Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances

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Fergies Formula said:
Am I the only one who thought he did ok? Saw some signs that he is developing, showing good aggression and a few tidy turns in tight areas. He needs a better attacking outfit around him but for me he looks to be growing. Unlucky with the red
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I thought he did ok, I agree. Compared to his earlier outings this was indeed much, much better.

But he's still highlighting what he lacks more than what he's got every time he takes to the field. He's just not offering us anything that playing Phil Jones in there wouldn't equal, at the very least - and Phil Jones isn't a midfielder.

The red card wasn't unlucky it was coming all night. Repeatedly, unnecessary forceful fouling tends to lead to red cards. It's a result of him being too cumbersome against decent opposition. (While I still think Sociedad was a bit crap it's the Champions League, so...)
 
On about 55 mins I turned to my missus and said Fellaini needs subbing off before he's sent off. It was so obviously coming and to be fair to the ref, it could have happened much earlier.

He did OK last night, but didn't really offer anything special. Also he seems to be actually quite stupid in thinking he can get away with constant fouls even when on a yellow.
 
The red card is clearly giving people an excuse to say he had a poor game. He was one of our best players last night and I hope that he builds on it.
 
Fellaini just needs to adjust to the CL I think.

He is so used to being able to throw his body around, and muscle people in challenges in the PL. In Europe the ref's hate any real body to body contact so he get's penalised for the tiniest of challenges.

I personally thought the 2nd half was his best performance for us so far, but no doubt the red card will put a downer on his performance to the un-knowing.
 
just see this posted, his stats from last night.

Passes: 54/61 88.7%
Tackles: 2/3 66.6%
Take Ons: 2/3 66.6%
Interceptions: 2/2 100%
Aerial Duels: 2/4 50%
Clearances: 2/2 100%

on paper they look pretty good, but only 3 tackles in the match?
 
pauldyson1uk said:
just see this posted, his stats from last night.

Passes: 54/61 88.7%
Tackles: 2/3 66.6%
Take Ons: 2/3 66.6%
Interceptions: 2/2 100%
Aerial Duels: 2/4 50%
Clearances: 2/2 100%

on paper they look pretty good, but only 3 tackles in the match?
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To be fair, Sociedad prefered to give us the ball directly, rather then make any of our players try and tackle them.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
To be fair, Sociedad prefered to give us the ball directly, rather then make any of our players try and tackle them.
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Yes - it was that sort of match. They were weak, Sociedad. Evra had the most tackles for us and had, what - four? It's also puzzling to me exactly what they count as a tackle and an interception. I seem to remember Fellaini breaking up their attempts more than twice, i.e. he stopped their progress by getting in the way effectively, albeit not in the manner of an according-to-Hoyle interception.

Also worth to note that he was on the ball more than anyone, except Evra, and that his passing percentage was the highest of all our players bar the greatest human ever - who had 100% success, as you'd expect. Greatest late substitution ever, I'd say.
 
Thought he was one of our best players in a completely dire game of football. It was still pretty average from him and he can do a lot better, but in the context he did pretty well.

Sending off was stupid though, that was literally the last thing he needed after struggling to settle in.
 
LR7 said:
Well to put it into context Valencia completed 5 tackles..
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Yeah but Valencia's a mad bastard. He probably purposefully invents scenarios on the pitch where-by he can engineer a tackle... presumably for 'kicks'

Apart from him and Evra (who was our MOTM in my opinion) everyone else had 2,1 or 0.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
just see this posted, his stats from last night.

Passes: 54/61 88.7%
Tackles: 2/3 66.6%
Take Ons: 2/3 66.6%
Interceptions: 2/2 100%
Aerial Duels: 2/4 50%
Clearances: 2/2 100%

on paper they look pretty good, but only 3 tackles in the match?
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That's because he was late for about 90% of his "tackles" and they turned into fouls.
 
I thought he was decent in the first 15 mins or so, & I did give him credit for that in the matchday thread, played one particularly good through ball. Then he descended into thuggish behaviour, fouling everyone he could & eventually getting, deservedly, sent off.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
a bit harsh, I though he played OK
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He was ok, just as clumsy as anything when making challenges. I'm surprised Moyes didn't sub him after 70-75 minutes because I could see it coming, and so could many others.

He was always a bit of a fouler at Everton, although I mainly noticed the sneaky elbows and the like. He threw a few of them about last night too! I had not noticed how repeatedly late he was on tackles though, so perhaps it's just a fitness issue or a lack of match sharpness?

I'm not writing him off, or saying he's not good enough etc, I'm just calling it as I saw it, and he was repeatedly late in the challenge and clumsy looking last night.
 
If he continues to play in a 2 man midfield, he is going to be a massive flop. He doesn't have the mobility or the awareness to play there for United. He is no better than Tiote when it comes to committing fouls, and you just can't be doing that here. Last night was complete stupidity of the highest order. Would he get into any other top 20 European team's first XI? no. Do we play better with him in the side? No. Do we play better without him, well so far that's a resounding yes.
 
Fellaini is currently second for most fouls per game in the CL this season (He was first in the PL last season). He's 195th for tackles per game and 119th in interceptions per game in the CL.

His stats (backed up by what my eyes see) don't read like a DM, and definitely not one effective at this level.
 
He did alright last night, probably the best I've seen him play in a Utd shirt.

He has a long way to go before he establishes himself as a Utd player obviously - I don't think it'll be fair to judge him til about this time next year, with a proper preseason under his belt and the dust having settled from his move.

Really needs to cut the stupid fouls out of his game.
 
Bill.s.preston said:
He was ok, just as clumsy as anything when making challenges. I'm surprised Moyes didn't sub him after 70-75 minutes because I could see it coming, and so could many others.

He was always a bit of a fouler at Everton, although I mainly noticed the sneaky elbows and the like. He threw a few of them about last night too! I had not noticed how repeatedly late he was on tackles though, so perhaps it's just a fitness issue or a lack of match sharpness?

I'm not writing him off, or saying he's not good enough etc, I'm just calling it as I saw it, and he was repeatedly late in the challenge and clumsy looking last night.
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I said the same in the match thread, he should of been taken off last night, was Moyes even watching him, if he was he would of seen that.
Trouble with him is, a good proportion of fans did not want him here, so he has to be that little bit better to get any credit.
 
LR7 said:
Fellaini is currently second for most fouls per game in the CL this season (He was first in the PL last season). He's 195th for tackles per game and 119th in interceptions per game in the CL.

His stats (backed up by what my eyes see) don't read like a DM, and definitely not one effective at this level.
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That's because he plays better as a targetman in behind the striker, and why he was so effective against us every time we faced Everton. I fear he will get used there eventually when it turns out he didn't solve anything in midfield.
 
Eyepopper said:
He did alright last night, probably the best I've seen him play in a Utd shirt.

He has a long way to go before he establishes himself as a Utd player obviously - I don't think it'll be fair to judge him til about this time next year, with a proper preseason under his belt and the dust having settled from his move.

Really needs to cut the stupid fouls out of his game.
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It shouldn't really take over a year to judge a near 30 million pound player in his prime who we've watched in the prem for years.
 
He wasn't bad last night, to be fair to him. But if he keeps going like that he'll get a few more red cards in Europe. That sort of systematic fouling isn't tolerated.
 
LR7 said:
Fellaini is currently second for most fouls per game in the CL this season (He was first in the PL last season). He's 195th for tackles per game and 119th in interceptions per game in the CL.

His stats (backed up by what my eyes see) don't read like a DM, and definitely not one effective at this level.
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Cost me a lot of points in FF last year that :lol: but at least he was getting me goals.
 
Orton said:
It shouldn't really take over a year to judge a near 30 million pound player in his prime who we've watched in the prem for years.
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His transfer fee has nothing to do with the player or how quickly he settles, thats ridiculous.

Like it or not players need time to settle in new teams, granted he has an advantage having played in the PL, but the same as every person, he will need time to settle in a new job.

He has to find a role and fit in to what's a very established set up, albeit lacking in midfield, and go from being a guaranteed starter and one of the big names to proving himself all over again.

When did we start thinking we could judge players after a handful of games?
 
Played well yesterday. Showed good aggression and won lot of duels, the best I've seen from him so far. But he really needs to get in the box more when we cross from the wings. Maybe it's because he was playing with Giggs in midfield...
 
LR7 said:
Fellaini is currently second for most fouls per game in the CL this season (He was first in the PL last season). He's 195th for tackles per game and 119th in interceptions per game in the CL.

His stats (backed up by what my eyes see) don't read like a DM, and definitely not one effective at this level.
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Weird you cite tackling stats from 3 games to try and make a point, rather than the much larger statistics from entire seasons at Everton - ones which have him as amongst the most effective ballwinners in the league.

Seems like you're looking for reasons to bitch about him now.

Also, his three games in the CL have actually been pretty good, it's the league where he has looked poor. So it's again weird that you chose these stats to criticise him. Even against Shakhtar we looked far more porous when he left the pitch.
 
Theon said:
Weird you cite tackling stats from 3 games to try and make a point, rather than the much larger statistics from entire seasons at Everton - ones which have him as amongst the most effective ballwinners in the league.

Seems like you're looking for reasons to bitch about him now.

Also, his three games in the CL have actually been pretty good, it's the league where he has looked poor. So it's again weird that you chose these stats to criticise him. Even against Shakhtar we looked far more porous when he left the pitch.
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I chose to look at his CL stats, and it's particularly why I said "at this level" in my post.

Most fouls for Everton in the PL last season too, so it is hardly new, and as far as I'm aware he wasn't playing as a DM much last season, but that is where he plays for us.

I've never thought he was a suitable defensive midfielder especially not for a top club, playing in the most elite club competition. Fernandinho hasn't been all that great at City but in the CL he is 56th in terms of interceptions and 15th in terms of tackles (he has one more appearance). For fouls per game he is 212th. - I'm only using his limited stats from this season too because I'm talking about what their current CL performances are showing coupled with what I watch.
 
LR7 said:
I chose to look at his CL stats, and it's particularly why I said "at this level" in my post.

Most fouls for Everton in the PL last season too, so it is hardly new, and as far as I'm aware he wasn't playing as a DM much last season, but that is where he plays for us.

I've never thought he was a suitable defensive midfielder especially not for a top club, playing in the most elite club competition. Fernandinho hasn't been all that great at City but in the CL he is 56th in terms of interceptions and 15th in terms of tackles (he has one more appearance). For fouls per game he is 212th. - I'm only using his limited stats from this season too because I'm talking about what their current CL performances are showing coupled with what I watch.
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I'm not sure how relevant it is to compare Fellaini's stats this season to those of a defensive midfielder when he's not been playing as one for us. He's been expected to contribute offensively and defensively as a proper centre-midfielder when we've played him this year and I'd argue that that's a mistake. He's simply not mobile or positionally aware enough to play that role and commits a fair few fouls as he ends up being caught the wrong side of players and has to chase them. The kind of fouls he's committing this year aren't the same kind he was committing last season. Last year from what I've seen it was largely mistiming or going too aggressively into 50-50s whilst trying to win the ball high up the field or challenge for headers.

As I've said before, I think we'll either see Fellaini being a useful player for us as a last resort in an attacking sense (like it or lump it, that 'target #10' thing is difficult for teams to handle), or as a player to sit deep and shield the defence, at the moment I can't see him flourishing in a role where he's required to switch between those two positions with any kind of urgency.

edit - having said that i did think he was good last night and was a little unlucky to get sent off
 
The scapegoating is fecking pathetic. I was at the game and was baffled at the reaction from the arm chair brigade. Frustrating to see him stupidly get sent off but it was in the 90th minute so had little impact on the game and up to that point he'd anchored well and had a very good last half hour. Rooney gets away with murder at times - he was utter fecking shite in everything he did.
 
I thought Fellaini did a good job last night. He was clearly playing under instruction not to get to far forward. Agreed his persistent fouling was not good, he may just need more games to get his timing right....But thought he broke the game up nicely
 
LR7 said:
I chose to look at his CL stats, and it's particularly why I said "at this level" in my post.

Most fouls for Everton in the PL last season too, so it is hardly new, and as far as I'm aware he wasn't playing as a DM much last season, but that is where he plays for us.

I've never thought he was a suitable defensive midfielder especially not for a top club, playing in the most elite club competition. Fernandinho hasn't been all that great at City but in the CL he is 56th in terms of interceptions and 15th in terms of tackles (he has one more appearance). For fouls per game he is 212th. - I'm only using his limited stats from this season too because I'm talking about what their current CL performances are showing coupled with what I watch.
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I suspect that you used those stats because you know full well that they're awful, and open to criticism. You clearly don't like the player and have moaned about him from day 1. Nothing wrong with that, we all have players we dislike, but I'm just pointing out it isn't a good argument.

Criticising his tackling based on three games is daft, when we know that he's consistently been an effective tackler for four or five years. Why would you make judgements based on three games instead of the much larger data. He didn't play in midfield in 12/13 no, but was still Evertons best tackler. In 2011/12 he did and was 14th in the entire league, in 2010/11 he was 11th and in 2009/10 he was 17th. So you have four years of stats which point to him being good at winning the ball, but instead you use his three games from the CL to argue he isn't suited to the role.

Also he actually played well in all three CL games, its the league he's been below par in.
 
He looked to get a little sharper after receiving the yellow card and was doing pretty well until close to the end. Moyesought to shoulder the blame for not bringing him off when he had the chance.
 
UnofficialDevil said:
I thought Fellaini played well tonight,basically did what Carrick usually does.
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If that was the case, then Carrick absence on the english midfield would surely justified, and his presence on United's midfield for so long would be a mystery. No, he did not play basically the Carrick role.
 
To be fair he is not going to more than an average player for us, he lacks the technical and speed to be an excellent player.

I get the impression that some cafters will applaud any half decent performance just to make sure he is deemed a success at the club.
 
mufcwarm92 said:
The scapegoating is fecking pathetic. I was at the game and was baffled at the reaction from the arm chair brigade.
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Just from the last page.

Fergies Formula said:
Am I the only one who thought he did ok? Saw some signs that he is developing, showing good aggression and a few tidy turns in tight areas.
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marjen said:
I thought he did ok, I agree. Compared to his earlier outings this was indeed much, much better.
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Shark22 said:
He was one of our best players last night
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Eyepopper said:
He did alright last night, probably the best I've seen him play in a Utd shirt.
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Oldham said:
Played well yesterday. Showed good aggression and won lot of duels, the best I've seen from him so far.
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Adam-Utd said:
I personally thought the 2nd half was his best performance for us so far, but no doubt the red card will put a downer on his performance to the un-knowing.
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Theon said:
Thought he was one of our best players in a completely dire game of football. .
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'kin armchair brigade :rolleyes:

I'm just glad they introduced that 'Football General Knowledge' quiz you have to take before they give you a ticket.
 
Eyepopper said:
'kin armchair brigade :rolleyes:

I'm just glad they introduced that 'Football General Knowledge' quiz you have to take before they give you a ticket.
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He was if anything even poorer watching him live at OT vs Southampton. Then you really se how out of position he is at any given time.

Do you think he's a good footballer? Good enough for United?
 
Nate Dogg said:
To be fair he is not going to more than an average player for us, he lacks the technical and speed to be an excellent player.

I get the impression that some cafters will applaud any half decent performance just to make sure he is deemed a success at the club.
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Possibly - but what can you do? Sit around moaning about the fact he cost thirty mill and that he - clearly - isn't Redondo reborn? I prefer to take what positives there are and hope he turns out to be a useful player for us. He still can. The improbability of him becoming truly excellent is neither here nor there for me, as I doubt very much he'll be our last CM signing under Moyes.
 
marjen said:
He was if anything even poorer watching him live at OT vs Southampton. Then you really se how out of position he is at any given time.

Do you think he's a good footballer? Good enough for United?
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I think he's a good footballer but I think the question for him is can he step and make the grade at this level - same as for any other player coming to Utd really. I think he's looked nervous and out of his depth at times this season but it's very very early days, I think you need to be prepared to give him at least 12-18 months to settle.

I watched a bit of him at Everton and the two real concerns I've had watching him in a Utd shirt are his lack of pace - he's never been a cheetah but he's looked like he's wearing stone boots at times, and his first touch - at times every second touch has been a tackle.

These could be just a question of sharpness and games though, as well as the settling in period with new team mates.

I'm definitely not surprised a top club has bought him, but we've seen with lots of players in the past, going from being the main man at a smaller club to somewhere like Utd is a massive step and not everyone can take it, I'd imagine it would be almost impossible if the fans are on your back from the get go.

I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as some people are making out. The way with modern fans is to demand instant success, which rarely happens, and there's probably a tendency to be overly critical of Fellaini because he's not the 'inho' everyone wanted.

I liked the look of a lot of his play last night, and if continues to develop along those lines I think he'll be a good player for us.
 
Nate Dogg said:
I get the impression that some cafters will applaud any half decent performance just to make sure he is deemed a success at the club.
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How would that work? If he's shit he'll be deemed shit, if he's not then he wont.

Nothing wrong with supporting players and acknowledging he did ok (I don't think anyone is saying he set the world on fire), particularly when he's a new player trying to settle, better that than making wild predicitions about his future and claiming that anyone that doesn't agree with you has some weird agenda.
 
Chesterlestreet said:
Possibly - but what can you do? Sit around moaning about the fact he cost thirty mill and that he - clearly - isn't Redondo reborn? I prefer to take what positives there are and hope he turns out to be a useful player for us. He still can. The improbability of him becoming truly excellent is neither here nor there for me, as I doubt very much he'll be our last CM signing under Moyes.
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Spot on.
 
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