Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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Sarni said:
Of course he's going to be here in 3 years. We don't write players off easily.
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Veron? He came for bigger money (at the time), was a far better player by some distance and had proven a lot more than Fellaini. Still didn't save him from a quick axe when we realised we'd made a mistake, after just two seasons.
 
I can't really ever see Fellaini as being more than a squad player used to cover Carrick or join the midfield when we need a more defensive setup. I'd much rather see Cleverley alongside Carrick. He's a decent player and definitely someone good to have in the squad (I'd rather see him in midfield than Anderson and Jones) but overall he's a level below what we needed/were hoping for.
 
sullydnl said:
Veron? He came for bigger money (at the time), was a far better player by some distance and had proven a lot more than Fellaini. Still didn't save him from a quick axe when we realised we'd made a mistake, after just two seasons.
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I think Chelsea's offer of £15m was too good to turn down in Fergie's eyes as he wanted to cut his losses. No one is going to come and pay us more than a few million for Fellaini in 2-3 years if he struggles, he didn't come with the same reputation as Veron.
 
sullydnl said:
Veron? He came for bigger money (at the time), was a far better player by some distance and had proven a lot more than Fellaini. Still didn't save him from a quick axe when we realised we'd made a mistake, after just two seasons.
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JSV was never happy at OT. He came to England because of a ban (false passport's scandal) which seemed imminent and kept moaning about the EPL tempo and workrate. The fact that we already had the best attacking midfielder of his generation didn't helped much.
 
Cristiano_RAFC said:
According to the latest reports Fellaini will start in Belgium's game tonight. Not too happy about that to be honest.
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Apparently they've done that with consultation from United doctors. The injury must not be that serious.
 
After Cleverley's injury it makes sense to delay his surgery.
 
Aren't Belgium pretty much qualified? Would have been good for us surely to get him in surgery over these two weeks, especially if he's not really needed by Belgium. Am sure there will be another decent window for him to get it sorted though.
 
He got yellow card, so he'll miss their next game. As for his performance, started poorly until Belgium scored, settled more after that, but still bellow average performance from him. Had two good chances to score, but keeper did well.
He played in similar role like in our game against Shaktar btw.

I was really overrating his defensive abilities before he joined United, but now watching him more he seems like he simply doesn't know how to track back from midfield. I don't think he is lazy, but he is always late and his man always ends up being free in good sitation after he outsmarts Fellaini. He is good in one on situations when he uses his body, but he seems lost when he has to cover space, and track back to his own box IMO.

At least he is starting ahead of Dembele though.
 
One thing I've noticed since he came here, in both is club and international matches, is that he seems a lot happier working hard to make runs when his team has the ball than running back defensively to track players. Probably not the best trait for a defensive midfielder, but then I suppose it's a fairly easy thing to fix. He's certainly not 'lazy' in the sense that he doesn't run enough, it's just a question of when and where.
 
MoneyMay said:
Thought it was Fellaini's best performance for Belgium in a while.
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Glad to hear it.

Some of the Belgium fans on twitter were very impressed with Fellaini's performance today. Bodes well.
 
He did well. He dominated Croatia's midfield physically and could've scored 2 goals - their keeper did a very good job on both occasions.
 
Glad to hear he had a decent game. Most positive thing though I think is him being able to play through the wrist injury.
 
I wasn't happy that he was started while having that injury and also because his form hasn't been great. But I was happy to see that the wrist didn't affect him at all during the game, and he also had a good game today.
 
Cristiano_RAFC said:
I wasn't happy that he was started while having that injury and also because his form hasn't been great. But I was happy to see that the wrist didn't affect him at all during the game, and he also had a good game today.
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A wrist injury isn't the same as a leg injury. If it was an injury that could be made worse through running, ie, a tight hammy or groin etc then that's understandable but a wrist injury is just something that would get worse from a knock or fall etc. That is something that he just as much doing in 2 minutes at training than he does in a game, so starting him in that regard is no issue.

On the form, this would be a great chance to help him regain some form. I would rather him take a game for Belgium to get his confidence, than take it for United.

So overall, a positive day for him.
 
KM said:
Glad to hear it.

Some of the Belgium fans on twitter were very impressed with Fellaini's performance today. Bodes well.
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Yeah, they know more than us and they thought that was his best performance for Belgium in quite a while. Hopefully, he starts to get more backing from many of us too because I think it's more a matter of adjusting to our side, than the lack of sound technical ability from his end.


Cristiano_RAFC said:
I wasn't happy that he was started while having that injury and also because his form hasn't been great. But I was happy to see that the wrist didn't affect him at all during the game, and he also had a good game today.
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I disagree. It builds form, it helps him find rhythm in his play.
 
I am of the opinion that Fellaini has had stage fright.That coupled with him being asked to revert back to his favoured position after some time playing a different role at Everton.I am still not sure how he will fit into our system other than perhaps strengthening the midfield for tough opponents especially away from home.Not that that that worked so well against City!

I have not seen any action from Belgiums game yesterday but it seems he played well and i am more than hopeful he will settle and show that he is indeed a better footballer than his early performances have shown.Technically not the best but still impressive for a big man, I think he'll be a success for us although I don't think he'll be a regular feature in what is considered our strongest eleven.
 
Fellaini has always performed well for Belgium and is not as shit as some here make us believe. It is a big step up for him from Everton to United and as pointed out by salfordlad above, he does seem to have stage fright of some sort currently. He is also adjusting to different types of players around him and little different way of playing. While he can't be classified as world class or anything, I am sure as season progresses, he will improve and be an important player for us.
 
He looked to me yesterday to be playing off the front man Lukaku and not actually as a CM which is why he might have looked more comfortable, he also looked like he wasn't being asked to track runners from the opposition, and instead just close down high up the pitch.

Don't get me wrong I think he will eventually turn out to be a very good CM signing for United despite the quick judgments made by some on here, but it will take a while and playing CM consistently and not being switch from ACM to CM consistently will help accelerate that process.
 
The Belgian squad is great, the fact that they are so desperate for his services should tell you to exercise patience with him.

Full of wonder what he has in store for us.
 
The Man Himself said:
Fellaini has always performed well for Belgium and is not as shit as some here make us believe. It is a big step up for him from Everton to United and as pointed out by salfordlad above, he does seem to have stage fright of some sort currently. He is also adjusting to different types of players around him and little different way of playing. While he can't be classified as world class or anything, I am sure as season progresses, he will improve and be an important player for us.
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Yet the guy here who supports the Belgium national team says he's been one of the two worst players of their qualification campaign.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
A wrist injury isn't the same as a leg injury. If it was an injury that could be made worse through running, ie, a tight hammy or groin etc then that's understandable but a wrist injury is just something that would get worse from a knock or fall etc. That is something that he just as much doing in 2 minutes at training than he does in a game, so starting him in that regard is no issue.

On the form, this would be a great chance to help him regain some form. I would rather him take a game for Belgium to get his confidence, than take it for United.

So overall, a positive day for him.
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MoneyMay said:
I disagree. It builds form, it helps him find rhythm in his play.
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I do realize the difference between a leg injury and a wrist injury. However there was lots of talk of him being out for a long time, and then to see him in the starting line-up so soon seemed like a risk to me. Like you said... it could get worse if he falls in a bad way, and football isn't exactly a sport where you hardly ever fall on the ground is it. So it was still a (small maybe) risk to play him which is why I wasn't happy to see Wilmots taking a chance with one of our players.

On the form... I'm Belgian and I support Belgium so it's because he hasn't been playing great for United that I prefered to see others playing in his position. I wanted us to win you see, and I would have picked a player in a better form and no injury in stead of him.

That was before the game but in hindsight it has obviously turned out well and he hasn't had any problem during as far as injury is concerned, and on top of that he played a good game too. I was happy how it eventually turned out and that's what I was basically saying.
 
Ainu said:
He did well. He dominated Croatia's midfield physically and could've scored 2 goals - their keeper did a very good job on both occasions.
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Hopefully he can stop standing on ceremony in a United shirt and start throwing his weight around for us too.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Yet the guy here who supports the Belgium national team says he's been one of the two worst players of their qualification campaign.
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Interesting. I mean, he may be knowing better as he must have watched more of Fellaini in national team. I haven't watched that many games, but since he had 2 good games against us for Everton and the news of his potential transfer to us came out first time, I have read some reports etc on his performance for national team and checked his stats and watched some clips. Overall they looked positive to me. What are the negatives and weaknesses this Belgian guy here attributes to Fellaini regarding his international performance?
 
MoneyMay said:
Yeah, they know more than us and they thought that was his best performance for Belgium in quite a while. Hopefully, he starts to get more backing from many of us too because I think it's more a matter of adjusting to our side, than the lack of sound technical ability from his end.
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He will when he finally starts performing. Heard he played behind the striker rather than in CM again for Belgium. He won't and shouldnt get a sniff there for us though. I hope he will manage to transform into a CM.
 
Godfather said:
He will when he finally starts performing. Heard he played behind the striker rather than in CM again for Belgium. He won't and shouldnt get a sniff there for us though. I hope he will manage to transform into a CM.
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I would hope he's a lot better there than he's currently showing. He's nearly 26, cost £27m, he should be able to play the position he was bought for which was hopefully in centre mid. No way long term he'll play a/m for us.
 
Godfather said:
He will when he finally starts performing. Heard he played behind the striker rather than in CM again for Belgium. He won't and shouldnt get a sniff there for us though. I hope he will manage to transform into a CM.
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Not really. His role for Belgium is a bit difficult to define but it's closer to being a traditional CM role than "in the hole."
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Yet the guy here who supports the Belgium national team says he's been one of the two worst players of their qualification campaign.
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He's not always been at his best during the current campaign and you couldn't count him among the standout players, but that quote seems completely over the top. Overall he's been decent but he could've done a little more. But the game against Croatia was his best one so far, and it was an absolutely key match, so I'll take that.
 
Whoscored.com has Witsel and Defour as holding midfielders with Fellaini as a number ten and Hazard and De Bruyne as the two wide players in a 4-2-3-1. Dembele replaced Defour late on.
 
BAMSOLA said:
Thats pretty much exactly as they played, he wasn't a CM during that game.
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Besides for United, when was the last time Fellaini actually played as an old fashioned number 8?
 
LR7 said:
Whoscored.com has Witsel and Defour as holding midfielders with Fellaini as a number ten and Hazard and De Bruyne as the two wide players in a 4-2-3-1. Dembele replaced Defour late on.
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Aren't both players more offensive and creative than Fellaini though? I'd be surprised if they actually set up to play like that.
 
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