Player Focus: Fellaini Unsurprisingly Floundering in New Role at United

Marouane Fellaini didn't spit at Pablo Zabaleta. Or at least, it was announced on Monday that he won't be charged with spitting at Zabaleta having very clearly elbowed him in the face. It's not exactly great news, but it's probably the first break Fellaini's had since joining Manchester United on transfer deadline day.

As bad has gone to worse and even worse for United this season, Fellaini has become the microphone-headed embodiment of their new manager's haplessness, a one-man argument why Moyes should not be trusted with a vast transfer budget in the summer. It's not so much that Fellaini has not played well - although he hasn't - as that it's been very hard to see how Moyes ever imagined him fitting in. In fact, it says much about the problem that Fellaini ranks as United's joint fourth-best player by WhoScored rating - 7.15: he isn't actually playing that badly, it's just that what he's doing doesn't really cohere with the rest of the side (although his rating is still significantly lower than last season - 7.57).

The signing of Fellaini seemed a little strange. Had United signed him by the end of July, they would only have had to pay £22m. As it was, they signed him on 31 August, by which time an exit clause in his contract had expired, meaning they had to pay £27.5m. Given that Moyes must have known about the existence of that clause, the delay was widely interpreted as bungling by United, possibly as a result of their new chief executive, Edward Woodward, still learning the ropes.

But another possibility presents itself. Maybe Moyes, who was notorious at Everton for the attention he paid to detail, for his habit of deferring transfers until he was absolutely certain, wasn't sure about Fellaini. In the fog of that final day, as fake representatives tried to manufacture a deal for Ander Herrera, who it seemed United had decided was £4.5m too expensive, the exact reasons for the Fellaini hold-up were never fully explained: could it not be that Moyes thought he could find somebody better suited to United's requirements and then, as time ran out, returned to a player he not only knew, but knew would happily leave Everton for United? Was Fellaini a safe final throw of the dice on deadline day?

After all, where does he fit in? At Everton, Fellaini was a muscular, exciting presence, clattering his way around midfield in a frenzy of energy. Perhaps the number of physical confrontations he was involved in, the number of free-kicks he gave away, gave a misleading impression and encouraged the belief he was a holding midfielder when in fact Moyes often used him at the front of midfield as a battering ram. But there is no room for him to do that at United: Rooney is already the designated aggressive presence at the front of midfield.

Last season, Fellaini scored 11 goals and created five for Everton. This season he is yet to register either a goal or an assist. Not surprisingly, shots per game are down, from 2.9 to 1.6, and he's winning fewer aerial duels: 4.9 down to 3.3. Pass success rate has gone up, from 79.3% to 88.1%. He is making marginally more tackles (2.8 to 2.6) and more interceptions (2.1 to 1.2).

All those stats really say, of course, is that he's playing deeper this season, so trying to get on the end of fewer crosses and long passes and making fewer risky passes in the opponents area. The question, though, is if that if he was so good at the front of midfield last season, why buy him and then expect him to play in a different role this? The timing of the deal suggests Moyes had doubts about him; what has happened this season suggests he was right to do so.

Can Fellaini turn his Manchester United career around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below