Selling Fellaini was a mistake

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Van Piorsing

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Not signing obviously better player in place of Fellaini like it should be done years ago was kinda mistake.

Even now when Fella's outside the club, he's still more useful than Fred but that's because the club is in hands of a bank accountant and not the football men just yet.
 

Siorac

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2 man midfield said:
We don’t have enough quality in our team, but the solution to that isn’t to not start getting rid of the deadwood.

We did the right thing selling him. It might actually force us to look for a solution for why we needed to hoof it in the last 10 minutes, rather than continue relying on him as a crutch to rescue late points.
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Yeah exactly. Everyone always wants a "clearout" and "getting rid of the deadwood" but when we actually do so, you get threads like this.

It wasn't a mistake to sell Fellaini. It was a mistake to sign him, just as it was a mistake to sign Sanchez or Lukaku or Schneiderlin and many more. We need to be smarter and more efficient in the transfer market, not cry that we didn't have a big man to hoof the ball to in the last 15 minutes of a game in which we were clearly outplayed.
 

Rista

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He most certainly wasn't "brilliant" as plan B, I don't know where that comes from. It's like people now only remember the times he came on and did something and forget how often he was completely ineffective, a liability even. That other top teams don't have a big lump waiting on the bench to come on as plan B or to increase the chances of nicking a goal tells you all you need to know.
 

Champagne Football

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If we need to pump balls into the box then we have Lukaku as a plan B. Not as effective as Fellaini but he's decent enough for that type of thing
 

Dante

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abdo99 said:
Happy that ole realised we weren't the same 2nd half.

Fellaini is never the answer. We've moved on from hoofball.
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We play hoofball to Rashford, Martial and Lingard.

The difference is that we currently play it long to utilise pace. With Fellaini, it would have been to utilise strength. Either way, it's about making the transition from defence to attack stick.

Fellaini would have been the perfect option after the injuries. But let's face it: PSG's defence was super-fast so the usual tactic of pace wasn't a threat even in the first half. An aerial target would have been the best way to make the counterattack work so that Rashford could get into the game.
 

All 3 United

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If fellaini had been available yesterday and used correctly we would have probably avoided an away goal. Now there are lots of ifs and buts in this but the fact is the subs made were absolutely atrocious.
 

Bola

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He has his uses, but we are better off without him. Was 6th/ 7th choice midfield, over 30 and unlikely to suit our style. Yes he can be something different when we need to hang on or chase a game, but he isn't always effectively.

Glad he has got a great contract and glad we have started moving on the middling players.

Mata, Darmian, Rojo and Valencia to the US and China before the summer would suit me
 

Keeps It tidy

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Dante said:
We play hoofball to Rashford, Martial and Lingard.

The difference is that we currently play it long to utilise pace. With Fellaini, it would have been to utilise strength. Either way, it's about making the transition from defence to attack stick.

Fellaini would have been the perfect option after the injuries. But let's face it: PSG's defence was super-fast so the usual tactic of pace wasn't a threat even in the first half. An aerial target would have been the best way to make the counterattack work so that Rashford could get into the game.
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Rashford's pace is why Kimpembe should have been sent off. PSG's CBs would much rather face an extremely limited target man(and is not really a striker) like Fellaini than the pace of someone like Rashford.
 

Tomuś

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Selling him in the winter was premature but for different reasons. We are now in a circuit of a league dash till the end of the season and he was easily the 4th best CM at the club. Would have been useful against Southamptons and the likes and on the bench for the big ones.
 

M4nu4Life

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noodlehair said:
Who would we replace them with?

How many teams have 5-6 forward players who are better than the likes of Mata and Sanchez?

The problem is that when we lost Martial and Lingard our weaknesses in midfield and defence were exposed. You cant rely on your attacking players scaring the other team into not trying to put pressure on you.

People are quick to point the finger at the likes of Sanchez, but he came on because a first choice player was injured. In midfield and defence we have players who are first choice and aren't good enough in games like this.
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Agree, but I would rather have 2 younger players on 50k a week each rather than two players on 600k a week between them.

Then invest the cash to fix the midfield .
 

Sp00ks11

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Missing Fellaini :lol:

What is it with this forum and pining of shite players we have sold. I remember this crap with Danny 'couldn't hit a barn door' Welbeck.
 

Dante

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Keeps It tidy said:
Rashford's pace is why Kimpembe should have been sent off. PSG's CBs would much rather face an extremely limited target man(and is not really a striker) like Fellaini than the pace of someone like Rashford.
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Not on the evidence of the game. They marshalled Rashford easily.
 

RedOranje

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breakout67 said:
Fellaini would have done far more than Lukaku in the final minutes. Whether that means selling him was a mistake or not is up for debate.
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Agreed. Lukaku was our plan B. I don't believe he was brought on to receive the ball to feet and create something. Unfortunately, Lukaku isn't even good enough to hoof the ball to anymore.
 

noodlehair

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M4nu4Life said:
Agree, but I would rather have 2 younger players on 50k a week each rather than two players on 600k a week between them.

Then invest the cash to fix the midfield .
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Maybe but I do think people are a bit harsh and quick to blame everything on players who are easy targets.

Particularly with Mata who's actually had some very good games for us this season and isn't a right winger. Sanchez has also never really been the type of player to be able to run in behind players and offer a counter attacking threat. We needed to change how we approached the game when we brought the pair of them on and we didn't. Our counter attacking threat was what was keeping PSG at bay and it's not the sort of threat Mata or Sanchez have ever been able to offer, even at their best.

I'm not being too critical of Ole as it's difficult when you have to swap things round at half time and are limited to what you can do. I just don't think it's really fair to criticise or slag off Mata and Sanchez for a second half where our weaknesses in other areas were horribly exposed. They are the type of player to thrive more when their team has lots of possession high up the pitch. The problem after half time was that we don't have the players against the likes of PSG to enable us to do that, and even when we could we were so open on the break it just wasn't worth the risk.
 

nameischarles

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Fellaini was definitely not a fan favorite but he did his job when called upon but we should never revert back to Fellaini tactics. We need to look at the bigger picture, it's a transition and rebuilding phase and it seems like he wasn't going to be in Ole's plan and we had a buyer who was willing to pay for him.
 

Adam_S

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How does this sound for a club recovery plan?

Sign Peter Crouch and Andy Carrol. Go all out to get Mop Top back from China. Dust off the videos from that time at Fulham when Moyes had all those crosses getting pinged in. Sign some midfielders who'll run around lots and do loads of sliding tackles. Champions' League glory will follow, for sure.
 

TheRedHearted

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A front 3 of Fellaini Rashford and Lukaku could have worked. Lukakus cross from the right could have found Fellaini and Rashford (more likely than Sanchez and mata). The Lukaku could have drifted in and young would have had those three as targets.
 

JMack1234

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Twisted_Woody said:
The problem isn't Ole, it is us.

This thread epitomizes what the cafe has become.
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I should declare that i've always been more in Poch camp but I cannot believe how many people are freaking out because we lost 2-0 to PSG in the round of 16.

If Ole had been in charge for 3 or 4 years and we were still getting outclassed by PSG the fair enough ask questions. However when the guy took over a sinking ship in late December and has done a fantastic job you have to accept nights like last night as part of the journey.
 

cyril C

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Fellaini won't make any difference. Defence wise Fellaini is too slow, expecting him to cover Di Maria? Attack wise is also a problem, because we lost the ball in MF, unless we start making cross into the box from 40y. Who can make cross from 40y? You need to build a team around Fellaini to get the best of him.
 

tieunhilang

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nothingman96 said:
Yes, we all remember the epic battle for his signature between Real, Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus and the Chinese giants he ended up going to who got him just because they offered more money.
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Juventus probably didn't sign him out of grudge. He was the one who broke their home record of not losing in the Champions League after all. A performance in Turin that Ronaldo could only look at with jealousy.
 

PaulRich

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I'll always respect Fellaini for the fact that he always gave his all in a red shirt - lets not forget that.

However, it certainly was not a mistake to sell him. If we're going to get back to where we want to be, playing the Manchester United way, then he certainly does not fit our remit.

I hope he does well in China and has success in the remainder of his career.
 

shaky

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PaulRich said:
I'll always respect Fellaini for the fact that he always gave his all in a red shirt - lets not forget that.

However, it certainly was not a mistake to sell him. If we're going to get back to where we want to be, playing the Manchester United way, then he certainly does not fit our remit.

I hope he does well in China and has success in the remainder of his career.
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I agree with all this. He deserves respect for his contributions as a Utd player, but for too long we've been stuck with so many players who just aren't at the needed standard if our ambition really is to be the best in Europe once again. We need to move them on at any opportunity, even if it means short-term inconvenience.
 

tenpoless

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Think about it, if selling him was a mistake then buying him was an even bigger mistake... We wouldn't have sold him if We didn't buy him in the first place.

I'm not a great cook, but a good meal takes a wee bit of time.
 

Andersonson

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fallengt said:
My man. Fellaini was our plan A+1 for years and he was the reason we didn't have good plan A because everyone stopped playing football once he subbed in

Cut the loss, build a real good foundation is the correct move. Short temp it will hurt us but we'll try to do new things from now and it's not going to be hoofball.
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Hun being plan A is a stupid statement. Any facts or sources to prove your statement?
 

Ekeke

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Class of 63 said:
Yeah, a poster who joined in 2007, and has 34,000+ posts must be Mourinho :confused:
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Would explain why the team turned up each week and looked like they've never met each other before. Spends all his time posting on here instead of doing work on the training pitch
 
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