[Phil]

One of few bright sparks recently, I'm glad he's showing up and passing and moving the ball quickly between the lines.

No the goals aren't on him, blaming a midfielder for getting turned by Messi of all people is not wise.

 

[Devil may care]

A very erratic performance. Most of our penetrative passes or passes that started an attack came from him, showing really nice deftness and range, but at the same time he made a lot of basic mistakes. His first touch is an issue, lost the ball too many times for comfort for the deepest midfielder and really should have done better for the first 2 goals. Promising but that deep midfielder role does not look like a natural fit for him. He kept at it though, at least showing a good attitude.

Sums his performance up perfectly.

 

[SNes]

Runs around a lot the only positive thing about him, for 50 million why can't he control a football? the slightest pressure and he gets dispossessed.

 

[ash_86]

Good game from Fred . I love his crisp passing gets us on counter in an instant

 

[Frank Grimes]

Get Rice in behind him and he'll be better. Not convinced he is a CDM but he can have a place in our team.

 

[JMack1234]

He's certainly getting better, i'd certainly give him another season and see how it goes for him at United.

 

[Sarni]

He was good today but seems to have gone worse as the time progressed - probably fatigue started setting in.

I think there’s a player in there, he just needs to be in a team that functions better.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Get Rice in behind him and he'll be better. Not convinced he is a CDM but he can have a place in our team.

Not sure about that balance, almost zero open play goals from that midfield et Pogba.

I'm not sure who the perfect partner is but it would just sound off to me having both Fred and Rice.

 

[RussellWilson]

He played in a double pivot at Shaktar and I think that's what he's best suited too. He's too prone to errors and too adventurous in passing (not a bad thing) to be a sole holding player.

 

[Oscar.Z.Acosta]

To paraphrase Paul McCartney, he’s getting better all the time...

 

[Frank Grimes]

Not sure about that balance, almost zero open play goals from that midfield et Pogba.

I'm not sure who the perfect partner is but it would just sound off to me having both Fred and Rice.

Because it sounds like fried rice?

Rice
Fred Fekir/Fernandes


Get shot of Pogba.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I really like Fred. Would have him in the team every day over Matic. If only we had forwards who could control the ball well, he loves to slam the passes between the lines.

 

[limerickcitykid]

Dispossessed/unsuccessful touches 9 times, by far the most of anyone in the match. Add in his unsuccessful passes and it's simply unacceptable for someone in the defensive midfield role. Frankly what he does all game is completely irrelevant when he is gifting the ball to the opposition 15+ times a game. There isn't a single top midfielder out there who hands the ball away like he does and it just isn't good enough.

He isn't some number 10 creating lots of chances and trying difficult passes, there is no excuse for consistently giving the ball away so much.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Dispossessed/unsuccessful touches 9 times, by far the most of anyone in the match. Add in his unsuccessful passes and it's simply unacceptable for someone in the defensive midfield role. Frankly what he does all game is completely irrelevant when he is gifting the ball to the opposition 15+ times a game. There isn't a single top midfielder out there who hands the ball away like he does and it just isn't good enough.

He isn't some number 10 creating lots of chances and trying difficult passes, there is no excuse for consistently giving the ball away so much.

You’re very right.

 

[andersj]

I think we need his passing, pace and energy. But we need it a bit higher up in the pitch. I would prefer to see him next to a balancing midfielder. I hope we play him next to Matic next game.

(Pogba with a lot of freedom infront of them, and Sanchez for Martial.)

 

[Fracture90]

MOTM, at least he's settling in, showing his quality and should be ready for the next season.

 

[An Irish Red]

Get Rice in behind him and he'll be better. Not convinced he is a CDM but he can have a place in our team.

Look at how average Barcelona made us look. Signing limited players like Rice does nothing to help that.

 

[Stacks]

Dispossessed/unsuccessful touches 9 times, by far the most of anyone in the match. Add in his unsuccessful passes and it's simply unacceptable for someone in the defensive midfield role. Frankly what he does all game is completely irrelevant when he is gifting the ball to the opposition 15+ times a game. There isn't a single top midfielder out there who hands the ball away like he does and it just isn't good enough.

He isn't some number 10 creating lots of chances and trying difficult passes, there is no excuse for consistently giving the ball away so much.

MOTM, at least he's settling in, showing his quality and should be ready for the next season.

see above. makes zero sense to call him MOTM and indicative of the state of United atm and the lack of a United standard. players getting praised for the bear minimum

 

[sincher]

Despite some dodgy performances of the team he is definitely improving for us. I see him potentially becoming a big player for us. Except literally, of course.

 

[Fracture90]

see above. makes zero sense to call him MOTM and indicative of the state of United atm and the lack of a United standard. players getting praised for the bear minimum

MOTM is a default title that is subjective and you give it to whomever you think had the standout performance, that was better than the others were. Imo Fred was our best performer last night hence why he's got my MOTM reward. If you don't like it, no offense but I honestly couldn't care less.

 

[Stacks]

MOTM is a default title that is subjective and you give it to whomever you think had the standout performance, that was better than the others were. Imo Fred was our best performer last night hence why he's got my MOTM reward. If you don't like it, no offense but I honestly couldn't care less.

cool!

 

[Mickson]

Dispossessed/unsuccessful touches 9 times, by far the most of anyone in the match. Add in his unsuccessful passes and it's simply unacceptable for someone in the defensive midfield role. Frankly what he does all game is completely irrelevant when he is gifting the ball to the opposition 15+ times a game. There isn't a single top midfielder out there who hands the ball away like he does and it just isn't good enough.

He isn't some number 10 creating lots of chances and trying difficult passes, there is no excuse for consistently giving the ball away so much.

I see this here all the time. It's the same with Herrera, Shaw, and Lindelof. They are improving a little bit and people rate them like they're world class and like they never see any top teams play.

 

[Trizy]

Get Rice in behind him and he'll be better. Not convinced he is a CDM but he can have a place in our team.

Rice is bang average.

 

[Zoo]

He was probably dispossessed so much because he always shows for the ball which can’t be said for everyone.

 

[settembrini]

I don't think a single United fan thinks Fred is world class. However he's clearly improved a lot since we moved him to his preferred defensive midfielder role and yesterday he was one of our best players again. 4 tackles plus 3 interceptions means he won the ball for us more than anyone else and when we had possession he looked like the only player in our team who understands the basics of pass and move football. He made 72 passes with a 89% accuracy plus 5/9 accurate long balls. Our 2nd highest passer was Young ffs with 51 passes (82% accuracy) and our 3rd was Pogba with 42 (88% accuracy).

On the negative side he once again showed that he losses the ball to easily getting tackled 5 times. Like Matic he gets dispossessed far too often and it makes me yearn for the season when Herrera was our DM who would get tackled once every couple of games.

 

[Devil81]

Am I missing something from his displays that others are seeing, I could play and offer for the ball constantly but if I was losing it the majority of the time I'd be dropped and not considered for the starting eleven.

His passing was stray last night and balls were bouncing off him like Lukaku. The fact we paid in excess of 50 million means this lad was supposed to improve us, he's not done that one bit. He's bloody average at best.

 

[Ekeke]

He was not perfect, he lost the ball being tackled and with loose touches more than any of our other players by far

He also put in a good shift trying to win the ball and made the most passes of our team. Again he wasnt perfect, his defending on the opener is weak for someone playing as the deepest midfielder. But at least you can say that over the 90 mins he at least tried and worked hard to help the defense even if he didnt manage it. Matic wouldnt even have tried. He also gave away 4 fouls which was the most of any player on the pitch, showing that while he did put a shift in defensively he was struggling to do enough. McTominay made 3 more.

So overall he had good things and bad things last night. He certainly wasnt the weakest part of the team

 

[AndersB]

Am I missing something from his displays that others are seeing, I could play and offer for the ball constantly but if I was losing it the majority of the time I'd be dropped and not considered for the starting eleven.

His passing was stray last night and balls were bouncing off him like Lukaku. The fact we paid in excess of 50 million means this lad was supposed to improve us, he's not done that one bit. He's bloody average at best.

If you can't see that he has improved significantly, then sorry, you are either not watching properly or just clinging to a pre-formed conception of him. Look at him when he came back into the team with cameos a while back ffs. He looked totally lost. He's moving the ball more more quickly now, and plays With a whole other level of determination. His passing is also more forward-oriented, and his combination play has clearly improved. To be sure, he should still improve further, and at times he gets dispossessed way too easily, but him and McTominay (and to a lesser extent Dalot) have been the few bright sparks lately, and we should at least acknowledge that.

 

[Devil81]

If you can't see that he has improved significantly, then sorry, you are either not watching properly or just clinging to a pre-formed conception of him. Look at him when he came back into the team with cameos a while back ffs. He looked totally lost. He's moving the ball more more quickly now, and plays With a whole other level of determination. His passing is also more forward-oriented, and his combination play has clearly improved. To be sure, he should still improve further, and at times he gets dispossessed way too easily, but him and McTominay (and to a lesser extent Dalot) have been the few bright sparks lately, and we should at least acknowledge that.

He's improved from what?

He was a complete disaster during the early months and he's only marginally better now. 50 million pounds fee's aren't usually greeted with such a slow improvement, if he proves me wrong then fair enough but what I've seen so far looks like a bog standard player with a Brazilian passport and name.

 

[RedNed77]

Dispossessed/unsuccessful touches 9 times, by far the most of anyone in the match. Add in his unsuccessful passes and it's simply unacceptable for someone in the defensive midfield role. Frankly what he does all game is completely irrelevant when he is gifting the ball to the opposition 15+ times a game. There isn't a single top midfielder out there who hands the ball away like he does and it just isn't good enough.

He isn't some number 10 creating lots of chances and trying difficult passes, there is no excuse for consistently giving the ball away so much.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/11/ashl...-manchester-uniteds-defeat-barcelona-9171864/

Never mind by far, it wasnt even close

 

[AndersB]

He's improved from what?

He was a complete disaster during the early months and he's only marginally better now. 50 million pounds fee's aren't usually greeted with such a slow improvement, if he proves me wrong then fair enough but what I've seen so far looks like a bog standard player with a Brazilian passport and name.

At this point, at the end of his first season, I think the really relevant thing to consider is whether he should be given more time. And imo the answer to that is clearly yes. He is improving, he shows hunger, he shows potential. It might not work out, but he's performing better now than Lindelöf did before he started coming good (now he is one of the first names on the team sheet). Whether or not we should have spent the 50 mill quid is another question, but one it is a bit harder to affect the outcome of. It's not like we're gonna clear out every single member of the team, and the last matches he's been one of Our better players.

 

[Nialinho]

He's not world class but I still think there's a player there. He didn't give up when a lot of other players heads went down. Didn't help him having McTominay (who offered nothing offensively) and Pogba in a petulant mood alongside him. He gave the ball away a lot because he was taking risks trying to make things happen - against a very good Barcelona team. I'd definitely keep him in the team over Matic.

 

[Ekeke]

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/11/ashl...-manchester-uniteds-defeat-barcelona-9171864/

Never mind by far, it wasnt even close

Well thats including passes, not just how many times he lost the ball after a loose touch or was tackled. Thats the area Fred lost the ball the most. He did a lot better than Young with passing

 

[Devil81]

At this point, at the end of his first season, I think the really relevant thing to consider is whether he should be given more time. And imo the answer to that is clearly yes. He is improving, he shows hunger, he shows potential. It might not work out, but he's performing better now than Lindelöf did before he started coming good (now he is one of the first names on the team sheet). Whether or not we should have spent the 50 mill quid is another question, but one it is a bit harder to affect the outcome of. It's not like we're gonna clear out every single member of the team, and the last matches he's been one of Our better players.

Agreed there are others that need clearing before we consider someone we've just signed but that doesn't mean we should accept mediocrity. I'm more annoyed with the previous managers and board members for buying players with such little background checks and knowledge of their ability to adapt to a new league.

He needs to improve massively for me now though, otherwise we're going to have a very expensive squad player next season.

 

[Kostov]

He was lucky the ref changed his mind, I feel it was a penalty on Rakitic.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Rice is bang average.

Agreed - seriously, we need to pull our heads out the sand here. Class of '92 have left some weird notion that the answer to our woes is signing unproven kids with apparent potential.... name a single outfield player we've brought in since Ronaldo from a young age who has been anywhere near top level?

Fred has gone from being terrible to being ok - as long as the trend continues I have hope. Needs to work on that first touch though, it's like he controls the ball by toe punting it.

 

[#07]

Fred is an okay player. That's it. Don't understand why we bought him. We already had Herrera. He's not an upgrade on Ander. Like a lot of our signings, we've gone sideways or backwards, replacing better with worse.

Can't hate the lad for being what he is. In our great teams he wouldn't even be on the bench.

 

[Ekeke]

On the first goal his challenge is weak and he's beaten easily, but I have a bit of sympathy for him on the 2nd goal. Coutinho is running the ball, McTominay is trying hard to catch up with him and put pressure on him and then Fred comes across to move the ball out of his path. He manages that but his touch is a little loose.

What actually happens as Messi is coming in to take the ball is Coutinho fouls Fred just as he gets his last touch with his right foot that goes straight to Messi. Without being fouled Fred might have dealt with the ball and got it away from Messi. The foul wasnt seen and Messi had the chance to run at the defense. Jones did his job making sure Messi didnt have the shot thats ideal for him, he used his right foot and a weak effort.

De Gea turned it into a goal. But still it should have been a foul. The other thing it shows is the limitations of our current system.

McTominay was working back hard, Fred was helping, but we're supposed to have a 3rd midfielder and when Fred is fouled someone should be coming in from the left to cover that side.

We dont have a player there. Because his name is Paul Pogba and he was actually the furthest forward of our players while that Barcelona move is developing and McTominay is running back with Coutinho. Pogba is the slowest moving back towards his own goal with all of Lingard, Rashford and Martial all a few steps closer to the action than Pogba is when the ball is hitting the back of the net.

Pogba can be a great player but sometimes our other 2 CMs have to do the work of 3 CMs to accommodate him. And here that was exposed when we didnt get the freekick call.

 

[RedorDead21]

Rice is bang average.

He'll have a better career than Fred. I feel like Harry making his Lampard prediction!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Fred is an okay player. That's it. Don't understand why we bought him. We already had Herrera. He's not an upgrade on Ander. Like a lot of our signings, we've gone sideways or backwards, replacing better with worse.

Can't hate the lad for being what he is. In our great teams he wouldn't even be on the bench.

He's every chance of being an upgrade on Hererra. His passing ability already looks streets ahead, for starters. Considering he's only really just started to settle at the new club/league - and is a few years younger - I'd be amazed if he doesn't turn out to be an obvious upgrade.