Why did we buy Fred?

Josep Dowling

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Aug 17, 2014
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7,970
I mean seriously we must be the only club that would pay £50m for a player then he can’t even make the first 11. Especially when the likes of Fellaini and McTominay are preferred options.

Why did we buy him if he isn’t good enough to come straight into the first 11? If he’s not settling quickly surely we should be assessing this stuff as part of the scouting?

This is part of the problem, we keep buying players that should improve the first 11 but almost immediately revert back to players who haven’t been up to the mark, hence why we are trying to replace them.

The same thing happened with Mkhitaryan, Bailly and Lindelof.
 
Because we thought he'd be better than he currently is, I guess?
 
Liverpool are having the same problem as us, Gundogan doesn't seem to fit at City.
It seems to be so hard to adapt to English midfields. If its the same by Christmas then its time to worry
 
Strange. Very strange. We're terrible in the transfer market these days.
 
I'm not going to worry yet, I think he'll end up being useful for us eventually. It's jarring when you see other midfielders come to the league and hit the ground running in other teams, but you see plenty struggle.
 
People with better memory will have to correct me, but did he play that badly?
 
It's only been a few weeks. He's still settling in. If no progress is made this time next year then it might be cause for concern.
 
Give the lad chance. He's been playing in the Ukraine and just got a move to a big league. We're going to play a lot of games between now and the end of the season and Matic can't play them all.
 
The Firestarter said:
That's somewhat quite the common recurrence these days.
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It's almost like the players we carefully scout and recruit aren't actually the problem, but the dysfunctional system we have in place.
 
DWelbz19 said:
It's almost like the players we carefully scout and recruit aren't actually the problem, but the dysfunctional system we have in place.
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What makes you think we carefully scout them before recruiting. All these player struggling tell me that the scouting is not good on some level
 
Because he is stepping up from such an inferiour league. There are so many players that are considered stars in the PL now that did not have the best of starts either: Otamendi, Firmino and even fecking de Bruyne (on his return to the PL) are just a few. He needs this season and one more until we can judge him.
 
The strangest thing about all this is that we dropped him after his best performance, which could have been a catalyst for a good run of form for him.
 
Johan07 said:
Because he is stepping up from such an inferiour league. There are so many players that are considered stars in the PL now that did not have the best of starts either: Otamendi, Firmino and even fecking de Bruyne (on his return to the PL) are just a few. He needs this season and one more until we can judge him.
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All those players were still given chances at the start of their PL careers. The way Fred has been frozen out is puzzling
 
Johan07 said:
Because he is stepping up from such an inferiour league. There are so many players that are considered stars in the PL now that did not have the best of starts either: Otamendi, Firmino and even fecking de Bruyne (on his return to the PL) are just a few. He needs this season and one more until we can judge him.
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But that comes back to why buy him then? We need players that can make an instant impact, buy the best available from the Premier League like we use to i.e Mahrez who would have improved our right side.

I could understand if we paid like £25m-£30m but £50m, I don’t buy this adapting to the Premier League nonsense. So many players have proved they can do it if their good enough.
 
Remember Mkhitaryan in the first season? We were all calling for him to start but he was getting left out of the squad for some reason. Maybe same thing is happening now? But we shouldn't be spending 50 million on a player to not start him from the beginning.
 
Having him and Pogba in the same midfield doesn't tactically work, it has to be one or the other. Was clear as day that Fred wasn't what we needed in midfield, we needed a proper playmaker. Saying that he hasn't been given a proper chance and his exclusion seems like some sort of a message, who knows.
 
Personally think we signed him as we were going to play a more attacking system but due to the fact we didn’t sign the 2 defenders Jose wanted, he now doesn’t feel he can play that more open attacking formation.
 
Mibabalou said:
I'd like to see him get a shot ahead of Matic, but again maybe he's woeful in training.

Id like to see

Martial - Lukaku - Sanchez
Pogba
Herrera - Fred
Shaw - Smalling - Eric - Dalot
DDG​
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I would like to see that too. Especially at home against weaker sides.
As for Fred, I think he's being given time to adapt. I like what I've seen from him so far.
 
Another player who IMO hasn’t been that bad but because he was an easy target to drop compared to say Pogba or favourites like Matic and Lukaku - he gets benched. Not to mention he’s not tall and physical so he’s more likely to be distrusted by the manager.

He’s dynamic, seems to have some tenacity and is quite a skilful player. I wouldn’t write him off this early.
 
sullydnl said:
Because we thought he'd be better than he currently is, I guess?
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He has less minutes so far than the likes of Lingard, Fellaini, Young, Lindelof, etc. who are supposed to be worse players than him. Matic is also probably our worst player this season and he is playing all the time.
 
Mentioning Matic is just stupid, they play completely different roles. Fellaini too for the most part, who looked really good in that drop between the CBs role. And then why Young or Lindelof are mentioned I haven't a clue. Do you want him in the back 4?

Fred has looked like a CM version of Bailly. Will do something good one second and the next he'll be 20 yards out of position or wildly swinging at challenges he has no chance of winning. He fills no real role, especially when we already have Pogba who does whatever he wants and never defends.
 
luke511 said:
Having him and Pogba in the same midfield doesn't tactically work, it has to be one or the other. Was clear as day that Fred wasn't what we needed in midfield, we needed a proper playmaker. Saying that he hasn't been given a proper chance and his exclusion seems like some sort of a message, who knows.
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Why can't it work? Fred is a holding midfielder. That's where he played for Shakhtar. Nobody had more interceptions in the CL last season or he was one of the highest maybe. Take Matic out and start Fred.

Fred Pogba
Lingard Mata Martial
Sanchez

​
 
Got to say it doesn’t help Mourinhio arguement that he doesn’t seem to rate half the players he buys
 
Because you think he’ll prove worth the money in time, I’d guess. It’s not uncommon for players needing time to adapt. Heck, we’ve got 55m Keita and 40m Fabinho who aren’t guaranteed starters yet. And in Fabinho’s case far from it.
 
Because Jose likes to waste the club's money. If he doesn't fancy them after a month or so, back he goes to Ed for more money etc etc. Shouldn't let managers have any say in this. Get a DOF.
 
abdo99 said:
Why can't it work? Fred is a holding midfielder. That's where he played for Shakhtar. Nobody had more interceptions in the CL last season or he was one of the highest maybe. Take Matic out and start Fred.

Fred Pogba
Lingard Mata Martial
Sanchez

​
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He isn't a holding midfielder, he didn't play there for Shaktar, Stepanenko does. And he averaged a whopping 1.1 interceptions per 90 mins in the CL last season. I'm going to hazard a guess that isn't even close to being one of the highest. Not a single thing you've just said is correct.
 
We've spent nearly £200m of Lukaku, Fred and Matic and all have major question marks.
And people just want us to plough on spending to bring a manager players without first assessing what the feck has gone wrong .
 
He might come good, but its annoying seeing us spend loads of money on players from abroad that can't get in the team straight away (Mou doesnt trust them)
Said it before, we should have got a player like Doucoure in, whos proven, adapted to league and ready for a step up
 
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