Much of the focus in the last 10 days has been on the failure of Paul Pogba to justify his £89 million world record transfer fee. However, as the dust settles on the third consecutive defeat for Manchester United – in a 3-1 loss against Watford – it becomes clear that there are a lot of problems across the pitch, especially in the midfield. Marouane Fellaini’s presence at United has been deemed as one of the strangest aspects in football.
He was never seen as a United player when David Moyes signed him for £27 million. Louis van Gaal initially did not seem to rate him, but the Dutchman was great to see the use of Fellaini as a battering ram when things were not going well, but eventually those tactics were not able to save the Dutchman’s job. Now, José Mourinho is the latest to rely upon the Belgian international. Since he commits a large number of fouls, he could be seen as the club’s next Roy Keane. The truth, though, is that he does not even come close.
Mourinho has also experimented Fellaini as a defensive or an attacking midfielder with limited success. Yes, he has made it more tackles per game (3.2) than any other United player, but he has also committed a large number of fouls per game (2.2). On the attacking front, Fellaini is left far behind with only 0.2 shots per game; no wonder he has not scored or assisted a goal in 450 minutes of action.
Former United midfield great Paul Scholes says that Fellaini does not have the ability to offer much going forward. As a team with title ambitions, Scholes believes that Mourinho should be using an attack minded playmaker rather than Fellaini. One of the solutions in Mourinho’s existing squad is Ander Herrera, who has had limited first-team opportunities. The Spanish midfielder’s current statistics do not stack up well against the Belgian, but Herrera is much better at creating chances if history is anything to go by.
Herrera had 1.4 shots per game and one key pass per game during the 2014-15 season when he was just young and upcoming without much experience at the higher end of the segment. Now 27, Herrera is at the peak of his powers. There is no reason why he cannot enter into double figures for assists, but the same does not seem to rest within Fellaini at the moment. If looking individually, Fellaini loves to go physical, but he lacks the attacking prowess and pace as well, which is an important aspect while pressing the opponents. While Herrera is a mixture of different skills; he can run like a horse, he can press the opponent to extreme and the best example of it was against Manchester City. The Spaniard charged onto Bravo and the former Barcelona shot-stopper almost gave away the ball. He is full of pace and his work-rate is something to be very proud of. He surely needs to work on his consistency, though, but we certainly feel that he should be Mourinho’s priority ahead of Fellaini.
This is no secret that the big Belgian is improving, but United already have an upgrade in the squad.
