Rumoured Marouane Fellaini

[MetsajCFC 1,255]

Are there any reliable sources for this?

[Corner 456]

Well no one can really know because we're going to change managers again, and maybe that new manager will prefer 4-3-3.

That's a good point. And assuming it will be Guardiola who will be our manager next season, then he will almost certainly play 4-3-3.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Please, please, please, don't let this be true.

Someone please tell me where he's supposed to fit in our system exactly?!

Simple...we'll just play the old 3-6-1 with 6 attacking midfielders. It's like a reverse parking the bus...is that driving the bus?

Cech

Azpilicueta Terry Luiz

Moses/ Mata/Hazard/Fellaini/Oscar/KDB

Ba

[nadavTKL 1,787]

LDN Blue asked a legit question, no reason to act like that.

I would like to know too actually- how many of you see Fellaini as our new CDM, and how many of you think he is the man to play besides the CDM (the CM position)?

[Stingray 9,441]

LDN Blue asked a legit question, no reason to act like that.

I would like to know too actually- how many of you see Fellaini as our new CDM, and how many of you think he is the man to play besides the CDM (the CM position)?

If he question is: is he good enough for us I'd say yes.

If the question is: is he the man, our new cdm/cm: that depends on tactical guidelines and the presence of other players around him (eg. Are they complementary, can they compensate for his particular competencies, etc.) Any other answer would be too one-dimensional.

Good enough?

[The only place to be 11,313]

LDN Blue asked a legit question, no reason to act like that.

I would like to know too actually- how many of you see Fellaini as our new CDM, and how many of you think he is the man to play besides the CDM (the CM position)?

I see him as the new DM. That's what we saw him as when we were first interested (both at Liege and Everton) and that's where we have a need now.

If we're actually looking to use him as an attacking midfielder then the club are exhibiting levels of daftness that I didn't think they were capable of.

He could be our Busquets/Khedira depending on what formation we use going forward.

[Zola kinda blue 89]

How can people seriously doubt if he would improve us?

He has single handly driven Everton to wins with desire and energy, something we have been seriously missing.

We have Mikel, Lamps and Ramires and have had to move Luiz into midfield. (And a bunch of kids out on loan)

We need him and deep lying playmaker

[LDN Blue 7,903]

How can people seriously doubt if he would improve us?

He has single handly driven Everton to wins with desire and energy, something we have been seriously missing.

We have Mikel, Lamps and Ramires and have had to move Luiz into midfield. (And a bunch of kids out on loan)

We need him and deep lying playmaker

That's not our style of play though! We're not a squad that needs the Essien-types that make those surging runs from deep midfield. We have players like Hazard, Mata, Oscar etc to provide attacking flare. We need a proper centre midfield. The only reason Fellani's stock has risen recently is because Moyes deployed him as a faux-no.10. We don't need that, we have actual no10s. We need a player to actually sit in midfield and dictate the pace, a Pirlo-type player.

I don't question the class of Fellani, he's a good player. But why Chelsea are chasing him, is beyond me. He won't offer any kind of stability in midfield.

[Zola kinda blue 89]

That's not our style of play though! We're not a squad that needs the Essien-types that make those surging runs from deep midfield. We have players like Hazard, Mata, Oscar etc to provide attacking flare. We need a proper centre midfield. The only reason Fellani's stock has risen recently is because Moyes deployed him as a faux-no.10. We don't need that, we have actual no10s. We need a player to actually sit in midfield and dictate the pace, a Pirlo-type player.

I don't question the class of Fellani, he's a good player. But why Chelsea are chasing him, is beyond me. He won't offer any kind of stability in midfield.

yes we do need a play maker, but if he is played in his preferred posiiton in midfield, he will be there to defend and win back the ball and then start an attack when one of mata and Co lose the ball (as they frequently do) and then dont track back (which they dont)

Too often our midfield has been easily dominated because the flair players are easily closed down and starved of the ball. Its easy to beat chelsea, close the space and dont give us time on the ball. We were lucky against Everton, because they did that very well and our midfield hardly got a touch

[Superblue 6,370]

Fellaini is a great player but for the figures being quoted I would rather try to take Modric off Real Madrid's hands. He would be the better fit for what we are building.

[Sheva. 5,373]

He could be our Busquets/Khedira depending on what formation we use going forward.

Buying him to be that kind of player would be a mistake. Only reason i can understand this is if we sign him, play him behind the striker and start playing hoofball.

He has single handly driven Everton to wins with desire and energy

By playing behind Jelavic, not in the double pivot.

[Corner 456]

Fellaini is a great player, but I'm not sure he would fit into our system. Chelsea being interested in Fellaini would make sense if they were planning to use him as a Plan B, someone who gives us another option. But I think we would better off to either persist with moving Oscar deeper or buying someone like Joao Moutinho.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

yes we do need a play maker, but if he is played in his preferred posiiton in midfield, he will be there to defend and win back the ball and then start an attack when one of mata and Co lose the ball (as they frequently do) and then dont track back (which they dont)

Too often our midfield has been easily dominated because the flair players are easily closed down and starved of the ball. Its easy to beat chelsea, close the space and dont give us time on the ball. We were lucky against Everton, because they did that very well and our midfield hardly got a touch

That's not something Fellani can come in and offer a solution for. The players should be responsible for winning the ball back once they lose it, Fellani is a good box-to-box player because he does have the stamina and agility. However I question this motive to slot him back into the DM position when he's been excelling in the attacking position where Moyes has deployed him. I'm not saying he wasn't good as a DM, but he's proven that's not where he should be.

Another thing is, with Fellani the ball is hardly played to feet. His height and strength are his greatest asset, which means the old 'hoof it up and hope for the best', as I read correctly on a blog about this.. Ba would never get the ball as we'll have Luiz & Fellani taking all the shots.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Buying him to be that kind of player would be a mistake. Only reason i can understand this is if we sign him, play him behind the striker and start playing hoofball.

This is my point. We'd revert back to Drogba tactics, nullify the role of Oscar & Hazard. That's about £50million worth of resources not utilized.

[DDA 9,690]

That's not our style of play though! We're not a squad that needs the Essien-types that make those surging runs from deep midfield. We have players like Hazard, Mata, Oscar etc to provide attacking flare. We need a proper centre midfield. The only reason Fellani's stock has risen recently is because Moyes deployed him as a faux-no.10. We don't need that, we have actual no10s. We need a player to actually sit in midfield and dictate the pace, a Pirlo-type player.

I don't question the class of Fellani, he's a good player. But why Chelsea are chasing him, is beyond me. He won't offer any kind of stability in midfield.

To say he won't offer any kind of stability in midfield is ludicrous. Just because he has been playing the 'faux-no. 10' role for Everton of recent times doesn't mean he can't play the defensive role and play it to a very high standard. Yes he has played some of his best games for Everton, game changing performances when allowed to roam and dictate the speed of the game but he has all the attributes to play the DM role. As you said, we really need a Pirlo type player who can create from deep with world class vision but a Pirlo type player don't turn as available in every transfer window. As said before Fellani has the perfect build and presence to work alongside Rami or Mikel. I have seen him play the DM role very well for Belgium and Everton also. performances that actually make our DM's look lack lustre.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Buying him to be that kind of player would be a mistake. Only reason i can understand this is if we sign him, play him behind the striker and start playing hoofball.

By playing behind Jelavic, not in the double pivot.

This is my point. We'd revert back to Drogba tactics, nullify the role of Oscar & Hazard. That's about £50million worth of resources not utilized.

Fellaini is a great player but for the figures being quoted I would rather try to take Modric off Real Madrid's hands. He would be the better fit for what we are building.

When we first became interested in Fellaini, it was as a defensive midfielder. At Everton, he started in that role and did well but they've moved him forward because it's what works best for them.

We actually need a DM.

Why do people think we would be interested in him for any position other than Defensive Midfield?

Suggesting we could get Modric for a similar price is like saying we could get Jack Butland for a third of the price.

[Gily 37]

And I think we have players who can play alongside him and make those passes. One option is Oscar. Next season we might look at McEachran or De Bruyne. We have options to try n that position, whereas we don't have a 'destroyer-type' of Fellaini's calibre.

There's a big problem with that.

All 3 of them could fit well with Mikel because he'll never go off for a run forward, their defensive work would be minimal which would be optimal for those 3.

You could let Fellaini play that role but then I don't see any difference with Mikel, to get the most out of him you need him to make runs into the box which requires a smart player next to him with a good defensive workrate/awareness which neither of those 3 have.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

To say he won't offer any kind of stability in midfield is ludicrous. Just because he has been playing the 'faux-no. 10' role for Everton of recent times doesn't mean he can't play the defensive role and play it to a very high standard. Yes he has played some of his best games for Everton, game changing performances when allowed to roam and dictate the speed of the game but he has all the attributes to play the DM role. As you said, we really need a Pirlo type player who can create from deep with world class vision but a Pirlo type player don't turn as available in every transfer window. As said before Fellani has the perfect build and presence to work alongside Rami or Mikel. I have seen him play the DM role very well for Belgium and Everton also. performances that actually make our DM's look lack lustre.

So we should spend £22m+ as an alternative to when we can do?

I do know his ability to play at DM, he did well at Everton before they lot Cahill & Arteta - Where he played that position. However I think it would be a mistake to make him play in that position now, when he's become accustomed to playing further up. We made this mistake with Obi Mikel, he came to us an attacking player. He was outstanding in the u18 World Cup, where he earned more praise than Messi in the same competition. We turned him into a defensive player, which has caused a debate among every set of fans.