Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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Something I haven't seen discussed is the idea that we were looking for someone who could "replace Carrick if Carrick got injured/needed a rest". Does Fellaini have that in him? Can we just swap Carrick out and put Clev/Ando in there and expect results against the top teams?

Carrick and Cleverley/Ando is already weak creatively, Fellaini instead of Carrick will just make it even less creative. It almost seems as Cleverley and Anderson would be more successful together if Carrick is out than Fellaini and one of them.

Personally I think we will change formation a bit if Carrick is gone just because we are incapable of playing a world-class 4-2-3-1 without him.
 
Something I haven't seen discussed is the idea that we were looking for someone who could "replace Carrick if Carrick got injured/needed a rest". Does Fellaini have that in him? Can we just swap Carrick out and put Clev/Ando in there and expect results against the top teams?

Carrick and Cleverley/Ando is already weak creatively, Fellaini instead of Carrick will just make it even less creative. It almost seems as Cleverley and Anderson would be more successful together if Carrick is out than Fellaini and one of them.

Personally I think we will change formation a bit if Carrick is gone just because we are incapable of playing a world-class 4-2-3-1 without him.

Doubt we will change formation, what would we go with? Playing all three in Carricks absence wouldn't be a good idea, as taking out a world class number 10 to play an extra average CM such as Jones or Anderson would just make the team worse overall.

Think it would be fine anyway, Carrick isn't that creative himself really. He can hit some lovely passes into the attackers but he's rarely is the one playing the killer ball in a way a pure attacking midfielder would.

Carrick is our best midfielder so losing him would be a clear blow, but we would get away with Clev/Fellaini against most teams, as long as the rest of the team is playing properly.
 
Doubt we will change formation, what would we go with? Playing all three in Carricks absence wouldn't be a good idea, as taking out a world class number 10 to play an extra average CM such as Jones or Anderson would just make the team worse overall.

Think it would be fine anyway, Carrick isn't that creative himself really. He can hit some lovely passes into the attackers but he's rarely is the one playing the killer ball in a way a pure attacking midfielder would.

Carrick is our best midfielder so losing him would be a clear blow, but we would get away with Clev/Fellaini against most teams, as long as the rest of the team is playing properly.


I agree with "most teams" but the question remains on how we will deal versus a top club be it in CL or the Premiership if Carrick is out.

I don't think our chances of winning against any of the top 5 with a Fellaini/Cleverley partnership will be high.
 
Maybe that should get posted in the thread title so people can be less angry.
 
He wouldn't have had to sacrifice anything if we'd bid before his release clause ran out. It can't be spun to make the club look better.
 
Some should have picked up on it when they said Fellani asked for a transfer request before Everton released him. The story about Rooney was similar. He never officialy asked for a transfer. He would have lost millions if he did and we sold him.
 
With this and the Herrera news I'm now feeling slightly better about our transfer business this summer. Okay, we didn't get the creative midfielder we all wanted but at least we didn't do anything stupid which means we still have the cash in the bank to go and find the right player in January. Of course if that Khedira bid got accepted then things would be different, thankfully Madrid said no.
 
He wouldn't have had to sacrifice anything if we'd bid before his release clause ran out. It can't be spun to make the club look better.

Indeed, our incompetence cost the boy £4m, but it is OK because we will pay it back to him over 4 yrs.
 
He wouldn't have had to sacrifice anything if we'd bid before his release clause ran out. It can't be spun to make the club look better.

But we're not overpaying which is what most people were pissed about. By all accounts, it seems like we've paid what we would have done 1 month ago and Fellaini gets a nice pay rise so what's the problem?
 
But we're not overpaying which is what most people were pissed about. By all accounts, it seems like we've paid what we would have done 1 month ago and Fellaini gets a nice pay rise so what's the problem?
United got the best deal possible all things considered, Fellaini seems to be quite happy despite dropping that coin, could have been better, but if everyone is happy, who gives a feck?
 
Wouldn't be so bad if that were true, though wonder if h'll get it back in sign on fees etc.

He wasn't my ideal signing but I guess purely from the league point of view we are stronger now and we did definitely need a midfieler. He undoubtedly gives us something different and can cover as the more defensive player when required.

My main concern is if we play him and Valencia/Young/Welbeck wide. I don't think Fellaini solves our creativity issue and it's fine to say well be more defensively secure but we've seen some of the same issues from last season with the wingers not being able to do something themselves against organised teams. Personally I think it's somewhat due to the loss of Scholes long pass that let us give it to someone like Valencia high up the pitch, one on one with his man, now with our passing shorter it means the wingers are picking up the ball being surrounded by a few players and both Valencia and Young have shown they're not comfortable with that.

But I think we've felt that we've needed there extra defensive ability as a result of a lack of strength in the middle. So I'm really hoping that with Fellaini and Carrick in the middle we'll feel more comfortable to play kagawa and nani together with rooney off RVP. If we can see that as a result then that would be a boost as I think we'll look better for it.
 
Wonderful gesture from Fellaini if true. Both him and Herrera were willing to give up $$ to come to United. Those are the kind of players we want. Shame the Herrera deal didn't go throguh as well.
 
United got the best deal possible all things considered, Fellaini seems to be quite happy despite dropping that coin, could have been better, but if everyone is happy, who gives a feck?

Very true. If the big man does a job, the naysayers will be silent.

I don't expect to win the League this year, a domestic cup is a possibility, but I believe Moyes will eventually build a League winning team. We may though, in the process, have taken years off our life expectancy. :D
 
If he's getting 50k a week more, in 2 years that's 5.2m more that he'd have got in wages from Everton, and 1.2m more than what the bonus would have covered. Sounds a'ight.
 
Fellaini in numbers.

Last season he managed on average a goal or assist every other game.
He was second in the league in terms of tackles (84).
He won the ball 190 times in midfield, by far the most in the top flight.

I reckon his goal/assist numbers will fall back a bit if he's deployed in a deeper role, but the tackling stats are encouraging.

Look forward to seeing how he fits in.
 
This makes perfect sense.

We have spent 23.5m on him - the figure of 27.5m includes the 4m loyalty fees he decided to waver to push the deal though with his transfer request.

Perhaps we are not as stupid as some would have you believe.

According that article we were very close to screwing up that deal and all had Fellaini not put in a transfer request. Not sure if that makes us look clever.
 
Fellaini in numbers.

Last season he managed on average a goal or assist every other game.
He was second in the league in terms of tackles (84).
He won the ball 190 times in midfield, by far the most in the top flight.

I reckon his goal/assist numbers will fall back a bit if he's deployed in a deeper role, but the tackling stats are encouraging.

Look forward to seeing how he fits in.


There were at least a dozen players that made over 100 tackles in the league last year if you go by these stats.
 
So we actually did only pay his release clause? Will the gnashers and wailers all be making a note of this and rescinding their hysterical outpourings?

Doubtful...
 
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