Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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If steel were that important in football, Barca wouldn't have won a shitload of tropheys. Mobility and positioning are much more important than steel.
 
So those thinking that Fellaini might not actually provide the "steel" people claimed he would want him and Moyes to fail? Where does that logic come from?

It's your logic. I never said anything about people wanting Fellaini (or Moyes) to fail. I'm talking about the petulance and the premature doom mongering that has been very prevalent round here after the City match.

Expressing an opinion that Fellaini is not what we need, that we don't need steel or that Fellaini actually doesn't bring that much steel - all this is fine by me. It's the nature of some of the outbursts I react to. Surely you can see the difference between voicing a concern and crying like a school girl - it's this I'm talking about, not people actively wanting us to fail: I don't believe in that sort of thing any more than you do.
 
If steel were that important in football, Barca wouldn't have won a shitload of tropheys. Mobility and positioning are much more important than steel.


Yeah but unless you can pass it around like Barca do and have the movement to supplement it, steel in the middle always helps.
 
It's your logic. I never said anything about people wanting Fellaini (or Moyes) to fail. I'm talking about the petulance and the premature doom mongering that has been very prevalent round here after the City match.

Expressing an opinion that Fellaini is not what we need, that we don't need steel or that Fellaini actually doesn't bring that much steel - all this is fine by me. It's the nature of some of the outbursts I react to. Surely you can see the difference between voicing a concern and crying like a school girl - it's this I'm talking about, not people actively wanting us to fail: I don't believe in that sort of thing any more than you do.

I quoted TN on Ramshock's post accusing him of wanting Moyes and Fellaini to fail which is beyond stupid logic.

I didn't quote you or your reaction to anything, you simply waded in on the convo.
 
I quoted TN on Ramshock's post accusing him of wanting Moyes and Fellaini to fail which is beyond stupid logic.

I didn't quote you or your reaction to anything, you simply waded in on the convo.

Alright, then. Beggin' yer pardon and bidding ye farewell.
 
If steel were that important in football, Barca wouldn't have won a shitload of tropheys. Mobility and positioning are much more important than steel.


We are not Barcelona, and not ever likely to be.Steel is important to free up players like Carrick ,Rooney,Kagawa ,RVP to concentrate on what they do , unfortunately Fellaini showed none of that on Sunday.
 
Maroune will come good I'm sure. He needs to up his level and adjust as at United there is no hiding place. People's expectations of him are probably too extreme, he's no Yaya Toure and never will be but he is a good player who can offer (when focused) a ball-winning and forward contributing presence in the centre. Trouble is he has been bought as an automatic first choice by the looks and he should definitely not be a shoe-in for a club of United's standing.

It's clear United still require a top-drawer all-round midfielder to really make a difference against the elite sides, where midfield control is so crucial.
 
The majority of our players had a shit day in the office on Sunday, so it's daft to single out Fellaini just because he's a new signing and cost 27m. No United player should be immune to criticism, but a line has to be drawn.

It's way too early to come to some of the conclusions that are being spouted out in this thread. The man has only started twice for us ffs.
 
If steel were that important in football, Barca wouldn't have won a shitload of tropheys. Mobility and positioning are much more important than steel.


What BS. Barca during their superb cycle were one of the best at winning the ball back.
 
Fellaini is better than what United currently have in that midfield, bar Carrick. That's not really up for debate.

The issue is that if you have a poor midfield, this isn't the path to go down. You don't improve a midfield that isn't up to scratch by signing someone who ultimately you would only ever want as a squad player.

If you want to draw wider conclusions, you could argue as well that the biggest worry with the Fellaini signing is that it might be a reflection on the manager. Safety first, stick to what you know. Strength and height over technical proficiency. Maybe that's pushing it.

That would be fair if Fellaini was the only player Moyes went after, but it seemed like Fellaini was just the easiest to get of our targets (as well as hopefully being the least talented). It's not really Moyes' fault we screwed up our attempts to sign better players. Truth is we could easily do with adding another two CMS, if we did that Fellaini would just be a squad player. In that scenario signing him seems fair enough, no?

Edit: Not sure where this post came from, apologies if it's an old one. My phone is acting weird.
 
Er...what do you define as "steel" then.

:lol:

This is made me laugh because I thought this when people kept reeling it off as the reason we should sign Fellaini in the summer. I think by "steel" they meant a physical presence, more bullying people off the ball, winning tackles and generally being a bit dirty.

That's my interpretation of what people meant by steel anyway.
 
I always figured it meant "strong dirty bastard bullying people". Along the lines of De Jong at his worst. Probably nice to have but only if it comes with good technical ability and talent.
 
Aye you definitely need the mix of ability in there as well, I mean Lee Cattermole has 'steel' but he's fecking shite.

Then you have players like Keano who clearly possessed an abundance of steel in midfield, but were terrific players.
 
He seems to be exactly what most United fans thought he was. He's offered very little to the team.
 
He was a token buy so the club could say it had done something at least in the window, one that if we'd really wanted we'd have snapped up for the release clause and had him settle in over the pre-season. It isn't his fault, but we clearly need more than Fellaini, and he shouldn't be in our strongest starting XI.
 
Looks like Fellaini in the hole is something we'll have to get used to seeing when the team is losing.
 
An astonishingly poor decision from Moyes to spend almost £30 million on this guy. Looked like a £15 million squad player today.... which is what he is.
 
He was a token buy so the club could say it had done something at least in the window, one that if we'd really wanted we'd have snapped up for the release clause and had him settle in over the pre-season. It isn't his fault, but we clearly need more than Fellaini, and he shouldn't be in our strongest starting XI.


As if we'd pay nearly £30m just to say "hey look, we bought a player".
 
He certainly didn't look suited to us having to chase the game. He was absolutely terrible and so careless to be off-side when he scored.
 
Yeah, I hold my hands up too, I think I got this one very wrong.

He looks like absolute shite.
The problem is that he's most effective playing off the striker. However, he's just good enough there to justify inclusion at the expense of Rooney or Kagawa. Therefore, it was a misguided buy.
 
Yeah, I hold my hands up too, I think I got this one very wrong.

He looks like absolute shite.


I second that. Was excited to see a strong determined midfielder play alongside Carrick, but he hasn't done anything to really show that. Still got a lot of games to prove us wrong, but the signs aren't looking good.

There was one moment around the edge of the box where he was next to a player who just received the ball by a pass back or deflection (can't remember which) and Fellaini took a good second or two to realise he was his closest man, and only started trying to tackle him as the guy let his shot go. Very slow player, but did almost score the equaliser for us which would have cushioned the blow slightly.
 
I thinks we have to give him time to settle in. To judge him after a few games is wrong imo. Nevertheless he was frustrating today
 
What did ye actually expect from Fellaini? He'll be decent once he settles in, but he was never going to be more than that. Ye've only yourselves to blame if you expected him to massively improve our team, it's an unfair expectation to place on him too.
 
Fellaini has played 2,5 games for us. Yes, he's our new Andy Carroll, he's shite...

Some people are fecking idiots on here.
 
Never liked being linked with him in the first place, always thought it was a joke, couldn't believe when the rumors got serious, couldn't believe we signed him, never thought of him as a Utd player and really hopefully to be proven completely wrong by him and laughed at by the ones who've always believed in him. I'm not he's a failure and will be during his entire career just to be clear.
 
He was never going to be the solution to fix our midfield, only part of the jigsaw. No his fault our defence is wank and we are creating feck all, especially as he is only a few games in. He is an improvement on what we have at our disposal to play next to Carrick. Ando is not consistent enough. Clevz is more suited to playing more advanced.
 
What did ye actually expect from Fellaini? He'll be decent once he settles in, but he was never going to be more than that. Ye've only yourselves to blame if you expected him to massively improve our team, it's an unfair expectation to place on him too.

Exactly, he should never have been bought in the first place.
 
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