A shame we couldn’t have just saved the 47m plus wages we’ve spent on Fred and instead applied some of those resources to keeping Herrera, who’s a substantially better midfielder.
Fred - £47m well spent
- Thread starter RashyForPM
- Start date
- Status
When Herrera left I was nonplussed since I assumed we'd be picking up someone better. But given that two transfer windows later we've still bought no one yet, we should have hung on.
You know it’s a fake quote right? Just checking cause you really wouldn’t know anymore…
I dont know mate. I just remembered someone sent me this link a few years ago by email and being as I dont delete them found it again.
Remember when some deluded folk tried to convince people he was worth more to us than £50m. No thanks, I'll take the £50m.
You don't know that it's a fake quote?
PM me your credit card details - I've a fantastic offer I'd like you to take a look at.
Fairly sure Fred was coming off a stand out season in his position in the CL where he was one of their best players against city and Juve amongst others. I can’t fully remember the opposition off the top of my head. City were also in for him for around 50 million in the January window but Shaktar wouldn’t sell. I get that a lot of people don’t rate him but I genuinely think his partners in there are as much of a problem as he is.
He is right. It’s like when we signed Obertan and Blanc said he didn’t know why
Fred was the best player in them matches but against City and Juve he would of had none of the ball and would be chasing the ball which is his best attributes. He is good off the ball when on the back foot but here we dominate 80-90% of matches and his ability on the ball is awful for a top side
I don’t think someone like Henderson or Keita or whoever are miles better on the ball. They just press together as a team. The difference is Fred is trying to do everything in the middle by himself. Set the tempo, get us up the pitch, win it back high up, supply Bruno. If he had an able cool headed partner in there who could run a game I think we’d see a better Fred. He was bought to the club to compliment Pogba and Matic and give them legs. Matic is finished and Pogba isn’t a box to box midfielder, more of an attacker who can track back when he’s in the mood. put the right partner beside Fred and take away some of the responsibility and he’ll win you the ball and get it up the pitch and track back all game long
I’m not saying he’s awful but he will never be 47m well spent or good enough to be starting every week for title challengers. Also Henderson and Keita are better on the ball.
I also feel Liverpool is the only example anybody can use when saying midfield doesn’t have to be great but it only looks bad either on Fred as Henderson is able to dominate in there or on Ole as Klopp has shown the MF doesn’t have to be world class.
Klopp is a better manager and Liverpool MF is underrated. Yes it’s probably on paper one of the worst of Elite teams but it’s coached well and underrated
Can you name one midfielder at a top team that does this? Or would you say what you're describing is Kante?
We have seen Fred's passing being absolutely horrendous, short or long. What makes you think he would be able to get it high up the pitch all game?
Kante has simple effective passing for the most part. He’s not expected to do half as much with the ball as we expect of Fred. They do a similar job defensively but Kante is literally a world class defensive midfielder. Fred does that job and also fully goes box to box. He’s doing two jobs and unfortunately not nailing either of them.
No as I said I was sent it as a link years ago and never seen anything about it since. Turns out fake or not 25 mill is about right for him.
People think Fred's a defensive midfielder because he puts up high tackle/interception numbers. In reality he spends 90 minutes chasing the ball, never taking up good defensive positions, never cutting passing lanes...just chasing the ball...falling in love with 30/70 tackles without hesitation - completely taking himself out of the game when he loses one.
Obviously Kante's on a different planet to Fred - he's brilliant at what he does - but there's similar reason why a string of managers don't see him as a defensive midfielder, even though most fans do.
Sarri was the first that who said that Kante chases the ball too much to be a a defensive midfielder. He made the point that there's a huge difference between a defensive midfielder and a ball-winner. I think he even called a ball-winner a luxury player, which sounds weird...but you can see his point.
Lampard came in and said similar:
And finally Tuchel:
.
All of them have chosen to play a sitter, in Jorginho, alongside him.
With Fred, we legitimately line him up as a 'defensive midfielder' and just say "feck it, run where you want". We even play a B2B player alongside him who has similar high effort, low discipline. To make it worse, Solskjaer actually praises them for their "energy and desire" without ever recognising how hideously unbalanced it is, both offensively and defensively.
Obviously Kante's on a different planet to Fred - he's brilliant at what he does - but there's similar reason why a string of managers don't see him as a defensive midfielder, even though most fans do.
Sarri was the first that who said that Kante chases the ball too much to be a a defensive midfielder. He made the point that there's a huge difference between a defensive midfielder and a ball-winner. I think he even called a ball-winner a luxury player, which sounds weird...but you can see his point.
Lampard came in and said similar:
And finally Tuchel:
.
All of them have chosen to play a sitter, in Jorginho, alongside him.
With Fred, we legitimately line him up as a 'defensive midfielder' and just say "feck it, run where you want". We even play a B2B player alongside him who has similar high effort, low discipline. To make it worse, Solskjaer actually praises them for their "energy and desire" without ever recognising how hideously unbalanced it is, both offensively and defensively.
Last edited:
This is the problem for Fred his best attributes suit a team that are seeing less of the ball or play on the counter. He is good at getting around but his ability on the ball is awful for a player that is starting for a team aiming to win things. He looks better in games like the PSG for example where are goal is too sit deep and counter. Unfortunately for him these games are only a small percentage of the season
Henderson is world class, at least at certain times during certain season. He is quick on the ball and he reads the game very well. One most important aspect of his game is he seldom make mistakes. This is a huge contrast to Steven Gerrard who made numerous errors defensively. Gerrard is also a very selfish player who keeps taking long shots to satisfy his own desires of getting into the headlines. Henderson is much more of a team player who really helps the team. Gerrard basically won nothing later in his career.
Not a bad player, not the best player. Mourinho time - and I'd happily blame the fans that wanted Mourinho here instead 
Do find it funny how a player like Shaw and Maguire get the - oh they must be tired post Euros's card whilst Fred doesn't get the tired post Copa America card though.
Do find it funny how a player like Shaw and Maguire get the - oh they must be tired post Euros's card whilst Fred doesn't get the tired post Copa America card though.
That's obviously nonsense as they rejected 40+ million bid from City in Jan.
And also the guy who posted that also posted this
Good post, yeah our midfield is unbalanced as they both try to play box to box role.
Also defensive midfielder term is used differently, few use that term to the player who is good defensively and the reason they play in the team (for their defensive contribution). Few use the term to describe players who sits infront of defense in more disciplined role.
Lampard and Tuchel summed it up well. He can't play as a single 6 in the team. As with any role, it's all about balance of the team. For Kante to do what he is so good at, he needs someone to sit and cover the gaps.
Our midfield is all over the place, we don't have players who are good to play as 6. Matic is the only one who can but he can't play more than a half.
Unsurprisingly we're even worse without him. McTominay is lost out there.
Its not new, its from the first season we signed him iirc. Thats when that story came out, and even when we signed him there was the story that people who knew about him were surprised United came in for him.
Fred has to start.
Big miss tonight
So under rated
So under rated
He just became a bit better this 45 min.
Always when he doesnt play.
Always when he doesnt play.
Bring him on. We are terrified of trying anything up top because they crucify us on the break every time we lose it.
Fred or Matic but it has to be somebody
Fred or Matic but it has to be somebody
Fred - a great cross to set up the sequence for Ronaldo's goal - amazing scenes.
Fred is a good player who is either trying to do too much by himself or is just left too much to do by his teammates. Once again we see the invisible midfield tonight. Happy to see him come on and contribute. He’s actually involved in plenty of our goals at some point in the build up. Usually when he wins the ball and moves it on to Bruno
Last edited:
Can he play right back? He did more then Dalot in that 5 mins spell.
If it’s mcfred today, Dalot won’t be this poor really I guess. Ole got the setup really wrong today.
Worst thread on the caf.
Fred had a bad night but he's just about justified a £47m price tag - makes up for lack of quality with bulldog spirit, has had some very good performances over the years
Fred has his uses and has shown it in some big games, but my God is his bottom level so low. Leeds' 12th man tonight.
He was bad today but he has been here for about 5 years now and we got a lot of good moments from him. I would consider his signing a good success imo. When he joined us I expected him to be sold in 2 years max, but he has been here up till now and played a big part in many wins and good performances we had in those bad years.
Yes he was awful tonight but that's a different thing.
Yes he was awful tonight but that's a different thing.
People saying awful display are cracking me up. That was a lifetime performance. He’s peaked and cannot get any lower than this.
He played like a drunk today but kept going. The lad has no shame and thats the beauty. He’ll rock up again and deliver a similar display but slightly better than todays and we’ll all be chuffed for him.
He played like a drunk today but kept going. The lad has no shame and thats the beauty. He’ll rock up again and deliver a similar display but slightly better than todays and we’ll all be chuffed for him.
One atrocious pass after another and this has happned how many times with him? How many games do we see him give the ball away with a bunch of braindead passes when he's got options 2 metres away. I really like his energy and work rate but that's not enough you need more to your game and not to mention the fact we have a manager who wants players who are good on the ball and don't give it away with sloppy passes for fecks sake good passing is one of this managers main focus.
Sell him and get Caqueret ffs.
Sell him and get Caqueret ffs.
I think lack of quality is permissable when the target is solely top 6 expectation but once the team makes a transition to challenging Fred must be sold. It's imperative imo.
He's still a good squad player to have - the problem in the past was that he was first choice
Regularly plays for Brazil so the price we paid was fair
Last edited:
- Status