Van Gaal hails Fellaini’s rise after jeers a year ago

LOUIS VAN GAAL has praised the resurrection of Marouane Fellaini as the Belgian prepares to play in the fixture that marked the low point of his Old Trafford career a year ago.

On March 25, Fellaini was jeered by both City and United fans when substituted in a 3-0 United defeat that proved the death knell to the man who signed him, David Moyes.

United legend Paul Scholes was scathing about Fellaini’s United career up that point, saying: ‘I’d be expecting a lot more of him.’

Things have changed dramatically since then with Fellaini (right) developing into a more effective No 10 than Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney or Angel di Maria.

Playing off Rooney, Fellaini has allowed Van Gaal to introduce a 4-3-3 formation, with Ashley Young and Mata either side of the centre-forward. United have won five league games in a row and lie third, a point ahead of City for today’s derby.

‘Marouane always does the things that we want from him. He is performing what we want from a midfielder, we have other players who are too creative and too emotional to do the job,’ said Van Gaal.

‘I’ve always said for the balance of our team you have to also defend as well as attack and you have to beat the pressure from the opponent. Marouane (left) plays a factor in all these aspects, we needed him in the team, now he has that role and he plays his role very well. ‘We haven’t got the tallest team and have problems with the long ball,’ admitted van Gaal. ‘So we press more than we used to. We have changed our shape to 4-3-3 because you can press better.’