Running around looking busy, tackling, tracking back, passing etc are all secondary.
The McFred midfield duo
- Thread starter kouroux
- Start date
Running around looking busy, tackling, tracking back, passing etc are all secondary.
Keita has been unmarked this whole half. They get very easily bypassed. This is no midfield. Other midfielders have some obvious pros even though they have their weaknesses. These two are average/poor in most aspects of the game.
Exactly, give him away for free in January.
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Their reputation has never been valid.
Yep he has been here 6 years and hasnt been the answer along with McFred and Matic.
No game involving Pogba or Matic starting as CMs and with 11 players was as bad as this.
Another point that will be ignored.
We have never been this bad in midfield with any other duo, people even tried to justify their crap on Wednesday. This is what the fanbase deserve, we should never have accepted the nonsense that these 2 are good enough.
A month ago I started this thread and not once since then, have I been proven wrong
Love the defensive stability they give us in midfield. 
As a club we’re getting exactly what we deserve.
This move towards, ‘they work hard so it’s ok they’re crap at everything else’ is exactly what their biggest fans have been dressing up. We played piss pooor against Leicester & people acted as if these guys didn’t start against Villa & Everton.
But he has won trophies with France and Juve playing in midfield 2 and 3, maybe the problem is elsewhere.
Pogba will leave and continue winning as he has done without United and people will search for a new scapegoat.
As good as butter against hot knife.
Yes but it hasn't worked with us. Sometimes separation is good for both parties.
Agreed, build the midfield from scratch.
It’s been nice for people to have an easy scapegoat for 6 years, it’s a comfort to say one he & ‘his circus’ leave it’ll rid the club of some nonsensical negativity.
I said it when I first joined & was given a warning for it. It’ll be hilarious to watch us once he leaves & the likes of McFred are the players we have to look towards.
Pogba just ran the show in an international tournament final & in our current squad is one of the more decorated players, yet Harry decking Maguire gets more support from this board despite his horrendous displays season on season.
Exactly this
Pogba plays his best in a 4 3 3 and Bruno his best as a 10. Clearly we can't accommodate them both. Don't even try bring out the French midfield whilst ignoring the efforts of sissoko, Matuidi and Rabiot. Pogba is not a bad player but he doesn't fit.
You just answered that sentence with your closing statement.
Pogba not fitting isn’t, ‘Pogba is a <insert superlative here>’. The issue I have with the Pogba critique is it’s always disproportionate. I can’t say Pogba plays well for France without saying other players do as well? Matuidi did bits for France for a while, why would I go out of my way to talk about Kante, for example.
Bruno as a 10 is another discussion, yes he gets stats there but he could do well in a 3 imo but ah well we’re losing 5-0 @ home, the whole things shambolic.
So after awful performance last week, they still start? VDB should just ask for transfer.
Zero protection, zero retention. We are fecked
The only thing they do is run around. Bad at pressing, bad at moving the ball forward.
It surprises me that continuing to play them hasn’t magically made them a midfield worthy of a top half team.
Leagues below City players on the ball.
Woeful almost like not replacing both was completely negligent and incompetent.
They'd both look better under a better manager
Totally broken now. Fred is ok to keep around the squad but should not be starting regularly and McTominay should not even be at the club.
Really interested to see how they do with good coaching until January. Good managers can make average players look better.
They remind me of that period where we played Cleverley and Anderson together in CM
Atrocious but sometimes effective.
Atrocious but sometimes effective.
Not even Ralf can fix it but Fred is clearly better
Opposing sides will tear us apart if we continue to rely on McTominay.
Rangnick on Fred and McTommy (Scotty) - Those two are almost perfect for that kind of football (obviously referring to his high pressing game).
Think going forward, as was the case with Ole, we probably won't see a player like De Jong, Jorginho, Verratti - deep lying playmakers, if you like. Rangnick will obviously want progressive players but like Klopp, he will prioritize workrate over being tidy on the ball. Don't get me wrong, as I said, he'll want progressive players and players who can hit that vertical pass - something Fred and McTominay aren't great at, but I think the midfielders he'll go for workers.
Rice
Phillips
Haidara (never seen him but Rangnick knows about him)
Bissouma
McGinn
Now, the players above are nothing fancy, but they would really suit the profile of midfielder I feel Rangnick would like. High energy, drive and solid defensively.
Think going forward, as was the case with Ole, we probably won't see a player like De Jong, Jorginho, Verratti - deep lying playmakers, if you like. Rangnick will obviously want progressive players but like Klopp, he will prioritize workrate over being tidy on the ball. Don't get me wrong, as I said, he'll want progressive players and players who can hit that vertical pass - something Fred and McTominay aren't great at, but I think the midfielders he'll go for workers.
Rice
Phillips
Haidara (never seen him but Rangnick knows about him)
Bissouma
McGinn
Now, the players above are nothing fancy, but they would really suit the profile of midfielder I feel Rangnick would like. High energy, drive and solid defensively.
Don't think McTominay will keep his starting spot with Ralf as manager.
Blasphemy there was that brief period of time up to the Arsenal Game where those two were brilliant going forward. Defending not great but for that brief run of like 4 or 5 games they looked superb.
Fred is 100% good enough. I think he needs better quality support because he can be the legs, the energy, pressing, trying to nick the ball. Get somebody quality next to him and suddenly we're not asking him to do things that he isn't good at. The problem in the Mish mash of styles in a 4-2-3-1 was we wanted Fred to do everything, including dominate play out of the back.
Do we really think somebody like Kante is a wonderful silky passer that would have looked good in that system Fred had to play within? His primary attributes are obvious, he's got technical marvels around him and that helps him to be world class in what he does. You just need the right tools for each particular job.
The problem we have had for a long time is Fred has overall been the most reliable but there's nobody great to partner him. McT is the best of an average bunch.
Do we really think somebody like Kante is a wonderful silky passer that would have looked good in that system Fred had to play within? His primary attributes are obvious, he's got technical marvels around him and that helps him to be world class in what he does. You just need the right tools for each particular job.
The problem we have had for a long time is Fred has overall been the most reliable but there's nobody great to partner him. McT is the best of an average bunch.
Please, no more...
Usually at least one of them is a 6/10, today both were 2/10 combined.
The difference is amazing when Pogba is on the pitch.
The difference is amazing when Pogba is on the pitch.
I can only hope that Ralf needed to rotate with the 3 games in a week, meaning Pogba gets a rest and then Matic not being available forcing him to play them together
We've gone as far as we can with this midfield. It needs upgrading in the Summer. Just isn't what we need if we are trying to progress as a football club.