Right so, one monstrously large step for Marouane, one giant leap for the central midfield area. Or something.
Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
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Yep, I think those niggling wrist and back injuries had him a yard off the pace forcing him to foul a lot, he was good against palace and outstanding today, its encouraging, helps Moyes too as the signing has been heavily criticised.
I was a bit disappointed with Carrick Pogue I thought he became influential once we were winning. Fellaini for me was much better. The big fella is going to turn out to be a very good signing for us. Give us 2 more centre mids with a left back and we will be very strong again IMO.
No, I am saying you can get 'good' performances from players already at the club. You don't need to spend 27m to get that type of performance. Again, I thought he looked good and far more confident and that pleases me as I would like to see him succeed but he was good against West Brom, not great against City.
The whole mobility argument with respect to Fellaini is bollocks. Its one of those generic claims based on sweet feck all. People see a big tall player and then lazily grab the immobile tag and chuck it on him.
mulumbu and jacob are good centre mids, it's not easy to dominate them like felli did today. I'm not saying west brom are a top side, but that CM is good quality, I doubt our reserve kids would have been as impressive out there today
If there's players already at the club who could have put in a performance like Fellaini today, do you know where they've been hiding?!
Yup. I saw a few people get on his case for running back after west brom players today when they were on the counter, but this is because he was very far forward whenever we got the ball out wide. He genuinely was contributing at both ends, and if he starts to get a few goals (ie a bigger contribution up front) then we will be seeing the best of him in an even more visible way.
Don't knock Wba. We're where we are predominantly because we're played shite and lost or drawn against poor teams such as WBA earlier in the season. When it comes to the top teams, we're not talking about a kid. People have been overly critical of someone who's barely featured for the club. They can't admit it. We need to wait and see what the plan is. It can take players time to bed in, especially when you come into a team which lost it's identity
Good performance today.
Did give a few free kicks away in dangerous places quite needlessly, but apart from that we've come on from the times we see his name and panic.
Did give a few free kicks away in dangerous places quite needlessly, but apart from that we've come on from the times we see his name and panic.
I think he deserves a lot of praise for a performance like that, he looked at ease and unfazed amid a lot of pressure at the club, not to mention he is the new boy with a big price tag, fair play to him, very impressed.
so when can we start bumping idiotic comments from those who said he is shite/cant play midfield/cant pass etc?
I don't want my comment to look like a dig at Fellaini, I thought he did well and has improved since he has come back. My larger point is that long term, you can get what he offers for extremely cheap money or even from the youth system. Obviously he can go on to become much better than that and I hope he does. However, you can't tell me that performance is better than anything we have seen from a Fletcher (cost nothing).
Again, I really don't want to sound like I'm bashing Fellaini here, ok, I'm not his biggest fan, it's just I would have real concerns if a midfielder who cost as much as he did, didn't put in a decent performance against WBA. For me, he has to go and impact the game against Liverpool or Olympiakos for me to get my hopes up.
Again, I really don't want to sound like I'm bashing Fellaini here, ok, I'm not his biggest fan, it's just I would have real concerns if a midfielder who cost as much as he did, didn't put in a decent performance against WBA. For me, he has to go and impact the game against Liverpool or Olympiakos for me to get my hopes up.
I guess the real acid test will be in 8 days at home to the scousers.........Would be great to see him put in a big performance in that one but himself and carrick are gonna be up against one of the best 3 man midfields around so will be very interesting to see how they cope
I was pleased for the lad today. he is a monster in defence when its in the air. Was my MOM. I have no idea why Owen gave it to Carrick.
Could well play a big part vs olympiakos but wouldn't be surprised if Clevs and Carrick start vs Pool... and I can't honestly say it would be a wrong decision either, vs a 3 man midfield like that we need to be very busy
Kilometers (we use metrics here. yay!) ahead of the Fellaini we saw the first 6 months. Made the impression that we do have a midfield
I've said all along he'd come good, and I stand by that
Don't understand this at all. So he did nothing today "that you couldn't get from a member of the youth team"? I agree, if you develop a young player with that kind of ability, but you could say that about any player, in any position for any side in the world. I'm sure the club would be delighted to produce a squad wholly made up of youth players. Doesn't work like that I'm afraid.
West Brom have a decent midfield with Mulumbu and Yacob and are a better side than their position suggests. Fellaini has hardly played all season and is still fitting into a new side under a lot of pressure - especially being a player under Moyes before and getting a lot of stick for it.
Top performance today, gives us an edge in midfield we lack. There are no easy games in the PL especially for United in the position they're in now. He deserves credit for his performance today.
Some people are going to stick by their original opinions no matter what he does, unless he goes batshit insane and scores goals for fun like Yaya.
If he puts in solid performances like today, sure you can say the man was overpriced but that's out of his control...but regardless it was a very good display and an improvement on the general performance of a Carrick partner since Scholes was at his best alongside him.
We simply can't continue to use the price against him, especially because the club did panic buy and could've had him significantly cheaper earlier in the window. That issue lies with the people in charge of transfers and not Fellaini. Judge the man on his football, and since returning from injury he's been getting better and better. If you people can't credit him for that then it's just a sad state of affairs.
Sorry, you missed the point and the understanding of the word 'can'.
Obviously he is better than youth team and reserve team players, I'm not saying that at all. I am saying what he offers shouldn't cost 27 million. We have two players who have the same amount of ability on the ball as him who cost the club nothing in Fletcher and Cleverley. I am not saying Cleverley is better but is Fellaini 27 million better than him? I don't think so.
Why can't people read that I am saying he did well against West Brom and is showing very positive signs? Are people not able to view both sides of an argument.
It was the same in his debut against Palace. He came on against a 10 man Palace team at Old Trafford, played it simple and we all got hard ons. This is against a struggling WBA and he did well, nothing more (that's not a criticism). He now needs to do it against Liverpool or Olympiakos.
Well where is it from our youth system?
In Turin.
I don't think it's fair to use his price tag against him.
I don't think Fellaini is good enough for Man Utd, and I think people are going way overboard with his performances against West Brom and Crystal Palace. His touch is average, he is awkward on the ball, his decision making is poor, I think he'll continuously be found out against quality opposition, and I think the notion of him being 'our Yaya Toure' is utterly laughable.
But it's not his fault that Moyes and Woodward payed that much for him. He should be judged as a footballer, not as a pricetag.
Cleverly doesn't offer what Fellaini does. We have other players to play nice football and neither he nor Fletcher offer the physical presence he does.
Maybe he isn't £27 million better than Cleverley (however you quantify that) but if you go down that route you can justifying and accepting sub standard players all over. Fellaini is a better player and will add more than Cleverley in my opinion and that's what matters.
You can suggest you can go out and get players who do what he does for much less money. I'd be interested who you think.
I get your point by the way, I just disagree with it - for me it's unduly negative against a player you've said earlier isn't a favourite of yours.
Yes, I agree but the fact is he does have that price tag on him, not his fault but that's life. But when I look at him as a footballer, I can't see how he can take us to the next level.
I'll try and get something done, mate. But I'm not sure I'll have time!
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I agree with you on that.
I am far from his biggest fan but I feel I am standing by him, obviously I have strong views on him but he has my support.
In terms of being a better player than Cleverley, I would agree with that, especially given current form but in my opinion both would be 4th or so choice in the middle at a club like United.
The next level at the moment is efficient, competant performances on a weekly basis. He's doing alright so far in helping us achieve that. Once we get there with some degree of regularity, we'll worry about conquering Europe.
*Fellaini breathes a sigh of relief*
How many 6ft 4, aerially dominant, strong as feck, box to box CM's do you think there are in the world? A couple at most? The guy was bought for 15m aged 20, he was never going for less than 25m.
He's also destroyed us a few times and is a regular for his(talent stacked) national team. He's really very good, and I think he'll show it in the next couple years.
Fellaini given the dreaded Eric'sCollar vote of confidence. I give him 2 weeks.
So we need 6ft 4 monsters? I would take a top quality footballer over a physical presence any day of the week.
Yes he did destroy us at times. So have many players but there have been many players that have troubled United that I would cringe to think of them playing for United.
Go on, I'll bite. Please explain
We don't need an entire team of 6ft 4 monsters. But when you combine size with skill it can be very useful to a team. He really doesn't look out of place in a very technically skilled Belgium lineup, where he provides a great physical presence. Even the Spanish NT midfield concedes the neccesity of bite and height in midfield, so you'll forgive me if I don't want our team entirely populated by midgets.
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Did i just see someone say Fellaini isn't any better on the ball than Tom Cleverley?
Sweet niblets.
Sweet niblets.
Just a poor attempt at humour on my part, Eric. The air of gravitas with which you announced "I have strong views on him but he has my support" has parallels with the traditional chairman's opening salvo in the sacking of their manager.Go on, I'll bite. Please explain
Oh ok, not bad, not bad.
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