Van Gaal praise for reborn Fellaini
MANCHESTER UNITED manager Louis van Gaal has praised the resurrection of Marouane Fellaini as the big Belian prepares to play in the fixture that marked the low point of his Old Trafford career 12 months ago.
On March 25 last year, Fellaini was jeered by both City and United fans as he was substituted in a 3-0 United deafeat that proved the death knell to the manager who signed him, David Moyes. Even more hurtfully, 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, Rooney or Angel di Maria this season. Playing off Rooney, Fellaini has allowed van Gaal to introduce a 4-3-3 formation, with Ashley Young and Mata either side of the centreforward. United have won five league games in a row and are in third place, 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.
‘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 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.’
Fellaini, who cost £27million when Moyes signed him from Everton, has scored four league goals this season and his aerial presence has helped van Gaal bring back a formation he used earlier in the season against Chelsea, Manchester City and West Brom, without winning any of them.
‘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 a 4-3-3 because you can press better, I tried it at that time but we couldn’t do it. It’s a process and now we can do it.’ Van Gaal also had praise for Spanish keeper David de Gea, saying: ‘He was very important in a lot of matches and therefore I can’t change him.’