The Mail Bag
Record Signing or Misfit?
Comments (33)
I fear that the price tag on the afro-wearing Belgian is the only reason that he keeps his place in the side; after watching the game on Sunday, nothing I saw would change my mind on this.
The constant fouls, the needless bookings, admittedly this season is better than last, the giving away of possession in vital areas, and the lack of pace... I cannot understand how he keeps making the starting 11.
By playing Fellaini as the attacking midfielder, we are taking away one of our most potent threats in Timmy Cahill. You only need to look at his goalscoring record while he has been away playing for Australia in his prefered position, which is as good as it has always been, so I can only suggest the reason we are not seeing the best of him at Everton is the fact that Fellaini is playing in the pocket where Cahill has been so successful for us over the years.
I feel sure that, if the big Fella was left out and Timmy was playing in his prefered position, we would see the return of the corner flag geting a good hiding, a sight that has been all too infrequent this season.
I was as excited as everyone else when we purchased the big Belgian last year but that optimism has been eroded with each passing game. I was even hoping a full pre-season would give him time to prove his worth, but I am now of the opinion that he's never going to make the step up to be a top class midfielder.
And for those who say he has potential, I believe that when you purchase the club's record signing, you are looking for more than potential — we're not a club that has money to waste.
So, Mr Moyes, do us all a favour and place TIm back in the role that has given us so much pleasure over the years and we'll see that corner flag get the beating it deserves!!!
Gary Lawler, Posted 10/11/2009 at 00:06:07
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Thats not a bad start for a 20-year-old.
This season he’s been inconsistant. Frustrating at times yes but there are spells in which he shows his tremendous potential.
Lets get off his back and give him a chance to develop some more.
Try to grasp the difference between playing against some of the world's best defenders in the EPL and strutting your stuff against the likes of Oman and Indonesia.
Cahill’s main threat has always been from corners and set pieces...how the hell can playing Fellaini affect his loss of form in this department?
’The difference between the two sides was named Fellaini. He had an astonishingly influential game. There seemed to be two of him on the pitch on occasion. He had an absolute stormer of a game. Everything Everton did went through him. He won virtually every header, every tackle, and virtually every pass went where it was intended. A fantastic performance’
Who do you want to play instead of Fellaini?
How can Fellaini playing affect Cahills performance?
Fellaini and Rodwell have the most potential in the squad and should both develop into good players, leave the guy alone he hasnt done too bad and can only get better.
This whole Cahill v Fellaini thing is getting out of hand, totally different players — although they share a talent for clumsy tackles. Felli usually comes out with the ball, Cahill the opposition's legs.
He can be frustrating with his clumsy tackles, but look at the shape of him. Paul Scholes can’t tackle but he’s one of the best midfielders I’ve ever seen.
No matter what this season, he’s never gone missing. When he came on as a sub against Wigan he changed the game, and we come from behind to win. He slows the game down and plays short simple passes, trouble is his teammates then hoof it most of the time. He closes people down when without possession, and forces mistakes (or freekicks). He has also scored some important goals.
In his all round game he offers more than Cahill and to compare the two is pointless as they’re different types of players.
As someone else said him and Rodwell are the future of our midfield. When Bily and Pienaar are in there with him, and later Arteta, you will appreciate his passing and the amount of ground he covers.
Anyway, Osman will be back soon so it will be back to slagging him off.
I personally believe that Cahill or Rodwell should be the one for the chop when we can finally field our strongest midfield. That would be Pienaar, Arteta, Bily, Fellaini and Cahill/Rodwell. Lets face it though, the second Arteta gets back, Pienaar will probably get a season ending injury, along with a couple of others. :(
And Ireland? Behave yourself.
What I see when he goes barging around the pitch is someone who is trying, chasing back and working hard. His tackles don’t always come off and when it doesn’t he does look clumsy and poor. But giving 100% effort is the most important thing we should demand of anyone who plays for us.
I think once the wins start coming and our creative types get back into the team, we will see the best out of him and the rest of the team.
I’m not sure he was worth what we paid for him, but that is not his fault. I certainly don't think he’s as poor as some would like to make out.
Besides, pace is far from being the most important attribute of a central midfielder. It helps, but ball skills, reading the game, passing and vision, even stamina are more important. Viera wasn’t the quickest guy in the world from what I remember, but very effective.
Of course, Fellaini needs to improve a lot of areas of his game, but sometimes I think he gets a bit too much of a hard time on here, even if I do find him a bit frustrating sometimes.
He has his bad moments, they all have this season but you can’t accuse him of affecting Cahill’s game when Cahill is missing sitters. I have a fiver on Cahill for the first goal scorer every game and it’s amazing the number of times this season I have cursed him.
------------------
Not to mention the fact that we’re utter shite....
I nearly had a heart attack...
He hasn’t played well for us though! Strange one but playing on the left & right of midfield wont help matters.
He also struggles when made the focal point of the team in my opinion. He works very well as a second striker making late runs. But, to get the best out of him again, I think you need to revert back to a strict 5-4-1 with certain players back. Whether thats a good move or not is a different question.
Regarding Fellaini, I’m afraid he just frustrates me to death! He does some really impressive things and then some truly woeful! He should be our Veira but he never seems to take charge in midfield which is a crime for someone of his stature.
He is only young I suppose though. He would NOT be in my starting team with a fully fit squad but he’s a useful squad player. Sadly, for the money, he should be more than that.
James: (2) The lanky lampost Crouch has scored lots of goals for England but is still not seriously taken as a great forward... he loves scoring against us though, barsteward.
Obviously a slow news day so let’s have an article moaning about one of the players.
Any chance someone could pen something similar that rips into, say, Saha? I mean only the one goal at West Ham & he doesn’t even finish the match, etc, etc
Personally, I’m working on a piece moaning about the appearance & demeanour of our ballboys. I swear one of them had collar-length hair & scuffed trainers at the last game. Honestly.
For the record, Fellaini didn’t strongarm Everton into paying a single penny for him - it was the choice of our manager & board to pay whatever fee they negotiated with Standard. Furthermore, I doubt we’ve paid anything approaching the £15m price tag that’s used so conveniently by his detractors to beat him around his admittedly elaborately coiffeured head.
So, is there any chance we can drop the reference to his fee & the subsequent demands we make on him because of it? Because if nothing else it makes us look utterly small-time.
-----------------------------
Australia (invite)
Brunei
Cambodia
Timor-Leste
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Vietnam
Sorry, what was rubbish?
Next you’ll be telling me they didn’t draw 1-1 with Oman!
Tony, the fee issue gets mentioned everytime someone wants to have a go at Fellaini but each time another poster lets them know that a) It’s has nothing to do with Fellaini how much we paid and b) It was nowhere near the £15m quoted, all the time....but lo and behold, the next thread the circle starts again.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 10/11/2009 at 20:34:28
Report abuse
Clueless, slow, clumsy, but I am sure someone will state how well he played for 5 minutes in the first half against Benfica!