Season › 2012-13 › News Fellaini down with groin problem Michael Kenrick , 14 August, 18comments | Jump to most recent A race to be fit for next week Marouane Fellaini is facing a race against time to be fit for Everton's Premier League opener against Manchester United after missing the final pre-season friendly with a groin complaint. The Belgian midfielder was unable to take part in Saturday's defeat at Malaga after suffering the injury before kick-off, and will undergo intensive treatment this week in the hope that he can face the Red Devils at Goodison. Quotes or other material sourced from Chester Chronicle Reader Comments (18) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Jamie Sweet 1 Posted 14/08/2012 at 05:51:20 Question mark over Gibsons fitness too. Perhaps we could arrange some riots again to get our first game of the season postponed as per last season v Spurs. I fear Utd may rip through us without these two in the centre of the park. Jamie Sweet 2 Posted 14/08/2012 at 05:54:39 Sorry, just remembered we've got Phil Neville as cover. Cancel the riot, we'll be fine! Steve King 3 Posted 14/08/2012 at 08:48:23 My heart always sinks when I hear it's a groin injury. Memories of Duncan Ferguson coming back for 5 games at a time before injuring it again and again.God forbid Fellaini or any of our first eleven ends up the same! We are desperately short of back up! John Crook 4 Posted 14/08/2012 at 09:22:10 Either Pip as the defensive midfielder or see if Francisci Junior can either sink or swim? Steve Smith 5 Posted 14/08/2012 at 09:34:57 OS says only slight groin strain. Joe Bibb 6 Posted 14/08/2012 at 10:15:51 This gives Moyes time to get McFadden back... Denis Richardson 7 Posted 14/08/2012 at 10:41:09 Would rather he missed the utd game so that he is fully fit for the 'easier' games after that, rather than risk a full break down only for him to be out for a month or two.Would be great to get a result against the mancs but this game is not going to make or break our season and groin strains need to be given proper time to heal. Hopefully Moyes wont entertain any ideas of playing him if he's not 100% (given he's played people in the past whilst injured, e.g. cahill and jagielka).With possibly no fellaini, gibson and definitely rodwell for Monday - that would mean the dreaded Neville / Heitinga partnership again in central midfield....I thought I would never have to see that again! Fingers crossed both Fellaini and Gibson are 100% come Monday, at least they have an extra two days before the kick off. Brian Cleveland 8 Posted 14/08/2012 at 13:21:28 You never know, maybe we can take Rodwell on loan!! ;-) Nick Armitage 9 Posted 14/08/2012 at 13:36:48 Phil Neville in midfield v United. They are far more cute than him and will get him sent off. We could be in with a chance yet. Nelly Verdonghan 10 Posted 14/08/2012 at 15:19:03 Perhaps it's just the sceptic in me and/or the fact that I just don't trust Billy Liar and his Board of Goons but could it be that this "injury" has materialised so he doesn't play (or really get injured!!) before Aug 31st????Hhmmmm !!! Steve King 11 Posted 14/08/2012 at 15:27:31 Nelly,That is the most paranoid thing I've heard for ages.............and yet it kind of makes sense...........god I hope you're wrong!! James Stewart 12 Posted 14/08/2012 at 18:18:06 Great thats Neville in Midfield then eugh! Michael Winstanley 13 Posted 14/08/2012 at 19:59:26 It makes me laugh when Neville makes our midfield when clearly everyone can see he's shit. I can see him now defending our 18 yard line and floating cross field balls to an isolated Hibbert...give me strength!We sold Rodwell because he couldn't get in the team.And Nelly...great minds! Sean Patton 14 Posted 14/08/2012 at 20:15:01 It does not make me laugh anymore I am well past that stage now it makes me weep with anguish Michael Winstanley 15 Posted 14/08/2012 at 20:27:31 Sean, I know where you're coming from. What Moyes must see is a leader, our leader on the pitch. A battler, someone who will give his all for the cause... The fact he can't really play is neither here or there because we've got no one else save Osman who can play there.Junior and Barkley are a risk as they aren't schooled in the art of defending yet; they might make a mistake, give the ball away cheaply and then not run back towards the 18-yard line. These are the considerations Moyes has to deal with... so, until we have some quality and experience, we just have to suffer the experience of Neville. Jamie Sweet 16 Posted 14/08/2012 at 21:46:39 To be fair to Neville, he played in midfield in the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford and actually had a pretty decent game. I'd still rather he didn't play there though, but I'd say it's pretty nailed on he will if one of Gibson or Fellaini aren't fit.As for Nelly's conspiracy theory, I wouldn't be entirely shocked if that actually was the case (say Chelsea, City or Utd are negotiating close to the £25m mark). I hope to hell it's not though. Keith Glazzard 17 Posted 15/08/2012 at 01:40:12 If you believe they put a man on the moon, you've got to be some kind of idiot according to many a Twebber. I was quite impressed by one poster calling Jack "Roswell" yesterday - a typo made in heaven, or more probably sent from another dimension. He might have been abducted by aliens, but they all passed through immigration.The greatest unsolved mystery of our time is the Arteta transfer. But he was playing for us that August, scored from a pen I think.Oh and I noticed that the "Gibson was a down payment for Rodwell', special relationship between SAF and DM crap has necessarily stopped.If you ever posted something like that ... well, that's entirely up to you. Danny Kewley 18 Posted 15/08/2012 at 19:27:36 I give up : we'll be lucky to get out of this world alive! Oh and by the way 2-1 for the blues on Monday Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads