Why Moyes needs some new recruits if he is to get the best out of Fellaini

By David Anderson

Published 13:17 28/11/11

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How do you solve a problem like Marouane?

OK, apologies for that corny opening remark, but getting the best out of Marouane Fellaini is a bit of a poser for David Moyes.

Moyes showed his faith in Fellaini by persuading their hard-up board to make him their top-paid player on £70,000-a-week when he recently signed his new five-year contract.

It was a major statement by Moyes after the departures of Stephen Pienaar and Mikel Arteta and was proof that he sees Fellaini as being the cornerstone of his side over the next few years.

It was also a major thumbs up from Fellaini for Moyes and Everton and the Belgian midfielder could have run down his contract with Arsenal desperate to sign him and Chelsea watching on from the sidelines.

The issue for Moyes now is how to best utilise this wonderfully-gifted midfielder.

Fellaini, 24, showed how he can dominate matches at Bolton on Saturday with his size and power and crowned his performance with his first goal of the season.

He clearly has goals in him - he got nine in his first season in 2008-09 - and his best position is probably as an attacking midfielder.

But the problem for Moyes is that he doesn't have the players to accommodate him and Jack Rodwell in this forward role.

What he would love for Christmas - if Santa is listening - is a proper holding midfielder to allow Fellaini to push forward and, yes, a good targetman to lead the line as a lone striker.

Moyes would then be able to play 4-3-3 with Fellaini and Rodwell having licence to get forward, knowing the door was firmly closed behind them.

Fellaini showed this side to his game at the Reebok on Saturday and once David Wheater was sent off, he was able to push forward and hurt Wanderers.

Unfortunately, the reality for Moyes is that he has to muddle through with a 4-4-1-1, or 4-4-2 formation with Fellaini operating in the holding role.

As good as he is at breaking up opposition attacks and dominating that area, it limits his scope to get forward and score goals.

And they badly need someone who can chip in with a few goals to help them along because their frontline is so unreliable.

The ideal solution to Moyes' poser would be for one of the parties interested in buying Everton to complete a buy-out and hand him the money to buy a holding midfielder and an attacker.

In the meantime, though, he will have to keep doing the best he can, which doesn't necessarily mean he's getting the best out of Fellaini.

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