Managers are judged upon their signings and so far David Moyes has been under pressure due to the poor performances of midfielder Marouane Fellaini, who came to the club in a £ 25 million deal from Everton in the summer. Moyes knows Fellaini extremely well during his time at Everton since he was essentially the manager who brought him to English football. He played in a different role at Everton – almost as a striker, but the presence of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney has made him play in a much deeper role.
Fellaini was recently seen playing as a defensive midfielder alongside Michael Carrick, which is a position he has not been used to in recent years. The Belgian also got a red card in the Champions League match against Real Sociedad. Moyes has responded to the poor performances of the midfielder by saying that he will come good soon. Since he knows him very well, Moyes has said that Fellaini is much better than his current performances suggest. Due to the significant number of injuries, Fellaini is expected to start against Cardiff City on Sunday.
“[For] a lot of people who join Manchester United – it doesn’t always happen as quickly as you would like. He needed to take time but we threw him in very quickly. Ideally we would have bedded him in more gently and at the right opportunities. But we had to put him into some big games at quite a difficult time for us,” David Moyes said of Fellaini.
The likes of Michael Carrick have been sidelined a few weeks because of injury. There have been suggestions that Fellaini has been playing with an injury, which may force him to have surgery in the New Year. Moyes has said that the club are monitoring the situation.