Fred vs McTominay

sullydnl

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Not even sure if this will be in any way close but given they're often grouped together under the "McFred" banner, curious to see to what degree people rate one over the other.

If just one of them is in our team next season, which will it be? And which will ultimately finish up being the better player?
 

Idxomer

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The only answer is Fred, he has always been the better player and there's no universe where McTominay is better than him.
 

Lecland07

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Fred - it has never been close. He is a far better player.
 

sullydnl

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I don't particularly rate Fred but I think he's quite comfortably better than McTominay. Curious if that's the consensus opinion for a large majority here though or if there's anyone who feels strongly the opposite.
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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Fred.

I've been a huge critic of him, but he's certainly improved. He's clearly better as an 8 rather than 6, and I think that is also the case for McT, but if it had to be one of them in that position, I'd go with Fred.


McFred is a hideous midfield two though. They don't have complimentary skillsets at all, and whoever overlooked bringing in a CM last summer or this January and saw no issue in us having only 3 CM options is braindead.
 

Samid

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The answer is neither. The best football we've played in the last 3 years was after the first lockdown when both were where they belonged, on the bench. Both need replacing.
 

paulscholes18

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Like being asked do you want to be kicked in the nuts or smacked in the mouth.
 

MadDogg

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The answer is neither. The best football we've played in the last 3 years was after the first lockdown when both were where they belonged, on the bench. Both need replacing.
That period is quite over-rated IMO. Every team we played was either at the bottom of the ladder or in absolutely dreadful form, and even then we only truly played well for the first 4-5 games. After that we managed to keep winning but we weren't playing well at all.
 

PlayerOne

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Fred, but let's be honest, neither of those players will win you anything major. They're both inconsistent
 

MadDogg

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For most of their time together it was Fred who was sitting deeper with McTominay in a more advanced role. Fred was better then.

Now we've swapped their roles and McTominay is sitting deeper while Fred gets further forward. Fred is still better.

It's not even close between them. Fred is quite capable of being a valuable squad player and possibly a starting 11 player for a successful team. He's first choice for the #1 ranked international team in the world. Meanwhile McTominay is below average at every one of the most important aspects of being a midfielder.
 

Oranges038

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Pass.

Neither are good enough and hopefully they are both replaced.
 

Pogue Mahone

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For most of their time together it was Fred who was sitting deeper with McTominay in a more advanced role. Fred was better then.

Now we've swapped their roles and McTominay is sitting deeper while Fred gets further forward. Fred is still better.

It's not even close between them. Fred is quite capable of being a valuable squad player and possibly a starting 11 player for a successful team. He's first choice for the #1 ranked international team in the world. Meanwhile McTominay is below average at every one of the most important aspects of being a midfielder.
And the gap between them is even bigger. Fred is not a DM and playing him in that position makes him look a lot worse than he is.

I honestly don’t know what sort of midfielder McT is. He gets stuck in, has a decent shot and is good at carrying the ball forwards but he’s so poor at the central midfield basics, passing and movement, I can’t imagine him having a long term career there. Not at a top club.
 

Rozay

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Fred is obviously better. McTominay could never start a game in midfield for Brazil. He can’t even start one for Scotland.
 

Andersons Dietician

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Not even sure if this will be in any way close but given they're often grouped together under the "McFred" banner, curious to see to what degree people rate one over the other.

If just one of them is in our team next season, which will it be? And which will ultimately finish up being the better player?
Fred is the best player in the team at this moment sooooo… Fred.
 

led_scholes

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Fred. He is more skillfull and smart.
However, I do think McT suffers from what Fred has suffered a bit in the past: he is played out of position. I think he has a future in our club, but not so as a regular starter. On the contrary, Fred will still be one for the next couple of years.
 

Rozay

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Fred could play for any team in the PL.
 

rememberwhenwewerekings

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Fred everyday all day, I believe with a good manager and coaching staff he has the ability to improve whereas Mctominay is not going to get much better, if at all.
Pep saw something in Fred and that’s why city were interested at one point, If he had gone to the dark side, I wonder if we would have been saying “we need a midfielder like Fred”.
 

Abraxas

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Fred is definitely better. He has more redeeming attributes that are usable for a manager. You can play him a little higher up the pitch to help a press, he can set counters off by winning the ball, he covers ground. Don't ask him to be a ballplaying magician, but he can get on the ball a bit. He's not scared to and the stats reflect that.

What do you do with McTominay as a manager? He has two good games a season where he breaks into the opposition box. Apart from that he's not influential, he doesn't sense danger in a deep position, he doesn't press as well as Fred, he doesn't pass well. He's just a squad man to me, a gap filler. He needs to improve to even justify that at the moment but I think he can do that.
 

DWelbz19

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Fred.

McTominay is better aerially (mostly because he’s 6’3) and has good striking technique. Everything else, Fred is better at.
 

mu4c_20le

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Fred is just doing what McTominay did for us last season, scoring clutch goals and enjoying a run of form. He's feeling confident right now, but neither are consistent enough.
 

Pickle85

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Fred. He's more mobile, proactive, a better dribbler and a more adventurous passer. McT will be a useful player for someone but longterm, with an the best will in the world, I hope it's not us.
 

Cascarino

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McTominay is pretty damn bad. You have a midfielder who is scared of offering for the ball, doesn’t like crowds, struggles to play it out with any purpose. His passing is painfully subpar. Ok defensively.

Fred is comfortably the better player, but still pretty meh.
 

Seij

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Fred is a far better player although he wouldn't get into any of the top European teams' starting 11. Yes, I'm aware he often starts for Brazil.

McTominay is a bottom PL/Championship level player.
 

CloneMC16

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Fred is a much better player than McT. It's annoying that they both get grouped together. They're separate players. It's weird how this McFred shite has come about. Our managers see something in McT, though. They've all played him a lot and have all talked highly of him. I don't get it, but there has to be something there that a lot of us don't see. I'm still scared that we will continue to see McT starting for us next season.
 

Pickle85

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Fred is a much better player than McT. It's annoying that they both get grouped together. They're separate players. It's weird how this McFred shite has come about. Our managers see something in McT, though. They've all played him a lot and have all talked highly of him. I don't get it, but there has to be something there that a lot of us don't see. I'm still scared that we will continue to see McT starting for us next season.
I think as a coach he's probably one of the few in the squad that you can rely on giving their all. It's just a shame that he's patently not good enough.
 

Rightnr

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Fred would be great as a bench option in a title challenging team and he'll probably be a starter for us next season when we fight for top 4. He's way better than McT for the profile of a midfielder that is needed.

Having said all that, he's older and both him and McT should be moved on within 2 years.
 

11101

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ETH disagrees with the caf armchair experts.
McTominay is there because he knows we need a big, combatitive player to break up opposition play, everything else is in second place. Notice how nothing goes through our midfield. As soon as Casemiro settles in McTominay will be benched.
 

Borys

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McTominay is OK to good when asked to do simple job and the burden of progressing the ball lies on Eriksen shoulder. He was asked to do too much under Ole.

That said, I believe Fred is a better midfielder if we have Casemiro holding. He has better spatial awareness and generally useful in building the play.

Both will be useful this season, just need to be utilised properly.