Rohit wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

He made his name in Liege as the DM behind Witsel and Defour. That was always his natural position until Moyes converted him, because he played DM the first half of his inaugural season with Everton and got so many fouls/redcard.

So he isn't a good defensive midfielder?

He played DM for a few games then moved into a CM role because he couldn't speak english it was to hard to organize him in the team with the players around him. So they moved him forward where he had less responsibility until he grasped english with the plan to move him back to DM. But they've lost so many attacking players he ended up doing more of a Cahill role.

Think he is the type of signing we need for a league campaign. May not be world class in either role, but his PL experience and versatility would definitely improve us. Would be sort of like the Carrick signing for United. Not that person to take them to the next level in terms of Europe, but his reliability in the league helped them dominate it. We will need some real class signings if we want to compete in Europe, but I'll be happy to see league improvement first.

That would do me. Not asking for too much. Just fix the obvious weak points in the team and lets see where that takes us.

otfgoon wrote:

Why is everyone so eager to put him in a defensive or attacking role? What's wrong with plain old midfielder like Vieira?

I think its fairly clear that would be his role if he signs. He'd be a nice option for the last minute when we're lumping it in the box trying to get an equaliser/winner though.

When you are a big bloke people automatically assume that you are a DM, which Fellaini is not. He can't tackle to save his life, he makes Paul Scholes look brilliant when tackling.

People keep saying he's a handful when playing as an AM what the fuck does that have to with creating chances and scoring goals. At the most he just annoys defenders and win a lot of knock down headers. For fuck sake Andy Carroll is a handful but that doesn't translate to goals for him.

Lastly he can't play the B2B role, he's not mobile enough or have the stamina to move from box-to-box.

Armor wrote:

otfgoon wrote:

Why is everyone so eager to put him in a defensive or attacking role? What's wrong with plain old midfielder like Vieira?

I think its fairly clear that would be his role if he signs. He'd be a nice option for the last minute when we're lumping it in the box trying to get an equaliser/winner though.

He could play Ramsey's role.

EDIT: @[deleted] - Also, in regards to mobility, this is from the 11/12 season where he predominantly played as a CM (I believe): He has the 4th highest average distance run per game in the top flight, clocking up a whopping 6.65 miles per match. His notable marathon matches this season include 7.5 miles in the derby defeat and 7mile+ outings in the away games at Man City and Fulham.

Arteta/Ramsey are our "DM/box-to-box" players so i would be happy if he became our "annoy defenders, win a lot of knock down headers and use his big body to make 50:50 balls his own" player with Santi/Jack and Podolski/Higuain being our "create chances and score goals" players.
We could also start selling massive afro wigs in the armoury for the fans.

Bold Tone got the idea.

Shinda wrote:

When you are a big bloke people automatically assume

Tbh it looks like you're the one doing the assuming. He has excellent stamina as the stats on IG's post shows. Not sure what the point of that Carroll comparison was either - Andy Carroll not scoring goals means Fellaini won't score goals?

Shinda wrote:

When you are a big bloke people automatically assume that you are a DM, which Fellaini is not.

Yeah, never mind the fact that he's successfully played as a DM for the majority of his career, or the fact that the player himself has specifically said that DM is his favoured position. We just think he's a DM because he's a big bloke.

Which part of his career?

asajoseph wrote:

Which part of his career?

DM up until 09/10 (4 years)

CM for 10/11 + 11/12 (2 years)

AM for 12/13 (1 year)

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Shinda wrote:

When you are a big bloke people automatically assume that you are a DM, which Fellaini is not.

Yeah, never mind the fact that he's successfully played as a DM for the majority of his career, or the fact that the player himself has specifically said that DM is his favoured position. We just think he's a DM because he's a big bloke.

He was not a very good DM, just because he started out as a DM don't make him a successful one.

And which period would you call successful?

It really doesn't matter anyway, he won't be playing DM for us.

He'll either be a CM or an AM.

asajoseph wrote:

And which period would you call successful?

CM + AM.

I don't want him as a DM anyway.

Well, exactly my point...

I thought we don't play with a dedicated DM

The players we have are far better players than Fellaini in the CM and AM position. We should do better than Fellaini

I'd take Fellaini because he is a good, premiership player. I don't really see how he would fit in, but that's for Wenger to deal with.

£23m is expensive, mind.

How do his supposed strengths vs weaknesses stack up?

Ramsey is better than Fellaini. In all honesty I wish we could upgrade on Ramsy though.

Shinda wrote:

Ramsey is better than Fellaini. In all honesty I wish we could upgrade on Ramsy though.

I really like Ramsey, but he has been consistently shit since his injury up until a few months ago. Fellaini has far more experience, and is a better player than Ramsey imo.

Which viable target would you propose to replace Ramsey then? Just out of curiosity.

45m or so on Fellaini and Higuain. Might not have the headline-grabbing impact of 45m on Cavani, but it would really strengthen our team tremendously. That business alone would put us in a position to push for 3rd or even 2nd based on this season's standings.

Wenger will need to make a call. Risk paying 5m pounds or so for the two of them more than he would if he bought them in August; but in doing so guarantee that he actually gets them rather than see them in another team's colours when the season begins. What will Wenger do?

Not being an expert, my evidence for him is a 10 min highlight reel.

Chest control, First touch, Second touch, short pass, right foot, left foot, Heading, strength, stamina, size, annoy the opposition factor, aerial dominance in defence, midfield and attack, shielding the ball, through passes and he is krusty the clown so he must be devious.

asajoseph wrote:

And which period would you call successful?

everton paid 15m that rose to 17m for him, so he must have been successful in belgium too to command such a fee.

anyway if we're going to sign him then they just need to activate his release clause. trying to get them to take 21m would be pointless. if he's a flop at 23m he would be a flop at 21m and no one would feel better about it because we paid 2m less than his release clause.

I didn't say I necessarily want him to play DM for us, by the way. I'm simply pointing out that the notion of Fellaini as a DM is FAR from an absurd one. It's his favoured position for goodness sake and it's the one that got him a 15m move to Everton.

I think he's versatile enough to play many roles effectively. That's part of the reason I want him at Arsenal.

Claudius wrote:

45m or so on Fellaini and Higuain. Might not have the headline-grabbing impact of 45m on Cavani, but it would really strengthen our team tremendously. That business alone would put us in a position to push for 3rd or even 2nd based on this season's standings.

I'd be happy with that and consider it money well spent.

Claudius wrote:

45m or so on Fellaini and Higuain.

I'd be ecstatic with that.

Yep they're the kind of moves that would really strengthen us.

Bold Tone wrote:

Not being an expert, my evidence for him is a 10 min highlight reel.

Chest control, First touch, Second touch, short pass, right foot, left foot, Heading, strength, stamina, size, annoy the opposition factor, aerial dominance in defence, midfield and attack, shielding the ball, through passes and he is krusty the clown so he must be devious.

I know it's only cherry-picked highlights, but most of that is seriously impressive.

Fellaini would also add another serious goal threat

A lot of deflections in that clip.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Fellaini would also add another serious goal threat

Yep, from open play and set pieces. Plus he adds some much needed height and strength.

And he's an option in a lot of positions. Need a goal? Push him forward. 2 up, let him drop deep. Dying minutes, put him up front. Or even if Santi/Jack are getting bullied at number 10, move Fellaini there and its a whole different set of problems for the defence.

Lets face it he's Evertons best players (only Baines comes close) and Everton finished 2 places behind us. It makes perfect sense to sign him.

I genuinely think he'd be great in Ramsey's position.

50-50s for Fellaini are like 80-20s.

qs! wrote:

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Fellaini would also add another serious goal threat

Yep, from open play and set pieces. Plus he adds some much needed height and strength.

And he's an option in a lot of positions. Need a goal? Push him forward. 2 up, let him drop deep. Dying minutes, put him up front. Or even if Santi/Jack are getting bullied at number 10, move Fellaini there and its a whole different set of problems for the defence.

Lets face it he's Evertons best players (only Baines comes close) and Everton finished 2 places behind us. It makes perfect sense to sign him.

Precisely. Defo want him to sign.

Klaus wrote:

A lot of deflections in that clip.

was it luck how he forced many of the those into his team's advantage or are they just as many that go against him?
A big negative is the number of cards he picks up and despite having many of the attributes we may desire, he is not an elite player making the £24m valuation extremely off-putting.