He's too slow and immobile to be where he needs to be when we're attacked/countered at pace.
27
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 47
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Red cards
- 1
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
- Status
He's great at what he does but what should we do with all the balls he win??? We need Carrick or Schweinsteiger to come in and control the games ffs.
He can take the ball well, but he can't control the midfield, is slow and has no positional awareness. A good sub, ok, but a starting midfielder for our club? Never. Especially not in a midfield of two.
Doesn't mean anything when the pass is always to the man closest to him. Cleverley was the same although he did manage to not be so gormless and clumsy.
He is fecking wank. Well done donkey
His limitations in the role he's playing are not a surprise, the pass completion bollocks is just that when you look at where most of them went. He also was all over the gaff positionally at times today.
Worrying! If Fellaini makes the most passes for your team, their is something wrong with that. We need a midfield who controls the game to be the center of this statistic, not a destroyer.
If Carrick was on instead of Fellaini with those statistic, we probably would have won the game.
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Had a very good game. Penalty didn't matter as the game was over. He read the game well and won many balls. His yellow was bullshit, just Oliver being shit.
He hit some decent passes today, was definitely more adventurous (i.e. the Zlatan header). It's not really his responsibility to be playing those passes anyway. He usually defers to Rooney and Pogba to take up that role.
I thought he gradually got worse as the game progressed, against Southampton he seemed to know when and when not to challenge and what spaces to pick up, that was all out the window today. Yeah he won tackles and headers but the control to his performance against Southampton wasn't there today. I'm not lobbying for him being dropped(yet) but put Herrera or someone with some passing ability next to him ffs. Asking Fellaini to start your attacks when your defence win the ball is asking too much.
Horses for courses with Fellaini for me. He can be really useful to have for some games but for others he doesn't offer enough. He's just not an effective passer and so when he's playing where he does and with Pogba roaming forward so much we just lose momentum. Far too many simple/defensive passes.
If he's playing as the deepest midfielder his job is to take up good positions, marshall the defence and dictate the tempo of the game and distribute the ball.
He's good at precisely none of those things. He's nowhere near good enough for us but he throws himself into tackles so people think he's doing well. We've developed really low standards.
He could be good in winning the bal but he can do nothing with the ball.. we need better midfielders.. today with Blind missing.. all we did was launch hopeful balls high..
This, both he and Pogba kack the nous to affect our build up from deep and when teams come after us neither has the intelligence to be where we need them. The net effect is we aren't hurting teams but can't stop them playing through us.
He generally takes up good positions. He isn't world class so obviously at times he doesn't but he'd be our best option in doing that other than Carrick I think. He does distribute the ball. He wins the ball and distributes it quite efficiently, either to Rooney or Pogba or out wide to a full back. He isn't going to dictate the game by incorporating longer passes though, ala Scholes. The issue is that there are others that could do things that Fellaini doesn't, but then he does things that they can't do. None of the options are full-proof.
I don't get complaints of Fellaini with these stats. With as bad as Pogba and Rooney were today, the fact he was still able to show something in the midfield is amazing.So far today:
I think it is showing everything goes backwards or sideways. He plays it safe.
If Carrick or Blind were playing in DM their passing chart wouldn't look like that.
Not mobile enough to protect the back four. Particularly with centre midfield company like Rooney and Pogba, neither of whom has the defensive nous to press the ball and drop in at the right times.
Maybe worth trying Blind with Herrera and Pogba
This approach of playing Rooney (who can't control the game) and Pogba (who can't control the game) with Fellaini is the most basic undoing of our team. Without resorting to full on criticism of Fellaini (he's done ok as an individual, in fairness to him), the guy should not be played in that setup, ever, especially for a club that has a tradition to to uphold. He just doesn't have the range and variety of passing to bring coherence to the midfield, and support the unbalanced structure ahead of him. To do justice to that role, you need to be like this:
And he just isn't that type of player in terms of rhythmic passing and inventiveness to control the central areas of the pitch. He will break down attacks, and lay off simple balls (resulting in higher pass percentages), but that isn't what we need, and for someone reason the manager isn't able to appreciate that flaw. It's maddening. Equally worse is playing Bailly and Smalling behind him - who are no great shakes on the ball themselves. You will sink deeper and deeper towards your own goal, because there's literally no one who has the range and vision to create something from the deep; and in turn you bring unneeded pressure upon yourselves, instead of taking the game to the opposition. On the defensive side, he's still a little slow to 'read and react', which can be troublesome since he doesn't have a lot of pace to begin with, especially when asked to cover for Pogba.
For a manager who used Motta with Cambiasso and Sneijder, and Alonso with Khedira and Özil, and Cesc with Matić - it's amazing that we're using Fellaini with Pogba and Rooney in the center of the park. And it's not even Fellaini's fault, because he can only do what he's good at. This structural imbalance is squarely on José's shoulders.
And he just isn't that type of player in terms of rhythmic passing and inventiveness to control the central areas of the pitch. He will break down attacks, and lay off simple balls (resulting in higher pass percentages), but that isn't what we need, and for someone reason the manager isn't able to appreciate that flaw. It's maddening. Equally worse is playing Bailly and Smalling behind him - who are no great shakes on the ball themselves. You will sink deeper and deeper towards your own goal, because there's literally no one who has the range and vision to create something from the deep; and in turn you bring unneeded pressure upon yourselves, instead of taking the game to the opposition. On the defensive side, he's still a little slow to 'read and react', which can be troublesome since he doesn't have a lot of pace to begin with, especially when asked to cover for Pogba.
For a manager who used Motta with Cambiasso and Sneijder, and Alonso with Khedira and Özil, and Cesc with Matić - it's amazing that we're using Fellaini with Pogba and Rooney in the center of the park. And it's not even Fellaini's fault, because he can only do what he's good at. This structural imbalance is squarely on José's shoulders.
Not good enough as a DM, although he's playing better than previous seasons. Fellaini ain't up to scratch for us.
Completely agree. He's not doing badly he's just not what we need in DM to make this team tick, Carrick or even Blind need to be tried there. The flaws in his passing ability are exasperated because we sit so deep. By the time the ball slowly makes it's way to our attackers they either have to beat 2/3 men from the half way line themselves or are faced with 10 men behind the ball.This approach of playing Rooney (who can't control the game) and Pogba (who can't control the game) with Fellaini is the most basic undoing of our team. Without resorting to full on criticism of Fellaini (he's done ok as an individual, in fairness to him), the guy should not be played in that setup, ever, especially for a club that has a tradition to to uphold. He just doesn't have the range and variety of passing to bring coherence to the midfield, and support the unbalanced structure ahead of him. To do justice to that role, you need to be like this:
And he just isn't that type of player in terms of rhythmic passing and inventiveness to control the central areas of the pitch. He will break down attacks, and lay off simple balls (resulting in higher pass percentages), but that isn't what we need, and for someone reason the manager isn't able to appreciate that flaw. It's maddening. Equally worse is playing Bailly and Smalling behind him - who are no great shakes on the ball themselves. You will sink deeper and deeper towards your own goal, because there's literally no one who has the range and vision to create something from the deep; and in turn you bring unneeded pressure upon yourselves, instead of taking the game to the opposition. On the defensive side, he's still a little slow to 'read and react', which can be troublesome since he doesn't have a lot of pace to begin with, especially when asked to cover for Pogba.
For a manager who used Motta with Cambiasso and Sneider, and Alonso with Khedira and Özil, and Cesc with Matić - it's amazing that we're using Fellaini with Pogba and Rooney in the center of the park. And it's not even Fellaini's fault, because he can only do what he's good at. This structural imbalance is squarely on José's shoulders.
Totally agree, I hate to say it but Pep would NEVER pick such a line up, its actually school boy stuff, I wouldn't even do it on bloody football managerThis approach of playing Rooney (who can't control the game) and Pogba (who can't control the game) with Fellaini is the most basic undoing of our team. Without resorting to full on criticism of Fellaini (he's done ok as an individual, in fairness to him), the guy should not be played in that setup, ever, especially for a club that has a tradition to to uphold. He just doesn't have the range and variety of passing to bring coherence to the midfield, and support the unbalanced structure ahead of him. To do justice to that role, you need to be like this:
And he just isn't that type of player in terms of rhythmic passing and inventiveness to control the central areas of the pitch. He will break down attacks, and lay off simple balls (resulting in higher pass percentages), but that isn't what we need, and for someone reason the manager isn't able to appreciate that flaw. It's maddening. Equally worse is playing Bailly and Smalling behind him - who are no great shakes on the ball themselves. You will sink deeper and deeper towards your own goal, because there's literally no one who has the range and vision to create something from the deep; and in turn you bring unneeded pressure upon yourselves, instead of taking the game to the opposition. On the defensive side, he's still a little slow to 'read and react', which can be troublesome since he doesn't have a lot of pace to begin with, especially when asked to cover for Pogba.
For a manager who used Motta with Cambiasso and Sneijder, and Alonso with Khedira and Özil, and Cesc with Matić - it's amazing that we're using Fellaini with Pogba and Rooney in the center of the park. And it's not even Fellaini's fault, because he can only do what he's good at. This structural imbalance is squarely on José's shoulders.
Fellaini is like a cone in midfield. Some quick passing and he is bypassed. He was bamg average today. Lost tackles and aerial duels and his passing was never anything to write home about.
Fellaini plays badly--- "he's awful and shouldn't be in the team"
Fellaini plays well---"he's awful and shouldn't be in the team"
Pogba plays badly---"Fellaini's fault"
Rooney can't pass---"Fellaini's fault"
Bailly/Blind defending badly---"Fellaini's fault"
I honestly don't know how a player can do well with this type of harsh criticism. Out of all the regular starters, he has been the most (or at least on of the most) consistent players. Mourinho is including him in the team for a reason.
Fellaini plays well---"he's awful and shouldn't be in the team"
Pogba plays badly---"Fellaini's fault"
Rooney can't pass---"Fellaini's fault"
Bailly/Blind defending badly---"Fellaini's fault"
I honestly don't know how a player can do well with this type of harsh criticism. Out of all the regular starters, he has been the most (or at least on of the most) consistent players. Mourinho is including him in the team for a reason.
I wonder how he will do against the geggen press ..
Yeah, that's a good post, innit. The blend's wrong, 2 of 3 in there are not up to it on an individual basis. Offensively it's a nightmare & even the speed of transition from defence into attack, we take 2 passes more to just get started sometimes.This approach of playing Rooney (who can't control the game) and Pogba (who can't control the game) with Fellaini is the most basic undoing of our team. Without resorting to full on criticism of Fellaini (he's done ok as an individual, in fairness to him), the guy should not be played in that setup, ever, especially for a club that has a tradition to to uphold. He just doesn't have the range and variety of passing to bring coherence to the midfield, and support the unbalanced structure ahead of him. To do justice to that role, you need to be like this:
And he just isn't that type of player in terms of rhythmic passing and inventiveness to control the central areas of the pitch. He will break down attacks, and lay off simple balls (resulting in higher pass percentages), but that isn't what we need, and for someone reason the manager isn't able to appreciate that flaw. It's maddening. Equally worse is playing Bailly and Smalling behind him - who are no great shakes on the ball themselves. You will sink deeper and deeper towards your own goal, because there's literally no one who has the range and vision to create something from the deep; and in turn you bring unneeded pressure upon yourselves, instead of taking the game to the opposition. On the defensive side, he's still a little slow to 'read and react', which can be troublesome since he doesn't have a lot of pace to begin with, especially when asked to cover for Pogba.
For a manager who used Motta with Cambiasso and Sneijder, and Alonso with Khedira and Özil, and Cesc with Matić - it's amazing that we're using Fellaini with Pogba and Rooney in the center of the park. And it's not even Fellaini's fault, because he can only do what he's good at. This structural imbalance is squarely on José's shoulders.
Quick feed to Martial & Rashford should be a constant threat - they're hardly seeing the ball in a situation with any offensive promise.
I thought he played well today. Shame his defensive positioning and mobility is so bad. We need someone better.
Because it has more to do with the balance in the team and I'm sorry, but even if he's outperforming Pogba, you don't choose Fellaini over him. You need to get the best out of Pogba, not Fellaini. The midfield is lacking that constant passing presence. Fellaini isn't that guy. Pogba isn't that guy.
Substituting in Carrick or Blind won't solve the problem either as the midfield lacks energy. That is why I believe Herrera also needs to be in as that 3rd midfielder.
He was the only one in midfield who turned up and was trying. The rest of the lot should be ashamed.
Fellaini has been our best player this season and deserves to be in the team. But he needs to have the right players beside him because as we all know he has his limitations as a player but there is a very simple solution to this, put Herrera or Carrick in the team instead of Rooney, play one of them next to Fellaini and move Pogba further up the pitch.
Despite Fellainis faults, Pogbas runs without worry about defending leaves us vulnerable. Rooney adding that doesn't help, especially when Rooney can't make a pass to save his life which causes quick counters.
Carrick lacks mobility to be with Fellaini
He has done what has been asked of him and played well, but I think the team as a whole is better suited if Carrick plays the deep role and he plays one of the two midfield positions further forward with Pogba. 4-1-4-1, 4-3-3 whatever you want to call it. He just doesn't have the same passing range as Carrick.
He has been one of our better players this season, I'm fecking agog to be honest but I'm still not sure he's right for us.
And that's the thing isn't it. I love the big guy, think he's easily been one of our better players thus far ( not saying much ) but even I have to agree with the doubters that he's probably part of the problem rather than a solution.
He has a job and he does it well enough. But that's the problem, his job is limited and he's not the sort of player you'll see starting for Europe's elite. Keep him in the squad as a plan B by all means, but our first team shouldn't be relying on a player like him.
He was 2 yards away from Capoue when trying to block the first goal and the same away from Pereyra on the pullback for the second goal, no pressure on either of them because he is too slow. He gets a free pass on contributing nothing creatively because its not his job, fine, then you need to look at moments like those goals and what he could have done better and on both occasions he could have made things much more difficult if he had a bit more mobility.
Basically sums it up. He's a good player and a useful player to have.
But you're not winning anything if he's a consistent starter.
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