The Kenny Dalglish column: Fearsome Fellaini shows you don't HAVE to play like Barca to win
Plus: Why there's no need for Manchester United to panic after Monday's mauling and why the fixture list is unfair to Newcastle
Use your head: There's nothing wrong with "lumping it forward", Fergie!
Fellaini’s performance also proved there is no definitive way for teams to set up and play, despite the trend to try to copy Barcelona’s passing game.
The key for any team is doing what works best for them and playing to their strengths, and David Moyes’ side certainly did that at Goodison Park on Monday.
People have different opinions on the way they game should be played, but you can only play the way you feel is best.
Teams need a range of options and many use big strikers up front. Everton have Fellaini, Liverpool have Andy Carroll and Chelsea achieved great success with the power and strength of Didier Drogba.
If you have a player of Fellaini’s size, aerial ability and physical strength, are you not going to utilise those assets?
Of course you are.
It would be wrong for a manager not to play to such a player’s strengths, whoever he is.
And what’s wrong with putting a player up front in the box and trying to score with a header? Nothing.
Just because it may take a team three passes – or a long ball – to get into the opposition area, doesn’t make them any less effective than one that gets there with an intricate build-up of 20-odd passes.
It’s what happens at the end of an attacking move that matters, not how you get there in the first place.
I know Sir Alex Ferguson said after Monday’s defeat that Everton just “lumped the ball forward”, but I don’t see anything wrong with that if it is effective.
If you can’t handle that, it’s a weakness in your team, not a criticism of the opposition for playing the way they do.
United were missing four defenders, but still had Nemanja Vidic, a big lad and as good a defender as there is, and Michael Carrick, who is also tall.
If you can’t cope with a player like Fellaini, then you suffer the consequences, as United did when he scored a header from a set-piece.
As a manager, you don’t like to concede any goal, but it’s a failure of your team’s marking and defensive duties when it comes from a set-piece.
When you play in the Premier League, you have to have the height to compete at set-pieces.
People criticise Stoke for their direct style, particularly from Rory Delap’s long throw-ins, but I don’t see anything wrong with that, as long as it’s within the rules of the game.
A couple of years ago Tim Cahill played up front for Everton, with Fellaini dropping off him, and now he’s gone, Fellaini is fulfilling that role.
When Fellaini arrived in England, it was as a defensive midfielder, but the way he played on Monday showed just how much he has developed since then.
Barcelona are a fantastic side to watch, no one would dispute that. But they didn’t win La Liga last season, Real Madrid did.
So why isn’t everyone copying Jose Mourinho’s approach and style of play?
Madrid winning the title proved teams can achieve success with more than one style.
Barcelona are a superb side, but there is more than one way to win a game and be successful as a team – as Everton showed in beating United.
Not every team can play like Barcelona and I don’t think having a direct style should be frowned upon.
Drogba terrorised defences in the Premier League and Europe for years and showed that physical and aerial strength can be just as important as technical ability when it comes to being an effective forward, something Fellaini proved against Manchester United.
Plus: Why there's no need for Manchester United to panic after Monday's mauling and why the fixture list is unfair to Newcastle
Michael Regan
Marouane Fellaini's man-of-the-match display in Everton’s 1-0 win over Manchester United shows there is still a place for an old-fashioned target-man.Fellaini’s performance also proved there is no definitive way for teams to set up and play, despite the trend to try to copy Barcelona’s passing game.
The key for any team is doing what works best for them and playing to their strengths, and David Moyes’ side certainly did that at Goodison Park on Monday.
People have different opinions on the way they game should be played, but you can only play the way you feel is best.
Teams need a range of options and many use big strikers up front. Everton have Fellaini, Liverpool have Andy Carroll and Chelsea achieved great success with the power and strength of Didier Drogba.
If you have a player of Fellaini’s size, aerial ability and physical strength, are you not going to utilise those assets?
Of course you are.
It would be wrong for a manager not to play to such a player’s strengths, whoever he is.
And what’s wrong with putting a player up front in the box and trying to score with a header? Nothing.
Just because it may take a team three passes – or a long ball – to get into the opposition area, doesn’t make them any less effective than one that gets there with an intricate build-up of 20-odd passes.
It’s what happens at the end of an attacking move that matters, not how you get there in the first place.
I know Sir Alex Ferguson said after Monday’s defeat that Everton just “lumped the ball forward”, but I don’t see anything wrong with that if it is effective.
If you can’t handle that, it’s a weakness in your team, not a criticism of the opposition for playing the way they do.
United were missing four defenders, but still had Nemanja Vidic, a big lad and as good a defender as there is, and Michael Carrick, who is also tall.
If you can’t cope with a player like Fellaini, then you suffer the consequences, as United did when he scored a header from a set-piece.
As a manager, you don’t like to concede any goal, but it’s a failure of your team’s marking and defensive duties when it comes from a set-piece.
When you play in the Premier League, you have to have the height to compete at set-pieces.
People criticise Stoke for their direct style, particularly from Rory Delap’s long throw-ins, but I don’t see anything wrong with that, as long as it’s within the rules of the game.
A couple of years ago Tim Cahill played up front for Everton, with Fellaini dropping off him, and now he’s gone, Fellaini is fulfilling that role.
When Fellaini arrived in England, it was as a defensive midfielder, but the way he played on Monday showed just how much he has developed since then.
Barcelona are a fantastic side to watch, no one would dispute that. But they didn’t win La Liga last season, Real Madrid did.
So why isn’t everyone copying Jose Mourinho’s approach and style of play?
Madrid winning the title proved teams can achieve success with more than one style.
Barcelona are a superb side, but there is more than one way to win a game and be successful as a team – as Everton showed in beating United.
Not every team can play like Barcelona and I don’t think having a direct style should be frowned upon.
Drogba terrorised defences in the Premier League and Europe for years and showed that physical and aerial strength can be just as important as technical ability when it comes to being an effective forward, something Fellaini proved against Manchester United.
