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Marouane Fellaini Belgium flag

2014-15 Performances


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5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
31
Goals
7
Assists
2
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7
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1
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@finneh posted a diagram of the average positions against Spurs and Liverpool

Top one - Spurs
Bottom one - Liverpool

982b92331aff1a756233e40ffc18a088.jpg
 
Rooney was playing behind the forward, centrally, in a 4411 or 4231. He was a 10 who helped out defensively - similar to Oscar for Chelsea. Fellaini, on the other hand, although slightly more advanced than Herrera, is playing on the left of a three, whilst Herrera is on the right.

Fellaini shares a similar role to Matuidi of PSG, who constantly running off the shoulder of the last man, but also comes back and makes a three off the ball. In a 433, if the forward drops off, which Rooney likes to do often, you then need one of the midfielders to run in behind, and it seems that Van Gaal has given Fellaini that role.

I typed out a reply and realised this is just getting into levels of interpretation. Either way, Fellaini is starting matches pulling out towards the left wing, playing with his back to goal and pushing onto the RCB and RB. By virtue of being our outlet ball, he spends a lot of time ahead of the ball. I can't see how you can compare that role to what Herrera does, or any other orthodox CM player. He did tuck back in into what was a more orthodox midfield 3 position against Liverpool and Tottenham in the second half, to be fair (where he was noticeably less prominent/effective in both games).
 
I think people are getting too fixated on trying to determine Fellaini's position. I don't think calling him an #8 or a #10 is really the right way to define it. For me he seems to be playing some sort of hybrid role. I have seen him take up positions as a #9, a #10, #8, and a winger. He sort of floats in and around these positions. An 'advanced #8' would probably be the best way to say it.

Just to weigh in on that @Walrus and @JPRouve debate, Fellaini's defensive contribution far exceeds Herrera's and I think that post from @Walrus was excellent.
 
Just to weigh in on that @Walrus and @JPRouve debate, Fellaini's defensive contribution far exceeds Herrera's and I think that post from @Walrus was excellent.

That's not true, Fellaini does things better than Herrera and Herrera does over things better than Fellaini. You can see it with your own eyes and the stats proves it too.

Fellaini is better in all the physical things (clearances, takles won) and Herrera his better in all the positional things hence his high number of interceptions.
None of them are perfect defensively but Herrera's strong points are more suited for the role that Van gaal gave him.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-m...nterceptions/defence_score/fouls_committed#90
 
Fellaini's positional sense and tendency to switch off while defending worried me far more when we signed him than any lack of technical ability.
 
That style of play is also a myth. Until 06-07 we'd only scored more than 80 goals in a Prem season twice and, over the 15 seasons to that point, we averaged less than 2 goals a game. And that's including 99-00 and 01-02 when we scored 97 and 87 goals respectively. In the Prem we let in 3 or more goals 40 times in those 15 seasons - we won 5 of those games (and had six 3-3 draws). That's not to say that the game wasn't more "end to end" in those days - it was. But, strangely, that didn't result in more goals (for or against) than we've seen in recent years.

For the record my post that started this wasn't me saying we actually won games 5-4 regularly or scored record tallies every season. I was talking about the cavalier mentality we played with, not how well that actually panned out.
 
That's not true, Fellaini does things better than Herrera and Herrera does over things better than Fellaini. You can see it with your own eyes and the stats proves it too.

Fellaini is better in all the physical things (clearances, takles won) and Herrera his better in all the positional things hence his high number of interceptions.
None of them are perfect defensively but Herrera's strong points are more suited for the role that Van gaal gave him.

http://www.squawka.com/comparison-m...nterceptions/defence_score/fouls_committed#90

I agree with that. However I think that Fellaini's defensive qualities, the physical stuff as you said, is at a higher level than Herrera's defensive qualities.
 
Its what I have been banging on about for the last week - if it aint broke dont fix it.
 
Van Gaal on United midfielder Marouane Fellaini's form: "I knew of him but I didn't meet him until after we came back from pre-season in the United States. From the first training session he has done everything I have asked. He has been very open to what I have said and he wants to perform. We can change the system but the way he is playing, I cannot change him."

That is the quote from the conference (taking from the BBC).

Honestly not wanting to beat a dead horse with this one, but it backs up what I thought from when Fellaini came on against West Brom and scored his first goal for us, earlier this season. He listens and does what the manager asks - we saw in that game (it was West Brom or West Ham, cant remember which) that LVG was talking to Fellaini at length in the dugout, before he brought him on. It was clear that he was giving Fellaini various instructions, and Fellaini came on and changed the game around.

You can doubt many things about the afroman, but his attitude is not one of them. He has shown the balls, grit and determination to be a United player, and has shown that he will listen to the manager to good effect. At this point and based on these quotes I would be shocked if LVG sold Fellaini anytime soon.
 
The manager is completely right, there's no way he doesn't start every game on current form. He's been excellent and has no doubt won some respect and maybe even turned around some opinions recently. What's more, he also had a fantastic week with Belgium, pretty sure he scored three goals?
 
That is the quote from the conference (taking from the BBC).

Honestly not wanting to beat a dead horse with this one, but it backs up what I thought from when Fellaini came on against West Brom and scored his first goal for us, earlier this season. He listens and does what the manager asks - we saw in that game (it was West Brom or West Ham, cant remember which) that LVG was talking to Fellaini at length in the dugout, before he brought him on. It was clear that he was giving Fellaini various instructions, and Fellaini came on and changed the game around.

You can doubt many things about the afroman, but his attitude is not one of them. He has shown the balls, grit and determination to be a United player, and has shown that he will listen to the manager to good effect. At this point and based on these quotes I would be shocked if LVG sold Fellaini anytime soon.

It's the case with Young as well. The two players who got the most shit thrown at them last year. They both have exemplary attitudes and work their balls off for the manager and team.
 
It's the case with Young as well. The two players who got the most shit thrown at them last year. They both have exemplary attitudes and work their balls off for the manager and team.

I have personally been more surprised at Young's turnaround. I always thought that Fellaini would come good if LVG gave him a chance, but Young I expected to be one of the first out the door. Credit to him as well.
 
That is the quote from the conference (taking from the BBC).

Honestly not wanting to beat a dead horse with this one, but it backs up what I thought from when Fellaini came on against West Brom and scored his first goal for us, earlier this season. He listens and does what the manager asks - we saw in that game (it was West Brom or West Ham, cant remember which) that LVG was talking to Fellaini at length in the dugout, before he brought him on. It was clear that he was giving Fellaini various instructions, and Fellaini came on and changed the game around.

You can doubt many things about the afroman, but his attitude is not one of them. He has shown the balls, grit and determination to be a United player, and has shown that he will listen to the manager to good effect. At this point and based on these quotes I would be shocked if LVG sold Fellaini anytime soon.

It was West Ham Big Sam was on about Long Ball Utd and LVG brought out a dossier to prove him wrong.
 
That is the quote from the conference (taking from the BBC).

Honestly not wanting to beat a dead horse with this one, but it backs up what I thought from when Fellaini came on against West Brom and scored his first goal for us, earlier this season. He listens and does what the manager asks - we saw in that game (it was West Brom or West Ham, cant remember which) that LVG was talking to Fellaini at length in the dugout, before he brought him on. It was clear that he was giving Fellaini various instructions, and Fellaini came on and changed the game around.

You can doubt many things about the afroman, but his attitude is not one of them. He has shown the balls, grit and determination to be a United player, and has shown that he will listen to the manager to good effect. At this point and based on these quotes I would be shocked if LVG sold Fellaini anytime soon.

Yep, no chance of him being sold. Even if we sign someone to replace him in the first team he'll still be an excellent squad player to have around.
 
His ability on here was often downplayed to a laughable extent. It was made out that he was some lug at Everton with no technique or actual footballing ability. This of course was far from the truth. He was actually excellent for Everton.

I wasn't ecstatic when we signed him but I thought he would be a good player for us. He was thoroughly underwhelming last season and I really started to doubt him. But fair play to him, he's turned it around and has been excellent lately.
 
Always been a supporter of his, because I think he's always offered us something we have lacked. Aggression. He had a terrible season last year, but you can understand why. LVG has re-invigorated him and allowed him to relax and trust his ability. Very pleased for him, because I think he suffered the Moyes effect last year.
 
For the record my post that started this wasn't me saying we actually won games 5-4 regularly or scored record tallies every season. I was talking about the cavalier mentality we played with, not how well that actually panned out.

I wouldn't disagree with this. The English game was helter-skelter end-to-end back then. Exciting, but useless against top European sides who could slow the game down and use skill (dastardly foreigners!!). And, when it came down to it, lack of skill was why so few goals were scored in the Prem despite all the effort. (Does that tell us something about the national team?)
 
I remember supporting Fellaini a bit last year and you get a lot of stick when you do that, so it's surprising to see so many "I knew he'd come good" posts, but fair play @togg, @Walrus and @Robbie Boy all don't seem to be that harsh on the lad (although Robbie Boy seriously doubted during the world cup)
 
I remember supporting Fellaini a bit last year and you get a lot of stick when you do that, so it's surprising to see so many "I knew he'd come good" posts, but fair play @togg, @Walrus and @Robbie Boy all don't seem to be that harsh on the lad (although Robbie Boy seriously doubted during the world cup)


The fee was too high, the circumstances ridiculous and the overall transfer window has been a shambles, but he will be a good signing for us I reckon.

That was my post on 3rd September, when we signed him, and I stand by every word :wenger:
 
I remember supporting Fellaini a bit last year and you get a lot of stick when you do that, so it's surprising to see so many "I knew he'd come good" posts, but fair play @togg, @Walrus and @Robbie Boy all don't seem to be that harsh on the lad (although Robbie Boy seriously doubted during the world cup)

Can't deny I doubted to him to the point that I wanted rid. The only reason I wanted to keep was because I knew we would have take a massive loss.

I didn't want to sign him as he wasn't what we needed but I thought he was a good player for Everton. I never necessarily doubted his ability as a footballer; it was more that he was a terrible fit that wasn't utilised properly. Fair play to him, he's winning me over and I hope he has another good game against Villa tomorrow.
 
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I didn't want to sign him we he wasn't what we needed but I thought he was a good player for Everton. I never necessarily doubted his ability as footballer; it was more that he was a terrible fit that wasn't utilised properly. Fair play to him, he's winning me over and I hope he has another good game against Villa tomorrow.

I agree with most of this - he wasnt the right signing for us at the time, and we overpaid, which is part of the reason for the animosity towards him.
 
I remember supporting Fellaini a bit last year and you get a lot of stick when you do that, so it's surprising to see so many "I knew he'd come good" posts, but fair play @togg, @Walrus and @Robbie Boy all don't seem to be that harsh on the lad (although Robbie Boy seriously doubted during the world cup)
Eating my words here, which is a good thing in this case.
 
Fellaini is the result of having too many pussies in midfield. He brings physicality that we need to bring some balance in midfield. Hence why I want Carrick to be replaced with someone whose more defensive minded. It would allow us to release both Herrera and Di Maria in CM.
 
Fellaini is the result of having too many pussies in midfield. He brings physicality that we need to bring some balance in midfield. Hence why I want Carrick to be replaced with someone whose more defensive minded. It would allow us to release both Herrera and Di Maria in CM.
 
Man Utd 3:1 Aston Villa
If Fellaini carries on playing the way he's been doing in the last few games, I don't see why he can't start for us next season. On his day, he's absolutely unplayable, and gives us something different.

Next season, I can imagine our midfield trio's will be something like:

Fellaini - New B2B
Carrick

Fellaini - Herrera
Carrick

Herrera - New B2B
Carrick

I like Herrera, but I just can't see Van Gaal regularly starting him as a 10 next season. Although he's picked up a few goals this season, he's not really known for his goalscoring, and Van Gaal likes his goalscoring attacking midfielders. I could see Fellaini, on the other hand, picking up about 10-15 goals in the most advanced midfield position if played often.


:wenger:
 
As soon as he goes off, we concede from a set piece. Coincidence? White text, but is it needed?
 
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