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2021-22 Performances


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5.3 Season Average Rating
Appearances
36
Goals
4
Assists
5
Yellow cards
8
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He is an engine and not much more. He does the ugly stuff very well but technically, he is no better than average which is disappointing for such a financial outlay. His passing and shooting accuracy is just poor for a premier league midfielder. That being said today, once he went off with 20 minutes to go, we effectively lost any semblance of shape we had in the middle of the pitch and therefore became passengers for the remainder of the game.

His passing isn't poor, but it's erratic. One minute he will play some really slick forward balls or do some nice diagonal switches of play, the next minute he will completely misplace a simple pass. For example McTominay is also erratic but never shows good vision and execution with his passing. I'm not the biggest fan of Fred's passing skills, not by any means, but he's still better than McTominay and Matic by some margin. Quality passing from deep is something we suffer from basically since Carrick retired.

The rest of your post I actually agree with. I expected more for our outlay. I do however think the energy and tenacity he brings are very underrated and hard to replace. As you well pointed out, the minute he stepped off we dropped a gear in the middle of the pitch and lost all impetus. Hence I think he's the most important of our CMs despite his failings.
 
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His passing isn't poor, but it's erratic. One minute he will play some really slick forward balls or do some nice diagonal switches of play, the next minute he will completely misplace a simple pass. For example McTominay is also erratic but never shows good vision and execution with his passing. I'm not the biggest fan of Fred's passing skills, not by any means, but he's still better than McTominay and Matic by some margin. Quality passing from deep is something we suffer from basically since Carrick retired.

The rest of your post I actually agree with. I expected more for our outlay. I do however think the energy and tenacity he brings are very underrated and hard to replace. As you well pointed out, the minute he stepped off we dropped a gear in middle of the pitch and lost all impetus. Hence I think he's the most important of our CMs despite his failings.

No doubt. And that is the actual problem with this team. Our most important cm but he shouldnt really be more than a decent bench option.
 
In and ideal world they both needed to go off. They where criminally bad

Fred was worse first half and Matic second.

The problem is we have no shape when Matic plays with another CM. Due to his lack of mobility he drops deep like a 3rd CB, leaving Fred all alone in CM while Bruno is up top playing almost like a false 9. Our midfield is stretch like a line parallel to the sidelines. We can no longer effectively press either.

That's not exactly a defence of Fred, he started slowly as per usual (kind of his MO). But we know that he was better in the second half and we know him and McTominay work okay-ish together, while neither works well with Matic. So the decision to leave Matic on and take Fred off was baffling.
 
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I swear I have never seen him complete a crossfield pass. He tries every game though.
 
My mind is made up with Fred he's incompatible for this team to move further. The praises he gets for the most basic necessities of a midfielder is absolutely comical. I would take the defensive positional discipline of Rice over him and an Ndidi / Bissouma. Fred looked a far more promising player for Shaktar compared to his current development. If anything he's regressed as a professional, he's got his way into the team solely from having a stronger work ethic.

If a good work ethic is the signature trait of a Manchester United midfield it shows how far the club has fallen especially in midfield quality since the likes of Scholes, Carrick etc were in the middle. Fred MUST go if the club want to move forward.
 
Wondering if Bissouma/Pogba/Bruno in midefiled-3 works with Sancho/|grrenwood/Cavani as front 3
 
Let's be honest, Mcfred is best defensive minded midfield we have, but they just cant be devided, and should play as one unit, so lose one of them mean lose it all to Us. the idea is to bring a good "pure" DMF (Tchouameni, Bissouma, even Rice, Neves wont do) this window, who can upgrade Mcfred or even batter who can play single pivot, and keep Mcfred, many here suggest to ship fred and bring new one wont be good, because we dont hane cover in that area, if we need sell to buy, ship VdB who ole dont trust or Matic whos leg was gone
 
I generally think people underrate him on the cafe, but he was shocking today.

He should have been binned at half-time.

He had that 1 shocking pass out of play, but he had 2 passes to the left flank that same half that were horribly under-hit and killed dangerous attacks.
 
He isn't even able to switch play. His one attempt which should have been easy to pull off, was easily intercepted. When you have to break down organised defences and your CMs range of passing basically to the nearest two players, it's a problem.

I don't know what more evidence people need that our starting CMs are actually squad player material. The whole 'the problem is the CBs/Strikers/Wide players' who make them to look bad, has grown old and worn. Just see how we lose control of games and struggle to pass through teams and it's clear as day. A midfield of Mctominay, Fred and Matic isn't to pull up any trees. We need better
 
I said it last night he’d cop the majority of the blame for it if we lost or got a draw and he hit a few stray passes, it was obvious.

Im almost happy for James he wasn’t on the pitch because of the slaughtering he’d get, he’d be singlehandedly blamed for the result but he genuinely couldn’t have done any worse than martial and that’s the truth. In fact he almost certainly would have been an improvement.

Fred was mostly shite but he’s still our best midfield competitor and only legitimate tempo setter we have. We totally fell apart as soon as he left the pitch and people still aren’t making the connection at all between fred winning the midfield battle ugly and us controlling a game and how that affects the quality of chances we can create. Also leaving any player in there with Matic is just a recipe for disaster. Bad stuff from Ole. Very poor game from fred but he was just one of many poor performers.
 
Fred was mostly shite but he’s still our best midfield competitor and only legitimate tempo setter we have. We totally fell apart as soon as he left the pitch and people still aren’t making the connection at all between fred winning the midfield battle ugly and us controlling a game and how that affects the quality of chances we can create. Also leaving any player in there with Matic is just a recipe for disaster. Bad stuff from Ole. Very poor game from fred but he was just one of many poor performers.

It really baffles me how people can't see this. Even if we sign a new CM/DM, it's not Fred that'll be getting dropped for him. Despite his erratic passing, he's still too crucial to our game. He's the only one that presses, harries, recovers the ball. He was on the pitch for 75 mins and had the most presses, tackles and blocks. We went from 70% possession (in last 10 minutes) to 40% after he got taken off.

He still had a bad game. He can and should be doing better. But the fact people are so dismissive of what he brings is just so bizarre.
 
He is the perfect example of why the stats don’t always paint the full picture. People reeling out possession stats for before/after he went off :wenger:

Anyone who actually watched the game saw how poor he was. You simply can’t carry a midfield who is so unreliable on the ball. I hope we sign a CM by the end of the window, but even then I am not sure what sort of magical CM will be able to compensate for all of Fred’s limitations. I don’t think he offers enough to play in a double pivot.
 
Fred does alot of unselfish work for the team and yesterday was on his own in the middle as Matic was so deep. His lack of quality let's him down and in a game like yesterday it becomes magnified.
 
Fred tries and that's it, you can't expect much quality on the ball from him, can't expect him to stop a counter when it matters the most, can't expect him to be a starting CM for Manchester United basically. Anyone kidding themselves that he is good enough needs a reality check.
 
It really baffles me how people can't see this. Even if we sign a new CM/DM, it's not Fred that'll be getting dropped for him. Despite his erratic passing, he's still too crucial to our game. He's the only one that presses, harries, recovers the ball. He was on the pitch for 75 mins and had the most presses, tackles and blocks. We went from 70% possession (in last 10 minutes) to 40% after he got taken off.

He still had a bad game. He can and should be doing better. But the fact people are so dismissive of what he brings is just so bizarre.
I agree with what you said. The main issue is that when Fred is doing bad, his passing is so bad that it can't be ignored. You watch him straight up pass the ball out of play and people will use that as evidence that he can't pass. Yesterday wasn't a typical game for Fred, but many people will say that it was.

I still think that we should have a better midfielder than him. His bad days are very bad. They have cost us before, but his presence is missed when he's not there. If Fred is to be replaced, we need someone that brings his energy, but also more consistent passing on a day that they're not playing well. The players that people keep rattling off, I don't know how much better they will be in games where we're expected to break down a low block.
 
Wow, he was so bad. Ole cannot be giving him chances after chances.

We need to get Donny in the team if we want control of the ball.
 
Half time the decision should have been to get a choke hold of this game and take him off for VDB. Baffled he came on second half.
 
Even if he isn't perfect- I like Fred.

He is the one player that passes the ball from deeper areas that can initiate a quick counter attack.
 
Meet Anderson
Well I personally know a couple of fattish lazy Brazilians who are good at football so Anderson fits that bill. I have never seen a Brazilian national team player with as little skill as Fred. His passing range is shocking to say the least.
 
You literally tagged a post where I said he was shite? I’m not defending him today. I’m talking about our midfield options in their actual regular context. I don’t see what’s wrong with comparing what works with what doesn’t in a thread about one of our starting midfielders.

As I say some are hesitant to say much if anything bad about Fred, ok fair enough you say Fred was shite but then talk about how bad Matic was for 60-70% of your posts. Why not just say Fred was shite and leave it at that and comment of Matic's performance in I don't know... the Matic performance thread?

I'm just highlighting a trend I've noticed in Fred's threads, his biggest proponents spend a lot of time commenting on other midfielders performances instead of discussing positives about Fred displays. Which shows just how bad Fred has been the last year.
 
He has a stinker every now and then. Usually, the team can tolerate that but yesterday, it was exacerbated by him playing next to Matic, who should be on a farm in Serbia, and Bruno having an off day as well. No one in the midfield did well for themselves.
 
Fred and Matic don't work as a pair. It stands out everytime they play together. Ole has that one wrong.

But whoever is next to him Fred's bottom level is too low. Can't see that changing at his age.
 
I think the main issue with Fred is that he shouldn't be our best CM but he typically is. If he was the weaker of the two then I think we'd probably be fine as although he is liable to getting the basics wrong he also brings a reasonable amount with his energy particularly if we're going to push Shaw upfield as often as we can but him being our best cm (assuming Pogba is more likely to play on left and can be erratic himself in the middle) I think it does leave us a bit exposed.
 
He is absolutely horrendous. He’s just a Brazilian Tom Cleverley. He should be nowhere near united never mind a premier league team! We need to sign Neves!
 
I think the main issue with Fred is that he shouldn't be our best CM but he typically is. If he was the weaker of the two then I think we'd probably be fine as although he is liable to getting the basics wrong he also brings a reasonable amount with his energy particularly if we're going to push Shaw upfield as often as we can but him being our best cm (assuming Pogba is more likely to play on left and can be erratic himself in the middle) I think it does leave us a bit exposed.

Yep he is and now that we've signed Varane and Sancho CM is the biggest weakness in the side. If we had a top midfielder beside Fred with Fred doing the donkey work for them that could work. But we have to rely on Fred controlling the game, setting the tempo and moving the ball forward for us. And Manchester United shouldn't be relying on a player with such limited passing ability to fulfill such a role.
 
Yep he is and now that we've signed Varane and Sancho CM is the biggest weakness in the side. If we had a top midfielder beside Fred with Fred doing the donkey work for them that could work. But we have to rely on Fred controlling the game, setting the tempo and moving the ball forward for us. And Manchester United shouldn't be relying on a player with such limited passing ability to fulfill such a role.
This
 
Fred is terrible. What lets him down most is he cant do one or two touch. He has to stop the balll. Take a touch, turn, take a touch, by this time the ball has been taken off him. Other teams target him because they know he is Our weakest link. Watch him in any game. He will give the ball away 3 or 4 times per game. Surely Ole can see that. Hes a liability.
 
Yep he is and now that we've signed Varane and Sancho CM is the biggest weakness in the side. If we had a top midfielder beside Fred with Fred doing the donkey work for them that could work. But we have to rely on Fred controlling the game, setting the tempo and moving the ball forward for us. And Manchester United shouldn't be relying on a player with such limited passing ability to fulfill such a role.

Yeah completely agree. I don't even think it has to be a top midfielder, for example I don't think Liverpool have had the greatest midfield over the last few years but if they're at a certain level and well drilled then they can give the platform for the attacking players and full backs to influence the team.
 
Yeah completely agree. I don't even think it has to be a top midfielder, for example I don't think Liverpool have had the greatest midfield over the last few years but if they're at a certain level and well drilled then they can give the platform for the attacking players and full backs to influence the team.
We need to stop using them as a reference point. Their set up and manager is a big reason why work rate is paramount in their system. Ole is not going to offer that so we need different qualities
 
Yeah completely agree. I don't even think it has to be a top midfielder, for example I don't think Liverpool have had the greatest midfield over the last few years but if they're at a certain level and well drilled then they can give the platform for the attacking players and full backs to influence the team.

Well they wouldn't need to be one of the Worlds best, but a player with decent workrate and a very good passing range would improve our play significantly. Pity Pogba can't be relied upon in there.
 
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