Everton’s over-reliance on Fellaini bordered on ridiculous against United

[D410]

our plan a is hoof to fellaini. they completely took him out of the game and we didnt know what to do. moyes is incapable of changing anything in the middle of the game so we had no chance

you should be on Gillette Soccer Saturday with that stuff. Honestly!

so many Monday morning armchair quarterbacks with free access to the internet.

 

[davek]

Snuffing out the "Bainaar" threat is every team's first priority now and that means we do tend to overplay Fellaini. Compare this situation with the first 10-12 games of the season when we had attacking intent all over the pitch. We miss having a settled right side that's free from injury, because that option really does get the opposition thinking about where we're likely to hit them next and it makes everything fall into position and less predictable.

 

[barkleys splinter]

was it? You can lay that accusation at the feet of every manager who took their team to Old Trafford this season and left with nothing.

They are miles in front of us and every other team before we kicked the ball.

They are indeed. But on the day they produced absolutely nothing exceptional. Nothing even as good as one or two they got against us in the 4-4. Problem was, we were dreadful.

I suspect Moyes made some late changes to the gameplan when he got their teamsheet and saw both Rooney and van Persie playing. Maybe the more attacking intent he might have had then dissipated somewhat. It certainly seemed that when from the first minute we seemed casual on the ball, turning backwards whenever in possession, and playing at a pace that was more relevant to defending that trying to score. All this was so in contrast with the previous season's game. In that one we shot out of the blocks and could and should have been 2 up in the first 10 minutes.

Maybe this is what people mean when they say the game was lost before we kicked off.

 

[Ihaters]

Firstly.. just 75% of passes from Fellaini in the final third is actually pretty good.
Secondly.. we had more shots.. some of which were very credible chances, its just Anichebe as much as he is improved is simply not a match for Rooney and RVP.
They were just better than us and no tactics could alter that the league leaders and their £200 mil team was better than ours with our £15mil record ever signing being the focal point for our attacks.
We did alright but there was no way we were winning that one, United are not going to be dropping much from now on.

 

[Titus Bramble]

Snuffing out the "Bainaar" threat is every team's first priority now and that means we do tend to overplay Fellaini. Compare this situation with the first 10-12 games of the season when we had attacking intent all over the pitch. We miss having a settled right side that's free from injury, because that option really does get the opposition thinking about where we're likely to hit them next and it makes everything fall into position and less predictable.

This really. Get Coleman fit to play and keep all of our other 1st teamers fit and hopefully we will start hitting the form of the start of the season again. But knowing us, when Coleman is fit again one or a combination of Pienaar, Baines, Fellaini, Gibson and Mirallas will get injured.

Does anybody know how long Coleman is out for? Since we don't have a league game for a couple of weeks is there a chance of him being fit again for it?

 

[Roachey11]

towards the end yesterday Fellaini didn't look that arsed. Seen him like that too many times. Does my swede in when we go and pay good money week in week out.

 

[Deloodid]

Go on then, enlighten us as to what tactics Moyes should have deployed......

Im sure if you pay him Moyes wages he would tell you.

 

[toffee-bhoy]

i think this is all a bit sour grapes lads....we have been over reliant on the big fella from the start of the season yet correct me if im wrong i dont recall having its own thread about it......he has his biggest goal return in a season plus more than likely has been involved in most of our goals this year so its obvious hes our go to guy in the team when looking to score

now the problem with this is it sends out a beacon for other teams to do their homework on how to stop him(and since the stoke game it became more clear) and even teams now are copping onto the "bainaar" threat.....we are not the only team where the majority of the play go through one player

 

[davek]

This really. Get Coleman fit to play and keep all of our other 1st teamers fit and hopefully we will start hitting the form of the start of the season again. But knowing us, when Coleman is fit again one or a combination of Pienaar, Baines, Fellaini, Gibson and Mirallas will get injured.

Does anybody know how long Coleman is out for? Since we don't have a league game for a couple of weeks is there a chance of him being fit again for it?

At least two weeks more was the last I heard.

 

[mooseatingnome]

Of course we rely heavily on Fellaini, certainly compared to the options Manchester United have.

They had 8 players in their squad who cost more than Fellaini and the players on their bench alone cost more than our entire squad.



Manchester United team:
De Gea - £21m
Rafael - £3m
Vidic - £7m
Evans - Youth
Evra - £6m
Jones - £18m
Cleverley - Youth
Valencia - £17m
Rooney - £27m
Giggs - Youth
Van Persie - £24m


Manchester United's bench yesterday:
Anderson - £18m Brazil international
Smalling - £10m England international
Hernandez - £6m Mexican international
Carrick - £18m England international
Nani - £17m Portugal international
Welbeck - England international

Why don't you compare Southampton's squad against Uniteds? You know, the same Southampton squad that gave us such trouble in the first half of our game and nearly pulled off a great result against Utd. At least they lost firing more shots than we did.

Or does that comparison not suit your purposes?

 

[Carlito]

I'm not a fan of Fellaini playing up front. I think he's Everton's best centre midfielder and should start there more often than not.

It'll be interesting to see how his next club uses him.

 

[mahermi1]

Snuffing out the "Bainaar" threat is every team's first priority now and that means we do tend to overplay Fellaini. Compare this situation with the first 10-12 games of the season when we had attacking intent all over the pitch. We miss having a settled right side that's free from injury, because that option really does get the opposition thinking about where we're likely to hit them next and it makes everything fall into position and less predictable.

Agree with this look forward to the day when we can have a fully fit Coleman / Miralles combination down the right hand side, United would have found it far harder to mark both them attacking threats together.I might add the one part of the field where we could have been a lot stronger than United was the midfield area,for me Fellaini should have been deployed next to Gibson centre mid,with Miralles and Pienaar either side,would have made our midfield foursome much stronger than Uniteds,then you control the game.Then we could have had Anichiebe up with/or just behind Jelavic,which I think would have given us more attacking threat.

 

[Titus Bramble]

At least two weeks more was the last I heard.

Hopefully he'll be back in the squad for our next league game then.

 

[McBain]

Why don't you compare Southampton's squad against Uniteds? You know, the same Southampton squad that gave us such trouble in the first half of our game and nearly pulled off a great result against Utd. At least they lost firing more shots than we did.

Or does that comparison not suit your purposes?

Nearly isn't nearly good enough matey. We are talking about a Gulf in Class here mate and were getting closer. But not that close.

 

[Walken]

Osman has been poor in CM, Felli's having less of an impact at AM, yet again another tactical situation that is obvious to the majority of fans, but Moyes refuses to see. We are playing our best player out of position, that should only ever be a short term solution.

Last season Gibson/Fellaini was as important as Baines/Pienaar, but we havent seen that combination start a game this season, Osman has been better this season, but hes not in Fellaini's league at CM. So we are not winning the CM battle, the left hand side is snuffed out and Felli is left isolated up front, add to that if Coleman is injured then the back up is so awful the right hand side isnt an option going forward unless Mirallas does it all on his own, Stones might change that, but I doubt we will find out if hes any good in the next five years.

But Moyes sees them in training everyday so all criticism is void