Why did we buy Fred?

I think he'll start against Fulham. Herrera or Matic to be fully rested with one eye on PSG - if Fred can't do a job against relegation contenders, he isn't good enough to even be a squad player for us.

Matic and pogba need a rest. But I doubt he will rest Pogba.
 
He'll surely get a game against Fulham, the big question is whether he'll come in for Herrera or Pogba, I know resting the latter is dangerous but he's been clattered a few times lately so it might be a risk Ole takes.
 
Games in which Fred started then was substituted before 70 mins:

PL: Wolves (63 mins), Bournemouth (56 mins), Huddersfield (53 mins)

CL: Young Boys (A) (69 mins), Young Boys (H) (64 mins), Valencia (A) (57 mins)

FA: Reading (62 mins)

Games in which Fred started then last more than 70 mins:

PL: Leic (76 mins), Brighton (90), Spurs (90), Everton (90)

I don't think Fred suits a central midfield role in a team that deploys its full-backs higher up the pitch, as Solskjaer has done in most games.
 
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Fred was a buy because City were after him. Mourinho wanted to get a oneupmanship over pep, regardless whether he was any good it seems. Same as Sanchez, who was good but turned to shit the last half season at Arsenal, before he came to us. Bet peps laughing his ass off.
 
Fred is a risk taker, and has struggling to adapt of the fast pace of PL, especially in midfield. I likened his cluelessness to Scott Parker in the past, although that might still be a disservice to Scott.

I'm wondering if he can be on Lingard position. A floating midfielder with no actual position to confuse the opposition (and his teammates, and most of cafties). In short, a midfielder that can go whatever the feck he wants to go. Sort of just to acclimatize Fred to the pace of PL.
 
Fred really needs to step up in training...on the double. Whatever it takes to give Ole the confidence. Ole picked up pereira over him against Burnley speaks volume. We are in clutch time with three competitions lined up. We desperately need backup midfield.
 
Seems a nice enough lad, tries hard, but as for a permanent midfield place in the first team squad highly unlikely. Why we bought him is one of last season’s mysteries to me along with Sanchez, continuing with the Sacked One after Seville, and not buying Maguire. £50 million to sit on the bench - absurd to the point of madness.
 
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Yes, I have the same problem working out what his role is supposed to be. Our midfielders presently seem to have quite specific roles - Matic is the defensive midfielder, Herrera the ball winner, Lingard the advanced midfielder, and Pogba the main creative midfielder. As a system it's working quite well, so presumably Fred would need to show he is able to serve as a direct replacement for one or more of the present incumbents.

It would be great if he could replace Matic, who is probably approaching the end of his career at United, but I think his game is more in the vein of Herrera or Lingard.

Herrera role is the one he fits best, but as it stands now hes nowhere near as an adequate back up. Every time he has played it seems the tempo is to high for him and he gets dispossessed because he spends to long on the ball, often in very dangerous areas.
 
I know it's weird said like that but I think City being interested in him played a role. Fred is an incredibly average player and it's crazy the money we forked out for him.
Based on really nothing. I doubt we're so small time as a club.
 
Mourinho is as small time as it gets though. Same thing with Alexis Sanchez too, to a point where the wage structure of the club got wrecked.

Was it Jose or was it the board? Jose wanted to sign Perisic, the board said no but decided it would sanction the wages of Sanchez.
 
Based on really nothing. I doubt we're so small time as a club.
you never know about jose. He has history of snatching players about to sign for rivals. Willian going to sign for spurs, he signed him. Salah to liverpool (first time) he signed him, Oscar to spurs, he signed him. So there is precedence to assume it was him who pursued Fred in spite of pep.
 
you never know about jose. He has history of snatching players about to sign for rivals. Willian going to sign for spurs, he signed him. Salah to liverpool (first time) he signed him, Oscar to spurs, he signed him. So there is precedence to assume it was him who pursued Fred in spite of pep.
I'd even say there is a big chance that is exactly what happened. If Fred was some decent player, he'd have featured a little more. I hope I get it wrong and get quoted to be laughed at but his deficiencies are too big at the moment.
 
How the massive club like this find itself in situation of having no backup midfield is beyond rationality.
 
Jose may not have gotten some of the players he wanted but the ones who were acquired are here because of him.

We would have been better off signing Perisic. That’s who he wanted, not Sanchez. The club sanctioned the Alexis wages because that’s who they wanted. Of course he agreed to it but at that point you dont turn down Alexis.
 
We would have been better off signing Perisic. That’s who he wanted, not Sanchez. The club sanctioned the Alexis wages because that’s who they wanted. Of course he agreed to it but at that point you dont turn down Alexis.
In order to get Perisic that summer Inter were demanding some 50m transfer fee wasn't it? I'm not sure we would have been any better financially wise when we look at it that way. I doubt he would have been any more useful on the pitch as well, since he prefers to play at LW where our best winger plays as well.
 
As I said previously whether Mourinho wanted him or not, Woodward wasn't forced to pay that price for him and he had proven on multiple occasions he wasn't following Mourinho blindly so he should take big part of the blame for this deal because he surely like it or he would have done like he did with Perisic, William and Toby, easily.

Next season gona be a make or break for him but the current one, we're in a situation we can't afford any feck up and we saw what Pereira did to us so not sure about giving Fred much game time now tbh. If he plays at Fulham he simply has to perform or we shouldn't see him again till the upcoming preseason.
 
We would have been better off signing Perisic. That’s who he wanted, not Sanchez. The club sanctioned the Alexis wages because that’s who they wanted. Of course he agreed to it but at that point you dont turn down Alexis.
Of course they all wanted Alexis (club + Jose), do you seriously think Jose was forced to play him ? He even benched the inform Martial for Sanchez because he weirdly wanted that much. Of course he could have blocked the transfer if he wanted because the club still had him in high regard and actively pursuited Jose for that renewal.
 
Seeing how Fred plays I feel Mourinho wanted him to replace Pogba. All of his best touches have been in the final third. In the defensive third he looks too lightweight and in the middle third he is too easily bypassed.

I hope to be proven wrong but it's not great that against Reading Fred was outperformed by McTominay.
 
We would have been better off signing Perisic. That’s who he wanted, not Sanchez. The club sanctioned the Alexis wages because that’s who they wanted. Of course he agreed to it but at that point you dont turn down Alexis.

Perisic plays on the left. No point buying him since Martial is our first choice. Actually, if Jose had bought Perisic, Martial would have been sold in the summer since Perisic would probably have put up better figures than Alexis, becoming undroppable for Jose. And we wouldn't have Martial on a new deal now.

Of course they all wanted Alexis (club + Jose), do you seriously think Jose was forced to play him ? He even benched the inform Martial for Sanchez because he weirdly wanted that much. Of course he could have blocked the transfer if he wanted because the club still had him in high regard and actively pursuited Jose for that renewal.

Yep. Every one of those signings were recommended by Jose. The club hardly ever bought players the manager didn't want -- remember how LvG vetoed Kroos, while Shaw and Herrera were brought in only after getting his go-ahead. Di Maria was bought and sold promptly when LvG wanted him out. Memphis was bought, and sold immediately when Jose felt he didn't need him.

Alexis, in top form, is a typical Mourinho player. Workhorse, borderline world class, reliable goal scorer who doesn't need coaching on finishing etc and follows instructions. Hates getting injured and/or not playing as well.

To Jose's credit, some of his signings like Lindelof, Pogba, Matic have worked out more or less. Pity it required another manager to get the best out of them.
 
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He has been horrific for us but hoping he can have a Lindelof like turnaround. There is potential in him to be a good player. He desperately needs a boost in confidence. Too early to give up on him yet after half a season playing under a very toxic manager.
 
He lacks composure, much like Bailly. Both are obviously very talented but it is a risk to play them since we can't afford a player in their positions losing their head. A winger or forward having a stinker is far less dangerous.
 
you never know about jose. He has history of snatching players about to sign for rivals. Willian going to sign for spurs, he signed him. Salah to liverpool (first time) he signed him, Oscar to spurs, he signed him. So there is precedence to assume it was him who pursued Fred in spite of pep.
Thats just silly. Many clubs are interested in many players so by that logic every time some player is bought its cause some other club was interested.
 
Mourinho is as small time as it gets though. Same thing with Alexis Sanchez too, to a point where the wage structure of the club got wrecked.
Let's not go overboard. If he was a success we would see posts like no wonder the great Pep was interested.
 
Thats just silly. Many clubs are interested in many players so by that logic every time some player is bought its cause some other club was interested.
what you said is simple bidding process. What I said there is snatching. Google the history of the transfers i mentioned. You will know what I mean.
 
It's like groundhog day in here. Whether we are doing shite or doing well we always have to be hyperbolic about how bad our players are. The guys not even been here a season, or played that much, yet people want to write him off...
 
Let's not go overboard. If he was a success we would see posts like no wonder the great Pep was interested.
He ain't a success though at the moment. Pep got it wrong on so many instances before too.
Time will tell, hopefully he becomes a solid player for us.
 
Yep. Every one of those signings were recommended by Jose. The club hardly ever bought players the manager didn't want -- remember how LvG vetoed Kroos, while Shaw and Herrera were brought in only after getting his go-ahead. Di Maria was bought and sold promptly when LvG wanted him out. Memphis was bought, and sold immediately when Jose felt he didn't need him.

Alexis, in top form, is a typical Mourinho player. Workhorse, borderline world class, reliable goal scorer who doesn't need coaching on finishing etc and follows instructions. Hates getting injured and/or not playing as well.

To Jose's credit, some of his signings like Lindelof, Pogba, Matic have worked out more or less. Pity it required another manager to get the best out of them.
Exactly. There are players Jose wanted and didn't get but it's fair to say all the players he's gotten have been with his blessing and push.
 
He ain't a success though at the moment. Pep got it wrong on so many instances before too.
Time will tell, hopefully he becomes a solid player for us.
I'm just saying cause of rumors Pep being interested in him it doesn't mean we bought him just cause of that. I don't think even Jose was waiting for Pep to be interested in someone so he could buy him.
 
It's like groundhog day in here. Whether we are doing shite or doing well we always have to be hyperbolic about how bad our players are. The guys not even been here a season, or played that much, yet people want to write him off...
You've been here long enough to know better :)
 
Yep. Every one of those signings were recommended by Jose. The club hardly ever bought players the manager didn't want -- remember how LvG vetoed Kroos, while Shaw and Herrera were brought in only after getting his go-ahead. Di Maria was bought and sold promptly when LvG wanted him out. Memphis was bought, and sold immediately when Jose felt he didn't need him.

Alexis, in top form, is a typical Mourinho player. Workhorse, borderline world class, reliable goal scorer who doesn't need coaching on finishing etc and follows instructions. Hates getting injured and/or not playing as well.

To Jose's credit, some of his signings like Lindelof, Pogba, Matic have worked out more or less. Pity it required another manager to get the best out of them.

I'm sure that some will be upset about it but he deserves zero credit. It doesn't matter if you sign good players, if they don't fit into what you want to do, if you have no clue about how to use them appropriately then you failed. These transfers are part of Mourinho's failure and the fact that Ole found a way to make them perform has to be credited to Ole not Mourinho.
 
It's like groundhog day in here. Whether we are doing shite or doing well we always have to be hyperbolic about how bad our players are. The guys not even been here a season, or played that much, yet people want to write him off...
It's hard to read an argument on here than doesn't descend to hyperbole.
 
I'm just saying cause of rumors Pep being interested in him it doesn't mean we bought him just cause of that. I don't think even Jose was waiting for Pep to be interested in someone so he could buy him.
Never said that. Just said that it's a strong possibility that we went for him because he was linked with City without any thought or proper planning in how to get the best out of him.
 
I'm sure that some will be upset about it but he deserves zero credit. It doesn't matter if you sign good players, if they don't fit into what you want to do, if you have no clue about how to use them appropriately then you failed. These transfers are part of Mourinho's failure and the fact that Ole found a way to make them perform has to be credited to Ole not Mourinho.
All 3 had good games under him, Lindelof started to come to his own even before Ole. Granted he's been better and better. Pogba has been good also until their relationship fell apart and Matić was one of the best players last season imo.
Sure, Ole has had them more motivated and playing with more sparkle so to say but let's not pretend all of his signings were a disaster. Bailly for instance had problems with injuries but may prove to be a good signing in the long run.
 
All 3 had good games under him, Lindelof started to come to his own even before Ole. Granted he's been better and better. Pogba has been good also until their relationship fell apart and Matić was one of the best players last season imo.
Sure, Ole has had them more motivated and playing with more sparkle so to say but let's not pretend all of his signings were a disaster. Bailly for instance had problems with injuries but may prove to be a good signing in the long run.

I hope that they had good games under him, that would be tragic if they didn't. But from Mourinho's perspective they are failure because they didn't fit what he wanted to do and he wasn't able to adapt to what they were consistently good at, it's not that difficult. And I ddin't say that these transfers were dramatic, they are failures for Mourinho because they didn't fit what he wanted which is why Pogba was pushed out of the club and Lindelof not trusted to start.
 
We never had any success with Brazilian players and Fred looks ill suited to premier league and is very limited in the few games he played for us. Not even sure what is his position in mid. Defensive mid, attacking mid or box to box?

Still hoping for miracle that Ole can improve him.