Is that the 1-1 draw that they won on pens? We had more possession, more corners, more shots on target, more off target.
They did have 32 fouls to our 13 though. That's Fellini at his most "sensational".
Marouane Fellaini | 2013/14 Performances
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Is that the 1-1 draw that they won on pens? We had more possession, more corners, more shots on target, more off target.
They did have 32 fouls to our 13 though. That's Fellini at his most "sensational".
Ha, I'm blaming the iPad autocorrect for that. Fellini.
Fellaini wasn't even booked that match opposed to Ramires, who's getting as many yellows if not more than Fellaini.
He had two good to very good seasons for Everton as a central midfield player and his form is 09/10 was a lot longer than just one game. There was rumoured interest from big clubs in him then as a central midfielder and it was long before he made the move to second striker a regular one. He had to cover that in his first season when Saha and Yakubu were injured and only him and Cahill were fit. I remember a thread being made on his then by a long-time poster here in the transfer forum and far more reasonable discussion on him than there is now.
He played that second striker role up front with Jelavic for around one and half to two seasons until we signed him because Everton lost a string of attacking players and never replaced them. That's clearly the player that is being judged in this thread and most people only seem to remember.
I also remember the number of clubs that were linked to him when he was at Standard Liege so he is also someone earmarked as a player with a bright future from this generation of Belgium footballers.
Whether he will make it with United, I have no idea, but I do know he's not actually had a chance yet because of his injuries and lack of games. It would be like writing off Neil Webb in January 1990 after he injured himself for 6 months after six or so games for United.
Ramires is also a foul machine, I'll not even try to counter that point.
Fellaini can be decent player in the right system but I think he is at the wrong club at the wrong time.
I'd expect our 5th most expensive signing ever to y'know.... start games? Is that unrealistic?
Not that, such thing is fine, I'm annoyed that he's injured as well to be fair, I'm talking about things like 'lol he can't do a 50 yard pass like scholes so he's not midfielder'. When people become unable to play the 'he'll play at CAM and we've got rooney and kagawa ffs' card they come up with idiotic things really.
Just finished watching a Youtube compilation of Fellaini. He certainly has a lot more in his locker than he showed at United. His technique is clearly a level above what he showed here, but he also looks a lot faster and more agile at Everton. Maybe his injuries have indeed let him down!?
Well to be fair, Fellaini's best season at Everton was when he played the majority of the season as an AM (his last season at Everton). So it's a valid point imo. If we signed him as a CM (which I sure hope we did), then Dave for whatever reason must have quickly come to the conclusion that he's made a mistake signing him. But what's odd about that is that he's managed him at Everton for all of that time, so surely he should have known exactly what he was getting? It's utterly bizarre.
I know that he was a CAM in his last days at Everton but he came here as a CDM, it was highlighted by him and Moyes himself couple of times yet people insisted and panicked for no particular reason that he'd steal spot from either Kagawa ( who's hardly playing there ) or Rooney. He's yet to play as a CAM here because all of the matches he's played for us so far were in CM but with hardly precised role. One day he was playing as a box to box ( I think that this was his role at Shakthar, he was running a bloody lot and got an assist that match ), another day he was CDM and I think he's lost at times. But he's definitely not a CAM here, which is good.
I'm still quite confident he'll come good, I, as stated before, think that people have been horribly harsh on him not due to his performances but expectations we've had pre season, that we'd sign a playmaker and so on.
I'll be honest. I didn't want us to sign him, I thought he'd be a terrible fit for us and would see us playing ugly Everton football. I think he'll be one of our worst signings ever, generally believe that. I was pretty mortified when we signed him.
Having said that, I do hope he comes good as we can't really afford 27m flops. Personally I'd never have signed a player who had been playing as an AM for an entire season and then expect him to do a job as a CM/DM straight away, I think that's pretty unfair tbh. With that in mind, I do feel a bit for Fellaini, But with so many decent midfielders available in the Summer, I think we probably bought the worst one available (to fit with our style, Fellaini himself is a decent player when used in the right system).
I'll be honest. I didn't want us to sign him, I thought he'd be a terrible fit for us and would see us playing ugly Everton football. I think he'll be one of our worst signings ever, generally believe that. I was pretty mortified when we signed him.
Having said that, I do hope he comes good as we can't really afford 27m flops. Personally I'd never have signed a player who had been playing as an AM for an entire season and then expect him to do a job as a CM/DM straight away, I think that's pretty unfair tbh. With that in mind, I do feel a bit for Fellaini, But with so many decent midfielders available in the Summer, I think we probably bought the worst one available (to fit with our style, Fellaini himself is a decent player when used in the right system).
And I'm complete opposite of yours, I liked him prior to the time he played the CAM role so I was big fan of his and hoped we'd sign him. Problem is, as you said, is that there were many other midfielders, of different types, and we should've added another one to Fellaini I think. Buying him all alone was putting unnecessary pressure on him and Moyes himself, we should've gone for him as the CDM and some bloody playmaker. I think that Moyes was just adding options to our midfield as he's well aware that we're in need of another CM who can actually pass it nicely, so the second midfielder will be here sooner or later.
Does anyone have any idea when he is back? I presume not, on physio room has no return date down for him.
I have actually completely forgotten that he plays for us these days.
Was supposed to be back in February.
Edit: 6 weeks from December 23rd which would be Feb 3rd.
Edit2: With that he'll probably struggle to be back in time for the Away game at Stoke which is a pity. Perfect game for him. Should be back for Fulham at home though on the 9th.
Edit: 6 weeks from December 23rd which would be Feb 3rd.
Edit2: With that he'll probably struggle to be back in time for the Away game at Stoke which is a pity. Perfect game for him. Should be back for Fulham at home though on the 9th.
Thanks Irwhine.
The state of some of the comments in here. It seems some fans have literally no patience anymore.
I understand not wanting him in the first place but that ship has sailed. Hes here now and deserves more from those fans. You would swear this has never happened with a new signing before.
I wonder what the CAF would have made of Gary Pallister when we first signed him?
I understand not wanting him in the first place but that ship has sailed. Hes here now and deserves more from those fans. You would swear this has never happened with a new signing before.
I wonder what the CAF would have made of Gary Pallister when we first signed him?
Show some respect will you. Sunny Jim's been watching 'EPL' for 18 years and he knows a dud when he sees one.
It's almost guaranteed that Matic for 20 million who was Fergies choice will go on to be a PL legend for Chelsea while Fellaini is looking like a major flop in this moment although you'd hope he can prove us all wrong
In all seriousness, we haven't missed him. I don't think it's coincidental that our best form this season has coincided with his absence.
Having said that, I'd give him a run in the side over Cleverley when he returns.
Having said that, I'd give him a run in the side over Cleverley when he returns.
PL Legend
I bet most of you haven't even watched Matic
I bet most of you haven't even watched Matic
Eh? Unless you specifically mean the second half on Saturday, I'm not sure where you're coming from here. The period without Fellaini has seen the defeats to Newcastle, Spurs, Swansea and Sunderland, as well as a draw with Spurs and very scrappy wins against Hull, Norwich and Shakhtar. West Ham, Villa and Swansea on Saturday are about the only matches we've looked particulary good in, and even then only for part of the match.
I'm not saying he would have improved things, but it's hard to argue that we've suddenly done well without him.
We had a great December, remember? That was our best run of form this season.
It was our best run of results, and a brief part of it was our best run of form. But it was tehn followed by our worst run of results, still without Fellaini.
If you cast your mind all the way back to last Friday, there was a subtle air of discontent with how the team were playing starting to permeate the caf.
What's there to be patient about though when my expectations for him are so low? If we let him come good, he might be mediocre! Get in.
He's at best a bit part player for United. That we paid £28m for.
I hate equating singings with how much they cost, but its hard to ignore the 28m could have been better spent on one or two different, more relevant players.
Like Fernandinho.
Fernandinho would have looked lost too if you stuck him in a two man midfield next to Cleverley and asked him to find his feet in a woefully out of form midfield four.
Yeah I think that is quite selective. Our best and worst runs of the season, both with him out. Doesnt prove much either way for me. Id say we have missed him, but not the "him" he has been for us so far, the "him" we bought him to be, the "him" of Everton. If and when we see more of that player I really think we'll be the better for it.
Sorry to keep using the quotation marks, I did it the first time and then felt like I needed the others for consistency. But then they kind of took over the post and it all became about the quotation marks. A metaphor for Felliaini so far: bought for nearly £30m and upstaged by some quotation marks.
When he returns it'll feel like we've made a new signing
We'll, have to through the 'Shit we've bought a dud' business all over agan!! Actually I am looking forward to his return, injuries behind him, just so see if he can make an impact.He is nowhere near as bad as he is made out to be!
I look forward for his return too. With this wrist sorted, he'll actually have no excuses. I think he'll do a good job for us in the long run. He looked like a player very short of confidence before his surgery. He wasn't the Fellaini that swaggered, so to speak, around Goodison.
Reckon (I hope anyway) he'll have a decent run in with us. The last thing he needs is fans not supporting him. He won't get any better if that's the case.
Reckon (I hope anyway) he'll have a decent run in with us. The last thing he needs is fans not supporting him. He won't get any better if that's the case.
This is odd, considering a long argument/debate we had about this very point a while back.
Fellaini is a sub, squad player for me - and this is CURRENTLY with our present sham of a midfield. I don't think anyone will argue that Phil Jones at the very least will start ahead of him. If/when we add some real quality in the summer, i'd imagine Fellaini being of even less use.
Perhaps I am being hasty, but I don't buy this default notion of 'time' for everything. I don't think I need two seasons to see Januzaj has 'it', I don't agree that Moyes will automatically become a genius after two seasons, it didn't take Rodgers more than two minutes to see Andy Carroll was a huge mistake and I'm not convinced I need a couple of seasons to see Fellaini is not good enough. Even in the press, who love a 'big money signing', the consensus on deadline day seemed to be 'he's not a Manchester United player'. I struggle to see how this will work out, and I believe we should have signed Matic instead.
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