Fred is one of the most underrated players in England

ivaldo

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Their responsibilities were to help shield the defence and give the attacking 4 and fbs a good platform to build off in attack. Matic was better at executing everything they were in there to do and even offered more with his great work for James' goal.
Matic will always be the deeper player so Fred had to play further forward which he isn't is comfortable with. Still a poor performance regardless, but it doesn't make it easier. Hopefully McSauce will be back soon.
 

Falcow

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Poor game today at least passing wise. Would agree with poster above who said his form hasn't been great lately.

As for posters asking for gifs of his poor pass.....pathetic really. Bruno did that 4 or 5 times tonight, should we have a gif of those as well?
 

ivaldo

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Oh. Seemed like he was taking offense to the criticism of Fred for what was a shocking performance but not one reflective of his usual standard especially recently.
No problem with criticism. I hope you can appreciate the difference in appreciating something is poor and revelling in it.
 

DomM

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Some of his passing is laughable, put his team mates into difficulty by messing up the most basic of passes, does something good and then messes it up.
 

SinNombre

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I like Fred but he is not the quality we need to get to, and he should have resale value.

We will likely get 25m for him.
 

Ali Dia

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It’s not a consistent flaw. When he’s playing well his passing is fine. Good even. When he has a bad game it falls apart completely. The canary in the coal mine for his confidence.
its because he’s always trying to speed our play up and when it doesn’t come off he looks stupid. Every player misses passes. Even safe straightforward passes under no pressure but Fred gets stick for every mistake. He’s the heartbeat and the only one attempting to set a tempo of the middle of the team. You can’t please everyone I suppose.
 

arnie_ni

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No problem with criticism. I hope you can appreciate the difference in appreciating something is poor and revelling in it.
I can, but sometimes you just need to laugh at a bad performance and then sweep it under the carpet.

No point dwelling in
 

el3mel

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He has been mostly poor recently. Shame, I really, really liked him at the start of the season. His erratic passing is becoming more often and he's really completely useless on attacking. Scott is better in this regard.
 

youngrell

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It was Bruno he was aiming for
Yeah I know Bruno was there, but the pass was so far away from him I think he may have been expecting James or AWB to be running up the line.

Maybe I’m giving him too much credit. He was atrocious all night, really.
 

ivaldo

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I can, but sometimes you just need to laugh at a bad performance and then sweep it under the carpet.

No point dwelling in
Again, it won't bother me. He played poor today, that's it. Wouldn't it be nice if that was it?
 

Djemba-Djemba

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His passing is unacceptable.

It doesn't matter how good he is at other things, you're always going to struggle having a central midfielder who can't pass the ball.

We need an upgrade.
 

arnie_ni

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Again, it won't bother me. He played poor today, that's it. Wouldn't it be nice if that was it?
We need it to be anyway. Some big games coming up.

Actually thought playing with matic might allow him to win the ball higher up the pitch and start attacks for us.
 
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His passing is unacceptable.

It doesn't matter how good he is at other things, you're always going to struggle having a central midfielder who can't pass the ball.

We need an upgrade.
Im sure someone will come along and quote the pass completion stat and prove you 89.9% wrong.
 

city-puma

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Yes, that particular pass is way too advanced. But, you should have realized what he expected to do and why he did it. He expected Bruno had a forward run in that space but Bruno was stationed still. It’s chemistry stuff. Picking it up to bash Fred is ridiculous.
 

wolvored

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Fred cost £50 million and more than we played for Bruno. let that sink in. Atrocious.
 

city-puma

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Not only Fred but the whole team miss McT so much in this game. Their high pressing was messing up our whole play. Need McT back as soon as possible.
 

ivaldo

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We need it to be anyway. Some big games coming up.

Actually thought playing with matic might allow him to win the ball higher up the pitch and start attacks for us.
He has his faults but he's integral to the way we play.

There wasn't really a battle to be won in there today. Newcastle don't try to play through the middle. So he was tasked with playing the McTominay/Pogba role which he isn't suited to. He's actually pretty decent picking the ball up deeper and playing a pass through the lines, but Matic was already doing that, which is why they kept stepping on one another's toes and looked a little lost at times.
 

ivaldo

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Not only Fred but the whole team miss McT so much in this game. Their high pressing was messing up our whole play. Need McT back as soon as possible.
Or Pogba. They take up those risky positions and are usually the ones that break through the press.
 

Hanky panky

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Fred was underrated, these days he start to get overrated. His passing is average, under average. And his long distance shots are terrible. He never should shoot until it is very clear goal scoring chance. Useful squad player yes but we do need more technical starter.
 

city-puma

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its because he’s always trying to speed our play up and when it doesn’t come off he looks stupid. Every player misses passes. Even safe straightforward passes under no pressure but Fred gets stick for every mistake. He’s the heartbeat and the only one attempting to set a tempo of the middle of the team. You can’t please everyone I suppose.
Spot on. Someone just doesn’t understand that. Maybe they just want to watch us play walking football. He either passes to space or makes a ball carrying forward run to speeds up the tempo when there is an opportunity to attack with space.
Today, he even won several aerial duels.
Fred and Matic are not a good partnership when the opponent does high pressing.
 

Redlyn

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Sloppy performance. Matic dictated it. But, he was ok. Maybe one day he'll even accidentally score a goal.
 

city-puma

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Or Pogba. They take up those risky positions and are usually the ones that break through the press.
The only time I remember pogba does ok against high pressing is the 30 mins when he partnered McT against Everton. It gives me a hope that partnership might be something we could use in the future.
 

ivaldo

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The only time I remember pogba does ok against high pressing is the 30 mins when he partnered McT against Everton. It gives me a hope that partnership might be something we could use in the future.
I think his absence illustrates just how well he was doing. He takes risks so when it goes wrong its every noticeable, but there's no denying we look significantly better with him in the middle.
 

DSG

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I would describe Fred's passing as erratic. Occasionally as on Thursday it's bloody perfect. Earlier that same match he misplaced two 10 yard passes to Scott, under no pressure.

He's just wildly inconsistent in his passing, which isn't great for a central player.

He makes up for a lot of it through sheer energy and determination, which is great.
Absolutely agree with this. Showed this again with his erratic passing today.

@GifLord, do you have the one in the first half where he literally passed the ball with pace to the left touchline, at the exact midpoint between Shaw and Rashford? They just both watched go out knowing they had no chance to get there.
 

city-puma

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I think his absence illustrates just how well he was doing. He takes risks so when it goes wrong its every noticeable, but there's no denying we look significantly better with him in the middle.
I think we miss McT a lot more than Pogba tbh. Without McFred, we cannot even bring the ball out of our half against a high pressing team. McFred is the most press resistant partnership we have. However, Pogba-McT partnership has some special properties as shown against Everton. They can control and slow down but it’s probably because Everton only started the real pressing in the mid third in that game. I dunno.
 

T00lsh3d

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Fred cost £50 million and more than we played for Bruno. let that sink in. Atrocious.
Not a defence of Fred but almost every transfer will look a rip off compared to Bruno. He was an absolute steal
 

PlayerOne

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Small thing, but does anyone else get irritated when he shoots and puts his hands up? Or when he does a shit pass and puts his hands up. No idea why, but it winds me up.
 

DSG

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Poor game today at least passing wise. Would agree with poster above who said his form hasn't been great lately.

As for posters asking for gifs of his poor pass.....pathetic really. Bruno did that 4 or 5 times tonight, should we have a gif of those as well?
‘Cept the title of the thread is claiming Fred is underrated. I don’t see how that is disrespectful. He’s properly rated around the league and world football, it’s our own fans that overrate him. If He was so good, wouldn’t he be a regular starter for Brazil? Linked with top clubs?

Regarding Bruno, there are times when he frustrates, but he backs it up with moments of brilliance nearly every match. It’s not a great comparison, mate.
 

Beachryan

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The great question of our times will be: which Manchester United, Brazilian midfielder had the worst shooting technique?

Because Fred, Anderson and Kleberson are in, shall we say, stiff competition.
 

GifLord

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Absolutely agree with this. Showed this again with his erratic passing today.

@GifLord, do you have the one in the first half where he literally passed the ball with pace to the left touchline, at the exact midpoint between Shaw and Rashford? They just both watched go out knowing they had no chance to get there.
 

rooney2009

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Fred has been consistent this season and brings lots of energy to our static midfield
He is also willing to try the difficult pass and he doesn’t hide
 

snk123

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Does anyone get really nervy when he's about to use his right foot for a pass?
He's awful with the weaker foot for a midfielder.
 

OrcaFat

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Anyone who thinks he is good enough technically and has the composure needed is overrating him.

But, given his energy and attitude, the suggestion he is not, at least sometimes, worthy of selection, would be underrating him.

Even if Pogba comes back and plays well, I think I would still have Fred in there with him, as he’s the best of what we have to choose from. He’s good but, for me, we need to buy a better midfielder to play a no. 6 type role. Problem will be finding a player we can afford and, with that in mind I am more interested in whether McT can develop into the player we need. If purposely developed with that role in mind, I think McT will overtake Fred as the best option to play with a no8 playmaker within a season. At the moment, the midfield is a shambles (albeit effective much of the time).