18 Jun 2013 12:29:15
There is a lot of talk about Fellaini at the moment. Now, I don't know whether or not he will sign - that's up to AW, but I'm just wondering where he would play.

To me Fellaini is a great player but his best position is as an AMC, rather than a DMC. Last season he played 27 times as an AMC and scored 11 goals, whilst providing 5 assists. As a MC he played just four games.
His tackles per game was high for a player in that position at 2. 6 per game, but that is relatively low compared to one of our other targets.

If we look at Gonalons he played 33 times as a DMC, tackling at an average of 4. 4 times per game. Although he only scored three goals, his defensive contributions were invaluable to the team.

Capoue, in contrast, played 28 games as a DMC, scoring 7 times and providing three assists. Yet, Capoue is not as proficient at tackling, only wrestling opponents off the ball 2. 4 times per game, which is less than Fellaini manages.

So, for me, we would only be signing Fellaini as an AMC. I think that would improve the team, but I think that is one of our strongest positions, with Caz, Rosicky and Jack. Perhaps, AW wants to change Fellaini's game as he has done with Arteta.

Incidentally, anyone who wants takes Arteta out of their team for next year is mental. He was a beast again last season and tackled at 3. 2 per game, which is pretty great considering how he is adapting to this new role.

So for me next season, if we sign Fellaini I'd also like us to sign a DMC as well. If we had a midfield three of:

Arteta Gonalons
Fellaini

or
Arteta Ramsey
Jack

That's pretty strong and that's without putting Rosicky or Caz as AMC.

What do you guys reckon? Do we need Fellaini?

Sorry for such a long post,

Sally

1.) 18 Jun 2013
A cheaper option to this issue is to buy Schneiderlin from southampton. Second only to Liverpool's Lucas this year in terms of def mid performance stats.

Sorry to intrude I often do statistical analysis on the liverpool page (which is down at the minute) and recently did analysis of DM position.

Nevada

2.) 18 Jun 2013
I agree Arteta is a consistent performer, but its always the champions league, where his class is, how do I put this mildly ( they just run over him, as if he was in some sort of vegetative state)

Not that fellaini is proven in that competition, however we need to have a plan B and that's exactly what he does. How, when and where is wengers problem but I want him.

Rosicky, is more like a stand in player, Arteta is on the wrong side of 30.

Gervinho's hairstyle reminds me of my curtains at home.

Look I don't know what arsene needs, but all I know is I want to be greedy and buy as much as we can, so when its january, and 11 players are getting treatment for brittle bones, at least we have some ACTUAL QUALITY, players to count on.

Also prefer players who have not solidified their position in the national team, they get a platform and they will play like their life depended on it, to get on that plane to BRAZIL

3.) 18 Jun 2013
If we sign fellaini and play him as a DM, it will be a repeat of alex song. he will venture forward often, and if we ever get caught on the counter with fellaini up-field, then he will take the blame for roaming out of position. We really need to sign a gonalons/capoue type, who will not roam around all the time. Fellaini is a good goal scorer and assit maker, but that's because he also likes to get attention for his performances. his hair-cut is a symbol for his personality. he won't cut it as an out and out DM, its not exciting enough.

4.) 18 Jun 2013
He apparently said that he prefers the DM role more than CAM so that shouldn't be a problem.

we need a rotation in the midfield since we only play 3 midfielders, and arteta is not getting younger so fellaini slots into either arteta's or ramsey's position.

also bring in another CB (or 2 if tv5 leaves), a new RB if sagna leaves, and one or two forwards and I think we're set.

Trinidad-Gooner

5.) 18 Jun 2013
I completely agree, time and time again I've seen post's on here saying fellani would be the ideal defensive mid cover we need, when actually by a mile he is best used as an attacking mid. far too attack minded. song got heavily criticized for being to attack minded. we need a dedicated dm. a makalele type.
sw18gooner

6.) 18 Jun 2013
Great post! I strongly agree - I had suspected that Fellaini was slightly averse to the DM role and this evidence seems to support it. Of course challenges aren't everything, there is also interception rate, where Gonalons' is also significantly better than Fellaini's at 3. 1 a game. Capoue has 2. 6 and Fellaini 1. 2. The other thing to take into account is that attacking quality in French League probably isn't quite as good all-round as the Premier League, although there are some very good strikers.

Given his excellent defensive stats (significantly better even than Gundogan's), I would actually opt for Gonalons ahead of Fellaini - Fellaini is a much better all-round player but not so much what we need. Another great option would be Matuidi, whose stats are even stronger, but we don't seem to be linked with him at the moment.

Ideally I think we should leave the ACM position for Cazorla, get a proper DM alongside Jack, and perhaps invest in a new winger. I think Fellaini is great but not the best option for the roles we need: like you say, we have Cazorla, Rosicky, Ox etc who are best suited to Fellaini's strongest position.

In all I would say no, we don't need him. But he is a great player and would still add to the squad.

Oleg Maputo

7.) 18 Jun 2013
18 Jun 2013 13:44:29
It's Gonalons for me but someone said the other day that it would be difficult, he has a contract until 2016, Lyon have qualified for the UCL and Clement Grenier who we are linked with also plays for them.

8.) 18 Jun 2013
Ramsey/arteta/cazorla/rosicky/wilshere - they are 5 guys for 3 positions already, unless you want to play cazorla or rosicky on the left wing (out of position, despite cazorla being capable due to being a good footballer) - i'm all for signing a midfielder, but it will literally be at the expense of one of our players perhaps having to leave.

9.) 18 Jun 2013
Yeah, I agree. I think Fellaini would be a great addition but I would rather we signed a really good DMC, and a great winger. This would allow Caz to play in the middle.

One option which hasn't been mentioned is Morgan Schneiderlin. He has played really well this year. He has played over 30 times as a DMC in the EPL, and has managed some great stats. He averages 4. 1 tackles per game and 3. 9 interceptions, with a pass success rate of over 85%.

I think AW might be quite into this guy, but that's only because he is French and is at Southampton who we have a good relationship with.

In my opinion buying a great DMC and an experienced keeper (Begavic, Cesar), who make us a difficult team to beat. We have conceeded far too many goals over the last few seasons but I think at the end of this year we saw a really good team developing.

Come on you Gunners,

Sally

10.) 18 Jun 2013
18 Jun 2013 17:26:38
Hi sally. nice to see a women post. A good def mid has the ability to read the game. I've seen some good ones over the years but Vieira was the best I've ever seen. made Steve Gerrard look like a boy at times. the ability to break up play and move forward and put the opposition on the back foot with his long strides. I like the Dortmund player a lot, he will improve a lot in the coming years. The good thing about Fallani is his flexibility. Also the help he would offer to the defence at set pieces and the threat he would pose in the oppositions box. I really can't see Dortmund allow anymore players leave after losing one star player and struggling to hold another. This is one of the two major acquisitions we need along with a forward. No bargain basement here please Arsene. km

11.) 18 Jun 2013
Not too sure about all these stats. they can be misleading as well as boring.
Never saw the tackle stats on Peter Storey but one was usually enough!