The trouble with this forum now is is difficult to evaluate our players sensibly as you tend to get a large number of posters who fall into two camps.
1) The 'We're Man Utd' camp, who seem to demand a world-class, £150m player in every position because 'we're Man Utd'.
Can typically be seen posting comments such as 'wouldn't get in the treble-winning team' or 'not a patch on Park Ji-Sung'.
These posters think we need 20 new signings to challenge for a trophy and spend their time hammering our players incessantly.
2) The 'too easily pleased' camp, who, unlike the 'we're Man Utd camp', are desperate for us just to sign anyone and anything and are just happy whenever one of our players manages to turn in something like a competent performance.
Can typically be seen posting comments such as 'Fred is the most undervalued player in England' or 'Rashford is a world-class talent'.
These posters will defend basically all of our players from any hint of criticism whatsoever.
When I look at a player, I don't need them to be the next incarnation of Paul Scholes or Cristiano Ronaldo to realise that they can still be of value.
However, I do also look at a player and think 'do I trust this player?', 'are they on a level with, or better than, the majority of their counterparts in the PL?', 'do their strengths outweigh their weaknesses?', 'if I was an opposition player, how would I feel about facing this player?' etc...etc...
I am afraid that for me, Fred fails to answer those questions appropriately for a regular starter in a Manchester Utd team.
I don't trust him, and it's obvious that opposition players target him with their press. He isn't really better than his counterparts in other sides...and I'm not just talking top 2/3 sides...you look at players like Rice, Partey, Grealish, Ruben Neves, Doucoure, Sissoko, Hodjberg etc...and think is Fred better (or significantly better) than those players and I'm not sure you can say definitively that he is. That's before you even get into your Fabinho's, Henderson's, Wijnaldum's, Ndidi's, Tielemann's, Gundogan's, Rodri's, Kante's, etc...
Do his strengths outweigh his weakness? Well, he gets about the pitch well and harasses opponents but is he really exceptional at this? I'd argue he is maybe 8/10 at best at ball recoveries but he is lightweight and can be muscled out of it by opponents, plus his small stature makes it difficult for him to compete in the air effectively. His passing is very safe most of the time and when he does attempt something more adventurous, he tends to give the ball away, although from time to time he picks a nice pass between the lines with his left-foot.
Finally, if I was an opposition player, how would I feel about facing Fred? Well, pretty good to be honest! You know he can't hit killer passes or big switches like a Paul Pogba or a Bruno. You know he doesn't have the power of physique to really faze you, like a McTominay. You know he's not a great reader of the game and doesn't have the composure of someone like a Matic. You're basically thinking, this guy will run and run, but will he really hurt me? Do I really need to worry about him or change my game?
So, I'm by no means saying Fred is awful, but I just don't think he is good enough at any one thing to be a Manchester United player on a regular basis. Even McTominay, who does have his limitations, has the physique, the power, the height and the strength advantage.
