Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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I have not yet seen the highlights - did he deserve to get sent off?
Second yellow looked harsh in particular

anyway we have all been worried about how we would cope without Carrick, but after that performance I am no longer worried - obviously Fellaini cant match the passing but he gets stuck in a bit more to make up for it - whether they can play together is another matter, we shall see ...
 
Rood said:
I have not yet seen the highlights - did he deserve to get sent off?
Second yellow looked harsh in particular

anyway we have all been worried about how we would cope without Carrick, but after that performance I am no longer worried - obviously Fellaini cant match the passing but he gets stuck in a bit more to make up for it - whether they can play together is another matter, we shall see ...
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No offence mate but...are you on crack?

He looked lost, was slow, clumsy and all round poor.
 
londonredmaniac said:
No offence mate but...are you on crack?

He looked lost, was slow, clumsy and all round poor.
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I dont agree in the slightest - he was there to do a defensive job and he did it - away in Europe to a pretty decent side and they barely troubled De Gea all game

I have no idea what match ITV were showing but most in San Sebastian were talking about it being his best performance so far and how they want to see more of the same from him (without the red card!) - it is bizarre logging in here and seeing all the negative comments
 
I hope he starts on Sunday. If there's one man to test the soft underbelly of this Arsenal midfield, it's him.

If Carrick is fit, play them both and maybe Cleverley beside them for legs in midfield. With Fellaini and Carrick screening the back four, Cleverley can join in with Januzaj, Rooney and van Persie in attack. Fellaini was very good positionally on Tuesday night and had a great amount of interceptions. We all know that this is also a forte of Carrick's and both together will make it difficult for Arsenal's narrow attack of Ozil, Cazorla and Ramsey.
 
sullydnl said:
Didn't both Moyes and Fellaini say he worked best as a defensive midfielder? I guess that convinced people.
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He also said he wanted to be the new Roy Keane. I can only assume he's a bitter, angry bastard. That's the only way he could be anywhere close to Keane.
 
Contrary to me slagging the guy off, I thought he played alright on Tuesday bar the sending off. He got about the pitch, closed down and made some interceptions. Still needs to be more mobile and confident with his passing.
 
nahealai said:
I hope he starts on Sunday. If there's one man to test the soft underbelly of this Arsenal midfield, it's him.

If Carrick is fit, play them both and maybe Cleverley beside them for legs in midfield. With Fellaini and Carrick screening the back four, Cleverley can join in with Januzaj, Rooney and van Persie in attack. Fellaini was very good positionally on Tuesday night and had a great amount of interceptions. We all know that this is also a forte of Carrick's and both together will make it difficult for Arsenal's narrow attack of Ozil, Cazorla and Ramsey.
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Again, I sometimes wonder if people actually watch football and comment on what they see, or just read articles and spout cliches.

Anyway, if you watched Arsenal, you would likely leave with the view that the midfield is infact where their strength lies, and is anything BUT soft, wheras if you watched us.....

Sorry for coming across like a cnut tbh, only way to put it.
 
Rozay said:
Again, I sometimes wonder if people actually watch football and comment on what they see, or just read articles and spout cliches.

Anyway, if you watched Arsenal, you would likely leave with the view that the midfield is infact where their strength lies, and is anything BUT soft, wheras if you watched us.....

Sorry for coming across like a cnut tbh, only way to put it.
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Way to miss the point he was making.

We'll be harder to break down with Fellaini in the side, it's pretty obvious.
 
I don't think playing Fellaini against the best central midfield constellation in the league is a good idea.

On the other hand, who shall we play? Carrick and Jones might be the best bet with Rooney slightly deeper than usual...
 
Is Cleverley fit? And I agree, Fellaini should be kept as far away from the team as possible against Arsenal.
 
Their midfield is going to dominate us regardless. We need top performances from our wingers and forwards to get something from this.
 
Irwhine said:
Way to miss the point he was making.

We'll be harder to break down with Fellaini in the side, it's pretty obvious.
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Ah, that's what he meant by 'test the soft underbelly of Arsenal's midfield'. Apologies, my English is not great.
 
Cina said:
Their midfield is going to dominate us regardless. We need top performances from our wingers and forwards to get something from this.
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Nah, Jones will do a demolition job on them. They'll be crying like babies when he's finished with them.
 
Summit said:
Nah, Jones will do a demolition job on them. They'll be crying like babies when he's finished with them.
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Jones, Carrick, Fellaini/Cleverley vs Ozil, Ramsey, Arteta.

God help us.
 
Cina said:
Jones, Carrick, Fellaini/Cleverley vs Ozil, Ramsey, Arteta.

God help us.
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God help them, Cina! God help them! Arsenal's pretty football won't work at OT when Jones is scaring the feck out of them with his faces and general roughness.
 
Shit, just realised I'm in the Fellaini thread. Sorry for derailing with the 'Jones' talk.
 
Cina said:
Their midfield is going to dominate us regardless. We need top performances from our wingers and forwards to get something from this.
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This is basically my view. We can fling whatever combination we like across the middle, I'm just not convinced we possess the players at our disposal to be better in that area. That said, there are other areas where we are strong. Also, we are very fortunate to not have the penetration of Walcott/Oxlade to face. Giroud is the only outlet, and I believe we can isolate him and deal with him fairly easily.

The idea I think is similar to how many teams try to play against Barcelona. Accept that they will have the ball, but be content that they will have it an an area that won't really hurt you. They can knock it about, but I don't think their final third options are that potent. Defensively they have been solid, but we just have to trust our attacking quality on that front. Due to having an inferior midfield, I doubt we'll be able to play through, so the ball would need to go from back to front fairly quickly I'd guess. That may mean going long, or counter-attacking out wide.

The game is certainly winnable for us, but I just can't see us controlling the middle third.
 
Lost count of the number of opponents that were going to murder our midfield (Madrid springs to mind) and then subsequently didn't do so.
 
Bilbo said:
Lost count of the number of opponents that were going to murder our midfield (Madrid springs to mind) and then subsequently didn't do so.
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Plenty did too, i.e. City and (to a lesser extent) Liverpool this season.
 
While Liverpool didn't dominate possession they were able to press us and win the ball high up on several occasions while limiting our chances. They bullied us off the ball when they wanted to.
 
Wouldn't want him anywhere near the first XI on Sunday. The movements of the Arsenal midfield will tear us apart. We need someone who is extremely disciplined and solid in defence.
 
thepolice123 said:
Wouldn't want him anywhere near the first XI on Sunday. The movements of the Arsenal midfield will tear us apart. We need someone who is extremely disciplined and solid in defence.
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If Carrick is out, there's no way we cant play him too. We'l need 2 solid CMs vs them and hope our front 4 can do the business.

I wouldnt mind him and Clev/Jones starting.
 
Varun_Utd said:
If Carrick is out, there's no way we cant play him too. We'l need 2 solid CMs vs them and hope our front 4 can do the business.

I wouldnt mind him and Clev/Jones starting.
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Fellaini with either of Clev/Jones is a nightmare pairing. I would rather a 3 man midfield if our lynch-pin Carrick is out. City did us in when Toure, Aguero and Silva ran rings round us. Now we are dealing with not three but 5 midfielders who are comfortable with playing in midfield.
 
thepolice123 said:
Fellaini with either of Clev/Jones is a nightmare pairing. I would rather a 3 man midfield if our lynch-pin Carrick is out. City did us in when Toure, Aguero and Silva ran rings round us. Now we are dealing with not three but 5 midfielders who are comfortable with playing in midfield.
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What choices do we have? We only have 4 CMs, ando included. Rooney will drop deep enough to make it a 3 man midfield whether he wants it or not as he'l want to get on the ball and we wont find it easy to get it off that Arsenal midfield.
 
With Carrick off, we don't have a good long range passer to bypass Arsenal's midfield and start counter-attack. Rooney is a good long passer, but we need him closer to goal.
 
Rood said:
I dont agree in the slightest - he was there to do a defensive job and he did it - away in Europe to a pretty decent side and they barely troubled De Gea all game

I have no idea what match ITV were showing but most in San Sebastian were talking about it being his best performance so far and how they want to see more of the same from him (without the red card!) - it is bizarre logging in here and seeing all the negative comments
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The gear obviously was strong out there. At best he was average against poor opposition.
 
That really is a stretch as well. I don't deny folk can see more being here than on tele...a point I have made in he past but sorry not for me.
Laboured performance with the sending off as inevitable as the sun going down and rising the morning after.

He will get better for me...but as I said at the time worth that sort of outlay? Not for me. We shall see.
 
It feels like we haven't really strengthened midfield at all. For me our best pairing is still Carrick and Cleverley, the same as last season. Just hope he grows into the role.
 
"Is he worth the outlay?"

No, he never was from the moment the fee was announced. He never will be. That isn't his fault either. The sooner people forget about the fee and look at his abilities, talent and previous good form in central midfield with a degree of realism then the better.

Those with an issue in regards to the fee needn't look further than David Moyes and Krusty the Clown in the Chief Executive office. Constantly getting on Fellaini's back about the fee will send you mad. He was better against Sociedad and hopefully he will continue to improve and play like the effective, very good midfielder we've previously seen in the Premier League over the past 3 seasons.
 
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