David Moyes thinks Fellaini could become Cahill's long term replacement in the hole.

manxtoffee · June 4, 2012

Brennan91 said:
Stick to the one thread you lemon.

:blink:

Brennan · June 4, 2012

manxtoffee said:
:blink:

He's talking about the Jags Â£20m Fellaini thread.

Blue and proud · June 4, 2012

Fellaini is very effective when he plays off the striker, and Cahill is past it, so Fellaini off the striker makes perfect sense

PhilBr · June 4, 2012

Fact is that we require three centre mids - felli, gibson and rodwell - as one would normally be injured, suspended or in need of a rest. That leaves barkley and osman to fill the cahill role depending on form and opposition.

Rook · June 5, 2012

People also forget the guy is in fantastic shape. Even when deployed up front in the 2nd half of the season he was busting his ass on defense and breaking up plays. He really is a CLISQUE (cant spell) ALERT, box to box midfielder.

Brennan · January 22, 2013

Can we put this idea of Fellaini playing up front to bed now ? Absolute non-starter against Soton but as soon as he dropped back we managed to control the ball in midfield.

Elong · January 22, 2013

Brennan91 said:
Can we put this idea of Fellaini playing up front to bed now ? Absolute non-starter against Soton but as soon as he dropped back we managed to control the ball in midfield.

You know, with Gibson out and plenty of options behind the striker you'd think Moyes would have done it by now. It was working early on in the season, but we're either getting found out, whatever, we're not as potent in the final third anymore.

This isn't knee jerk either, we've lacked that spark for a few games now. Missing Mirallas doesn't help, but there's other options.

WA Toffee · January 22, 2013

I think it really depends on the opposition. If they have a big burly defender, then we are betting off using a more mobile player such as Mirallas in that role, if we are up against smaller or more technical defenders (such as Carrick at Man Utd first game), then Fellaini is the perfect option for that role

Walken · January 22, 2013

I think moyes is beyond stubborn, he has this idea in his head that we need a physical presence there, and he wont deviate from that, as a result he is playing our best player out of position, sound

Christiffa25 · January 22, 2013

I always said at the start of the season when it was apperent Fellaini was being deployd there that in certain games it would be a good move. Problem is it seems to have become a fixed posistion for him week in week out. Teams have sussed us out no doubt. Target Fellaini and our left side and cut out our main threats.

Having said that we havnt had any real other options to play there. Mirallas being injured so much has made a big deifference to our effectiveness, as Gibson being injured also has.

I don't know is my answer... Maybe have to see how we fair with mirallas back on the right and Gibson back in the middle before we claim Fellaini at ACM doesn't work anymore.

If anyone can claim we don't need Landon Donovan in this squad I'd be amazed. Not that this piss poor board will worry about getting anything done.

toffeejack · January 22, 2013

it was good whilst it lasted, we played some great footy. but when gibson's out fellaini simply HAS TO be playing further back, not thinking about it HAS TO. as a box-to-box CM. because if moyes believes he has to persist with neville whilst gibson's out fellaini can cover those gaps neville leaves behind him in a way osman can't. We have Naismith, Mirallas, Barkley and Osman who can all play that ACM role and play it attractively.

Allezfan · January 22, 2013

Yeah, I was happy to see him up there for the first half of season (because it worked, lets not pretend it was bad idea from the off) but it's stopped working of late.

Swapping him and osman around would be my choice, I think.

quasi modo · January 22, 2013

Fellaini needs to start playing in the center of midfield now, I'm not having Neville is a better option than him there. Fellaini did well when he first moved up top, but I would prefer him in the middle, as soon as he moved back there last night, we started winning more in the middle of the park, and hopefully it would encourage us to move the ball a bit better, instead of lumping it up to the big fella.

Allezfan · January 22, 2013

quasi modo said:
Fellaini needs to start playing in the center of midfield now, I'm not having Neville is a better option than him there. Fellaini did well when he first moved up top, but I would prefer him in the middle, as soon as he moved back there last night, we started winning more in the middle of the park, and hopefully it would encourage us to move the ball a bit better, instead of lumping it up to the big fella.

It's not Neville he's be replacing, it's Osman.