultimately leading to a conference style of football in the 70th minute for the rest of the game.

Or does it actually slow us down with the movement and passing being that bit slower with Fellaini involved, rather should we be going for a player that would run at players or try an inventive pass such as Pereira or someone else.

Share your thoughts.
 
I think Fellaini gets a pretty unfair rap from a lot of fans - they expect him to come on and instantly change/win the game, and anything less than that is deemed unacceptable.

If we take last night as a fairly typical case, I thought we played better once Fellaini had come on. He made some important defensive headers and clearances, held the ball up well on a few occasions and otherwise generally just kept things neat and tidy in midfield. Yet looking at the match thread and performance thread there are people saying he was useless, and on the ratings he has the second lowest score, with only Memphis 'beating' him. LVG has spoken positively about his performances recently however, and I think that he has generally had a positive impact when brought on.
 
Bollocks player and shouldn't be at the club.
 
We tend to play hoof ball when he is on the field and not use the fact that he is a tidy passer, can control a ball with the feet under physical pressure and get him running into the box late when crossing.

I think we miss use him tbh.
 
He's been effective and I think it does help us to have him as a Plan B as we sure as hell don't have a Plan C. But imo, it's a pretty damning indictment of LVG that after almost a year and a half our Plan B is still "Play the tall guy and kick it up to him loads".
 
Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I guess that's the nature of a plan B, you just throw in the kitchen sink and hope for the best.
 
He is one of those players who, if he has 9 good games out of 10, majority of the people will still use that 1 bad game and want him sold and say that he isn't fit to start for United. Other players like this are Blind, Valencia, Rojo, Romero and to some extent Young.
 
I think he is criminally underrated, he is a good midfielder, always looking to move ball forward, quite good in getting the ball back and he is a great target man.

If anything I would like to see him start more often then he does.
As an impact substitution he works perfectly because he give us another option and also help to bring ball in dangerous areas but we need to improve and find a balance between long balls to him and our slow patient approach when he come on.
 
On topic, he's definitely a help, not a hindrance. It doesn't necessarily mean I like the hoofball we tend to play with him on the field, but if possession hasn't worked for 70-80mins, we might as well change it up and use our squad to the fullest, IMO.

My only gripe, and it's not aimed at LvG, how we are currently using him, versus what (position) he was bought for and what he cost, we could have spent a fraction and bought Peter Crouch.

Tbf, it's probably a bigger symptom with our squad. Mata, is another example. It inflates our squad wages/cost and on the field, we suffer at times.
 
Ish said:
On topic, he's definitely a help, not a hindrance. It doesn't necessarily mean I like the hoofball we tend to play with him on the field, but if possession hasn't worked for 70-80mins, we might as well change it up and use our squad to the fullest, IMO.

My only gripe, and it's not aimed at LvG, how we are currently using him, versus what (position) he was bought for and what he cost, we could have spent a fraction and bought Peter Crouch.

Tbf, it's probably a bigger symptom with our squad. Mata, is another example. It inflates our squad wages/cost and on the field, we suffer at times.
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Peter Crouch cannot do what he does. Overall he has a much better footballing brain that him. He has strength, is extremely good in the air and can hold the ball up pretty well. Apart from that, he is a threat from central midfield when he makes those runs to the far post. It is very difficult to mark him during normal play because he makes those runs from the midfield.

I won't even start about how much better he is defensively than Peter Crouch.
 
What I find weird about how we use him is that he's not actually very good in the air.

He almost never uses his height to win headers, and he peels off the defender to try and bring the ball down on his chest making him about 6-10 inches shorter than he actually is in any given ariel duel.
 
Subho611 said:
Peter Crouch cannot do what he does. Overall he has a much better footballing brain that him. He has strength, is extremely good in the air and can hold the ball up pretty well. Apart from that, he is a threat from central midfield when he makes those runs to the far post. It is very difficult to mark him during normal play because he makes those runs from the midfield.

I won't even start about how much better he is defensively than Peter Crouch.
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You took what I said too literally subho.
 
I've got nothing against that tactic but it should only be used in the last 10 minutes, 60 minutes is too early to make that type of substitution.
 
I think it's more of a hindrance. He's rarely had a positive impact off the bench and most of his best performances came when he was starting games last season.
 
Am I the only one thinks we haven't used him properly this season? We seem to bring him on when chasing a game but I don't really see our game going more direct, Fellaini seems to play quite deep and get involved in the build up play which is not always a great sight.
 
Both. All depends on the scoreline.

Sometimes he is lauded for things he is condemned for in other matches, and vice versa.
 
Off topic, but still can't believe we paid ~£30 million for him. Be lucky to recoup even half of that now. Between him, the 4 year extension for Wayne, and losing out on the Champions League, David probably cost the club £100 million+.

On topic, and I don't like him at all, so the opinion is heavily colored - he doesn't really add anything tangible IMO, apart from his physical thread. He can pass a bit and all that, fair enough, but so can the others, and with greater precision. His forte is creates a bit of chaos amongst the opposition ranks, and that can't exactly be quantified, and I've haven't seen a lot of direct influence in terms of bagging goals recently. Going on a tangent again, but you have to wonder how much all of that is worth, and whether the wages are justified, because we need to trim the squad, and wages/ bonuses for future signings. By and large, agree with @Nuts. Succinct.
 
Neither, really. He doesn't really make a noticeable impact most of the time.

It's a bit pointless. On theory, he would be an okay plan B but he doesn't really make our play any different when he's on. Maybe a bit more hoofing forward but no added effectiveness.
 
NinjaFletch said:
What I find weird about how we use him is that he's not actually very good in the air.

He almost never uses his height to win headers, and he peels off the defender to try and bring the ball down on his chest making him about 6-10 inches shorter than he actually is in any given ariel duel.
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This. I am constantly amazed by the amount of headers he ducks under as opposed to winning. His aerial ability is the biggest myth in the PL since Wayne Rooney is world class!
 
If he's going into midfield then I think hindrance. It's usually at a time where we have a lot of the ball in front of their defence. Not sure he helps in midfield with that problem.
 
He's a good player but the problem is when he comes on a lot of times our team summons our inner Pulis and do nothing but lump it up to Fellaini. All other thoughts or ideas go out the window. Yesterday was one of the few times that Fellaini came on and was apart of the team, rather than the focal point and he did well.
 
I dont mind Fellaini coming on as a sub per se, but it is frustrating that it is pretty much our ONLY impact sub option. And it is arguable how much impact he actually makes a lot of the time. As the OP said, he is no Solskjaer. I would feel happier about it if we had the resources to mix it up a bit. The negativity comes from the fact that, with 65 minutes gone, if we are chasing a goal, you know exactly what is coming. Its predictable and rather uninspiring. But yeah, he played OK when he came on, I definitely dont put myself in the "he is not United quality" camp, he is a fine person to have in the squad and a fine person to bring on, but would be good to have some other strings to the bow as well.
 
Still annoys me when I see him running around in the red of United, I don't know what it is but he just doesn't look right.

It's like we've stepped back to the late 70's and you have the big daft target man.
 
It added nothing last night, and will probably continue to do so. Why, when we do sub him, is he normally being used as a #8/one of the 'two' holding midfielders? Last night he came on for Martial and played further forward but normally he comes on for Basti, but he and Herrera never really swap positions. I mean, they move about at times as you'd expect players to do - but it would seem that Fellaini is being bought on to play that position. Bit odd.
 
Adebesi said:
I dont mind Fellaini coming on as a sub per se, but it is frustrating that it is pretty much our ONLY impact sub option. And it is arguable how much impact he actually makes a lot of the time. As the OP said, he is no Solskjaer. I would feel happier about it if we had the resources to mix it up a bit. The negativity comes from the fact that, with 65 minutes gone, if we are chasing a goal, you know exactly what is coming. Its predictable and rather uninspiring. But yeah, he played OK when he came on, I definitely dont put myself in the "he is not United quality" camp, he is a fine person to have in the squad and a fine person to bring on, but would be good to have some other strings to the bow as well.
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Yeah, agreed. I always thought that him and Hernandez gave us a good blend of options off the bench. With Wilson still very much a work in progress our bench is very shallow and one-dimensional.
 
Currently: Piss about passing at the back for 70 minutes, brings on Fellaini to feck shit up and try and get a goal.

One possible solution: Start Fellaini, use him to feck shit up, go a couple of goals up by the 20th minute, take him off and then piss about passing at the back for the remaining 70 minutes.

Or............Van Gaal realises that having to resort to Plan B every game is a problem itself and then we actually improve our Plan A. Right now we're watching the same performances on repeat.
 
I really don't understand this "Plan B" stuff. For the most part Fellaini has been used as a #8 or #10 substitute, and he puts in a pretty good shift when he comes on. The added option he gives us is as a target for De Gea - means we can get the ball into midfield more quickly which lets us increase the tempo of our attacking somewhat. The idea that we would only put him on so we can hit high balls into the area isn't borne out by the way we play with him on the field.
 
Neither?

I like Fellaini, he's one of the better midfielders in the Premier League. But not playing here at United. Our formation doesn't suit his game and neither does our style of play - which isn't to say a side can't play attractive football with Fellaini in the side, just I think we need better going forward.

Right now he's just kind of existing in our midfield. Plodding about, jumping for headers, moving the ball on to the next man. There are sides in the league, and in Europe, that could get a lot out of him while playing regularly and in his best position.

He did well to recover from a tough first season, but I can't help but think the United/Fellaini experiment is coming to an end. He's also one of the few players we can get a good fee for. I'd move him on come the summer.
 
I actually think he should start with Herrera and Schneiderlin for a few games. We press higher up the pitch with him and have a different option when he's in the side. Only problem is its nullified anytime the opposition plays a defender in midfield to mark him.
 
Ish said:
You took what I said too literally subho.
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Yeah, I think I overreacted a bit because I somehow feel that he is being unfairly criticized. He played really well last season whenever called upon against the top sides and in fact proved to be the difference on quite a few occasions. This year we bought Schweini and Schneiderlin and he has been largely overlooked except when LVG wants to give the opposition a different puzzle to solve.

I believe he could have been a decent and effective player for us, especially in tactical games if he was given a consistent run of games. Also, currently he is the only central midfielder in the team who can consistently attack the box.

Somehow people have this notion of how a Man Utd player should be and decide on their own Fellaini shouldn't be anywhere near the team. As per his transfer fees, it's simply not his fault. We completely fecked up by not buying out his contract where there was a chance to do so.
 
When we're not just hoofing the ball to him and letting him chest it half way back to where it came from, he looks alright...although I'm still not sure what it is he actually does. Just sort of runs around being annoying.

Whenever our tactics are in some way based around him being on the pitch, it's genuinely awful...but we got a goal at West Ham last season which he actually played no part in at all, which apparently justifies this.
 
His first touch and short passing are far better than Rooney for a start, people bashing him should get a grip. Very valuable squad player and should start more games especially away from home.
 
He's been OK tbh, I've also noticed his passing and movement in midfield has improved a lot. Think about it like this, yesterday's goal for example we had him and Wayne attacking the cross so it makes it more difficult for the defenders to pick a player to mark.
 
Does a job and creates mis-matches, when used properly. Without him on the field, I doubt Rooney would have the space he had to head the ball for the goal. There was no one near Rooney, partly because the defense was more aware of Fellaini as a target man. Fellaini helps re-direct the focus of both the defense & offense. Not sure if he should be playing #9, #10, or even with 2 up top, though. I guess it's horses for courses & who we're playing & how they're set up.
 
I just can't understand what he brought on the pitch in last few games. Three games before last night's all finished 0-0 so he definitely didn't help us win those games. Some say he helped us control the games but I don't get that either, why exactly we need a player to control the games we are already controlling and in which we are actually searching for goals?
As for last night, he wasn't even involved that much. Some say he played important part in winning aerial duels but I don't remember him winning one header, and stats confirm it. He barely even challenged for aerials yesterday.

Btw this is nothing against the big man because I am not arguing that he himself individually was poor, I just don't like the way we are using him as an impact sub lately because he obviously didn't help us win single one of our last 4 games, and actually barely any this season. If anything, I like that we are using him as an impact sub because he's proved last season that he can win us games as an impact sub, but the way we are using him is not the right way, IMO.
 
I don't like how Van Gaal has used him this season. Last season during that stretch of great performances against Spurs, Liverpool and City he seemed to have found the perfect way to utilize Fellaini, letting him boss midfield and allow a mixture of direct and more patient passing. This season he just throws him high up the pitch and the team starts launching long balls to him to force an opening. Fellaini has more to offer than that, as he proved last season.
 
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