Fred no longer fits in United’s new vision. With Varane in, we are now going to have a more quick forward transitions. For that, you need a DM who can spot a quick pass and an accurate pass. Fred passes so much to his defenders or sideways it’s sickening. Every player beyond the defence must now be able to pass with authority. Fred is woefully inconsistent. McTominay should take his place and VDB taking Scott’s more box to box position.
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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I have no reason to exaggerate how bad Fred was yesterday. It would be hard to do so in truth. It is worrying. I like Fred, and he has been a very useful player for us. But he has been poor so far this season aside from midweek after we went down a man.
The only difference between yesterday and the Saints match is that he had a better functioning team around him yesterday. Thus why so many saw it so plainly as he stuck out like a sore thumb.
This is a very interesting point, and I have thought similar to myself of late. It is not only Varane but Ronaldo. We need to be more brave tactically IMO with Pogba and /or DvB in midfield next to McTominay against most teams. And if Fred’s form doesn’t pick back up that applies against all teams.
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Its too early to rule him out especially given our midfield options. He is the only really mobile midfielder we have and when on form he can be quite good. He hasn't started the season well and which can be said for many players. I am sure he will grow into it as we play further matches.
His passing is absolutely shocking for a £50m midfielder.
Can only get better this season though so that’s a good thing, still expecting him to have a good season just needs a few stand out games now to get back to his best.
Can only get better this season though so that’s a good thing, still expecting him to have a good season just needs a few stand out games now to get back to his best.
I hear you but for me because we don't believe a player is good enough, that doesn't mean Ole shares the same view. If Ole had the money is so subjective because we don't know that he didn't. There were no guarantees we would get Sancho the following season for 30m less, so what happened to that 80m. Then there's the 30m for DJ. If we are using 'fans maths' Jesse to West Ham and that money could have equated to a 60'ish bid for Rice. Then there's the lad from Brighton, DJ's money plus 10m would probably get him.
My point is Utd haven't even been linked by a credible journo for a midfielder and shock and horror, maybe Ole doesn't think he needs one especially if Pogs stays.
Depends who you consider a credible journalist but we've been linked with half the midfielders in Europe this summer.
Rice, Camavinga, Bellingham, Kessie, Saul, the list goes on.
Time will tell I suppose maybe you're right and Solskjaer sees him as the player he's building this team around and won't sign a midfielder to replace him. Let's see how things play out.
Is there a gif of that ball he lost to Coufal (?) despite being in such an advantageous position 
?
?I guess it's just the nature of football, it's all about opinions and I think some of which are based on the fact that they would sooner VDB plays.
I’m a huge rice fan but I thought he was pretty poor against us. I was surprised at how much praise he got in his transfer thread considering usually he’s getting pelters in there. 8 tackles for Fred has really surprised me - thought he struggled a few times to keep up.
Many a credible journo have said we were looking at midfielders, but had spent our budget and could find no 'gamechangers' for reasonable prices. Supposedly Ole was annoyed with the scouting team that they couldn't identify any in the kind of Carrick/Kroos mould. However next season we are reported to have that position for our yearly marquee signing budget.
The huge disrespect towards Fred is just sickening to read.
It goes from overreaction United fan base to rival fan base. I hate it, absolutely hate it. Mistakes do happen in football, but when Fred did it, people feck him over.
It goes from overreaction United fan base to rival fan base. I hate it, absolutely hate it. Mistakes do happen in football, but when Fred did it, people feck him over.
He has became the new scapegoat.
We are linked to over 200+ every transfer window. We all know who is more credible than others and it's often agents linking us with their clients than any interest from us.
Equally not saying I'm right, we will always sign good players that improve the team, just don't think Ole believes it's a priority cause he's that bad.
I don't think Fred's that bad and I certainly don't think Solskjaer thinks he's bad. But when you look at the rest of the team now even Fred's biggest fan would have to agree our central midfield options stick out like a sore thumb in comparison.
Rice is actually not poor in that game, IMO. It’s their setup and our performance made him like nobody. He basically played as a left side CB. We in contrast played in a very expanded football. Ole has been implementing his idea. Just watch how our back four, especially CBs move during the defensive phase and how they join the attack with the high line. It’s very promising and Varane has started to make a difference.
which credible Journos and who did they say we were looking at?
So Pogs don't count?
He played very well. His performance is definitely not as what many made up here. But he did run out of steam a little bit lately before being substituted. It’s understandable considering the midweek game/travel and the intensity of the Westham game.
Do you consider him an option in a midfield 2?
Solskjaer rarely plays him in that role so I doubt he does.
Shocking assessments here, really. They really want him to make zero mistakes, which is impossible.
Whenever he did it, people summarized him as shit, can't do anything else. The slander is unreal.
Fred is the worst treated established player in the fan base in caf's history. I'm sure of it.
As I said on Sunday he literally wins the ball and lays it off to Bruno for our first goal. I watched the game again yesterday too. Add to that his usual work rate and not allowing West Ham to settle or dictate through the middle and all of a sudden we didn’t give up as many guilt edged chances even if he was responsible for some of them he kept up the fight and kept going.
He wasn’t great and he hasn’t been good this season but we are just a few games in. he was also playing deep into the summer after being ever present and extremely hard working for us all through last season so this is just resumed scapegoat territory as far as I can see.
Pogba and McT did nothing positive of note either yet barely a peep in their threads. It’s clearly a double standard our fans have with Fred. He makes the same kind of mistakes that our fans will blatantly ignore when players that they prefer make them. He affected the game a lot more than Rice and Souchek or McT.
He wasn’t great and he hasn’t been good this season but we are just a few games in. he was also playing deep into the summer after being ever present and extremely hard working for us all through last season so this is just resumed scapegoat territory as far as I can see.
Pogba and McT did nothing positive of note either yet barely a peep in their threads. It’s clearly a double standard our fans have with Fred. He makes the same kind of mistakes that our fans will blatantly ignore when players that they prefer make them. He affected the game a lot more than Rice and Souchek or McT.
Pogba has played in midfield of two many, many times under Ole. Everyone knows how poor we are in most of those games. It’s no brainer to start mcfred unless we can’t. Or, switch to 4-3-3. I think varane can now help us do that.
I think when Rashford comes back on the left, he will. Not sure if Ole wants Pogs to sign a new contract, he's gonna get his pen out whilst sat on the bench.
I will say and your point is well made, not sure any of the current lot with Pogs have shown they can play in a 2.
I like Pogs but he had a sinker second half and lost the ball in procession quite a few times. Scott also faded badly the second half first game back, that leaves Fred to pick up the slack. That CDM role is a tough gig and I'm not surprised Matic looks like an old man playing it.
Well I'd agree there mate we don't have any midfielders with the skill set that would allow Pogba to operate in a midfield 2 regularly.
Matic 5-6 years younger would be ideal but he's on his last legs. Neither Scott or Fred are true defensive midfielders that could sit and cover the defence while doing all the donkey work to allow Pogba to operate further forward.
Until we have that player I don't think Ole will play Pogba in CM in a 2 all that often.
it is shocking, indeed. I am not surprise to see many not rating him here. but reading those comments saying he played so poorly in Sunday's game, it is a big surprise for me. It's not what I watched from the game. So, I went to watch the whole game replay several hours ago. Now, I know how biased people can be (not a surprise actually).
TBF, all of our players started fading out, Pogba, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Bruno, Fred. All of them. We dominated the whole game. They tired out. The substitutes made the difference. Westham made it superb difficult for us with their organized shape, especially in the last fifteen minutes during which they normally take you on.
Yes I think we can still upgrade on his passing and strength and vision but I also think we will find it very hard to get someone who has markedly better passing strength and vision and who can also regularly win it high up and lay it off and who gets up and down all game and can also sit and dictate the tempo too. It’s doing 2 jobs and I think he often falls short trying to do everything but it’s a really tough gig. There aren’t many or any players out there who can do all that without making any mistakes. If Pogba had Fred’s engine and appetite for work then it could have been him. I’d rather we got someone calm and strong in the tackle and great on the ball in beside Fred. That would be a complete hardworking midfield for my money. That’s the kind of platform our team needs if our forwards won’t press and we don’t want to get walked through.
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Fred is ok. I love his work rate and he seems a good guy.
I do think he is one we should look to offload if we can get a decent offer though. He does a job but will never be great. I can also see him falling off a cliff in his early 30's as he isn't the most technically gifted or tactically aware and relies on his energy.
I do think he is one we should look to offload if we can get a decent offer though. He does a job but will never be great. I can also see him falling off a cliff in his early 30's as he isn't the most technically gifted or tactically aware and relies on his energy.
He is the glue to get the teammates into the game, always on the pass&move to make himself available to escape the pressing and start a transition to offensive phase immediately. His mobility is also critical for our high pressing as well.
I find that he's quite good at not overcommiting to tackles, most of the time a player misses a tackles they're left for dead but with Fred he's able to almost immediately track the runner. It might be one of the advantages of having such a low centre of gravity in that position.
yeah! It also allows him dribble out of the pressing with sharp turns. But due to the small size, those bigger, physical brutes just bundle to him to take him out. Pretty hilarious scene
Asking the positionally poor McTominay to play in the DM role is asking for trouble. That midfield will be overun and the boy is our worst passer in midfield. He simply can't play without a Fred or Matic next to him in a double pivot. Before last season Solskjaer was talking up McTominay in the DM role to replace Matic in the future. He seems to have abandoned that idea since. The reason is clear.
Why is he still playing? That is what I wanna know. His passing is utterly dreadful, every opposing team's counter-attacks always start due to his feck-ups. In defense he is a walking cone. He literally does nothing and they pass him like a green light. He has zero intelligence or creative play in him. I've never seen him do one cutting pass or anything. So what is the whole idea with Fred here? Surely DVB can't be any worse? I mean, I told this before, but at this point I'd be willing to take someone from the stands to be our midfielder. I hope this is not "player is liked by the manager because of his personality" shit because I genuinely cannot understand how he is a top flight footballer, let alone getting games at Manchester United.
You are right about what we need but Scott is most definitely not that player. He doesn't impose himself on the game anywhere near enough, whereas VDB has done nothing to show he's good enough and a lot to show he isn't.
We actually need a McTominay replacement most of all. If we had a player capable of playing quick transitions but got into the game more, Fred would be much more able to focus on the things he is good at.
That’s a bit harsh man, he’s a decent player to have albeit not amazing but he’s the best we got at the minute and he also scored a few goals this season. We are top of the league and he is our main midfielder so he can’t be doing things too badly.Hyperbolic nonsense. Ranting against a player who always gives his best and has played to his strengths. He has his faults like any other player. But it's the cool thing to insult him.
What good is his best if it's not good for Manchester United? It's this kind of underdog attitude that makes us a laughing stock. I mean, I'd give everything as a Manchester United player, but you certainly wouldn't want me to play at the club. And I don't see anything hyperbolic here except the fan fromhe stand part.
His best has been good because with him in the team, we reached the finals of the Europa, came in second last season and he was one of the main stays. He has been decent this season with mistakes against Southampton being the bad one. He was not even bad the last game. He was the one who passed the ball to Bruno for his assist to Ronaldo. Like I said, is just cool to throw complaints against Fred.
Yeah, he'd be great if he had the type of balance and strength that other small midfielders have whilst dribbling.yeah! It also allows him dribble out of the pressing with sharp turns. But due to the small size, those bigger, physical brutes just bundle to him to take him out. Pretty hilarious scene
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