Marouane Fellaini | Match Discussion thread 2013/14

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Stats from today's game:

Fellaini - 55 passes, 84% pass accuracy
Carrick - 55 passes, 84% pass accuracy

Fellaini - 2 tackles, 5 interceptions, 3 clearances, 1 blocked shot.
Carrick - 1 tackle, 4 interceptions, 3 clearances, 0 blocked shots.

Fellaini's passing stats are misleading, but did his departure allow Southampton the opportunity to dominate midfield?
 
Every sub today was poor. Fellaini was poor but we didn't really have an alternative to him... moving Jones into midfield would have been my preference over Giggs, which Moyes ended up doing when gaping holes appeared in midfield. Fellaini was also poor vs Shahktar but there is a case that we were worse off without him there and the same again today.

My initial suspicions on his signing have so far been confirmed. An absolute bully playing as a second striker (!) at Everton but whenever i'd seen him play deeper for Everton, he looked half the player. He wants to play deeper but he's just not as effective in there. Does that mean we should play him further forward? No because we have much better players for that. Think it's quite clear that he hasn't played much football as a centre mid to be honest and needs to learn/re-learn a lot of things and ditch the bad habits he's picked up from playing as a second striker.

My opinion is that he should be used as an alternative to Carrick and not as his partner. Serious lack of legs in this midfield 2.
 
Pretty much agree with this. CM has been my major issue for 2 or 3 years now, even I have got bored with listening to me moan about it. I think we over rate Cleverley a little bit but he is becoming a better player every time he doesnt play. Until we can buy a couple of quality midfield players he needs to play Cleverley alongside Carrick. Not sure where Fellaini fits in, probably only to give Carrick a rest to be honest.
 
I think Fellaini is still a better option than Giggs, Anderson and Jones. He screens the defence better than Jones and we didn't look like conceding while he was on the pitch yesterday.
 
Given the lack of midfielders on the bench it did not make any sense taking him off. However I dont really see him as a regular in the team. What is more worrying for me is All though we probably all know we need at least CM is could be argued we need 4 or 5 players in several positions.
 
Fellaini. £29 million. Ya Ya Toure £24 million. David Silva £24 million. Any questions?
 
We overpaid for Fellaini - we knew that before he kicked a ball.
 
I am not sure it is worth discussing his fee. We paid too much and I think everyone would agree with that. Sometimes you have to pay over the odds to get your man. My issue is I dont believe Fellaini is the man.
 
Fulham - 2/11/2013

Fairly decent and was one of our better performers in the second half. Was pleasing to see him come to Januzaj's defence.
 
Think he needs games to get up to speed in midfield. Him being cup tied has made that difficult. We've been struggling in the league so it's not been easy to give him time in the league either. Wrist injury probably not helped him either.
 
I still think he is a bit lazy considering he is supposed to have an influence in the midfield either it attacking or defensively
 
Real Sociedad - 5/11/2013

Average performance, has a long way to go before he can convince me he is United quality.
 
He doesnt do much wrong but has very little influence on games. He, like the whole team really, lacks mobility and quickness of passing.
 
Thought he is one of our better players. Broke down several attacks through tackles & interceptions and won a lot of headers. He was okay in possession. First yellow card was harsh, but second was fair enough due to totting up of fouls.
 
I also thought he was one of our better players. Unfortunately it was a really bad team performance and I think thats about as good as we will get from Fellaini.
 
Improved as the game wore on but it was a stupid dismissal from his point of view. He can't have any complaints.
 
Drifts around the pitch making stupid niggly tackles. He needs to up his game if he wants to play more
 
Cardiff City - 24/11/2013

Chance today for him to prove his worth to the team with Carrick out. The result was the opposite. Unavailable for Wednesday's game so unable to get another go at it. He and Cleverley both hopeless today.
 
Defensively he was okay-ish: four clearances, four tackles, two inceptions and won seven aerial duels, but he was also weak at times. He needs to impose himself when we are in possession. The distance between him and the defence was too big, he needed to drop deeper to collect the ball off the centre backs. His passing was generally safe.
 
There is not much I can say really. Not good enough for midfield. He might get away with playing behind the front man but we have better players for that position.
 
The amount of times he gets beaten to the ball isn't good enough
 
Cardiff's 1st goal probably doesn't happen if Carrick is playing. He would probably have been in the area where Mutch was so would either have stopped the ball getting to him in the first place or would have shut off the avenue for Mutch to pass the ball to Campbell.

Must do better.
 
Everton - 4/12/2013

Better tonight to be fair to him, still nothing special but better.
 
He played well tonight, especially in the first half. He was defensively solid and disrupted play (won five tackles and made four interceptions). Quieter in the second half, but an improvement overall. Not necessarily his fault those in front of him failed to deliver. I think we've seen a gradual improvement over the last month.
 
I just dont think he is good enough. Tonight was his best game for United but I still think he is a long way from being the quality we need.
 
I thought he made a few good tackles but that was it. He is not a United player and shows very little desire in his game. Giggs was carrying him last night.

If we wanted someone we could lump the ball forward to, then he is the man, but he cant play proper passing football
 
Giggs was doing all of the running and donkey work while Fellaini plodded along and just passed the ball backwards every time he got it
 
Disagree. Fellaini was arguably our best player in the first half. According to FourFourTwo he made 68 passes in total, 30 were forward passes of which 26 were successful. I agree that his passing needs to be more positive, there was an improvement last night compared to Cardiff and hopefully he will further improve with confidence. Fellaini fulfilled his role pretty much spot on in the first half.
 
He's obviously having a difficult transition, going from top dog at Everton to a lamentable squad player at United. I think he would play better as the deepest player in a three man midfield, similar to what Barry was doing for Everton last night, but United have never really played that way and i don't think we should change to suit him.

His biggest problem at the moment is confidence, although he played better last night it was still a bit timid. He got knocked off the ball a few times by James "half his size" McCarthy and pulled out of a few 50/50 challenges that you'd expect him to dominate. If he can rekindle the fire in his belly and get a few solid performances under his belt then he could end up being a half decent signing.
 
Feel a bit sorry for him, looks out of place playing in a 2. Doesn't look like he's capable of playing there at all so I can't see his performances improving the longer he does.
 
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