If Fred could pass the ball properly, I swear he'd be one of the best midfielders in Europe. His passing is indeed sub par, but my word, everything else is excellent. He's slowly reaching cult hero status.
Fred is one of the most underrated players in England
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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.
I’ve said many times, that’s I’m not his biggest fan, but did really well tonight. His energy is really important. If only the guy could shoot...
Surely its not his job to shoot brilliantly, we are now blessed to have many goal scorers (another massive change under Ole!).
Fred's role should be purely as a destroyer, and in that capacity, he is showing Kante levels of prowess. Plus his stamina and energy levels are Three Lung Park level. He's just played 4 games in 10 days!
The bit he can still improve alot is not giving the ball away when he passes higher up to Bruno or the strikers. He does this too often, and sometimes without any pressure on him. As Ole said, he is still fully adjusting to PL football, but compare him to Fred in his first month, isn't it a crazy transformation?
Teammt
Easy solution is to have teammate awareness they can swarm opposition to retrieve the ball before situation escalates
its not, and clearly it was tongue in cheek - he should just give up shooting though. His touch is often not good enough though. Perhaps he’s a player who is a bit of a late developer? His energy, determination and stamina can’t be questioned, but hopefully he can show some improvement on the Ball.
we have such a strange combination of midfield players, who really don’t compliment each other. Solving that problem, will be one of the manager’s biggest challenges.
Or maybe it's the perfect compliment of midfielders but Ole has yet to crack the code , and if he can solve all the combinations that work well asap, we'll have the best selection in the world?
Kante like lately.
Maybe. Love the optimism! The challenge is that I think our best midfield includes both Fred and McT. Then it’s a case of fitting the others in.
It’s a good problem to have.
Every team needs a heart and soul player like Fred. He doesn't have to be the most talented player, he just has to put in a shift every time he's called. I love watching him play. Even when he gives the ball away, he's right in the thick of it trying to win it back.
"Fred is overrated" thread(s) to pop up soon.
All around abilities he's really good, ball of energy and high fitness so he's really useful in getting the ball.
Two things I always hate:
1. Giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous positions.
2. Shit shootings. It's a waste of chances. Look, we're already having it difficult breaking down low blocks, then seeing Fred wasting it is just.. terribly disappointing. Every chances created are valuable especially against the usual suspects where we struggled when attacking.
His sensitive-defensive fans tend to overrating him as if he's a top midfielder is also annoying... Fred FC?
Other than that, his passings are just at good level, nothing great about it. It's not top level.
Two things I always hate:
1. Giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous positions.
2. Shit shootings. It's a waste of chances. Look, we're already having it difficult breaking down low blocks, then seeing Fred wasting it is just.. terribly disappointing. Every chances created are valuable especially against the usual suspects where we struggled when attacking.
His sensitive-defensive fans tend to overrating him as if he's a top midfielder is also annoying... Fred FC?
Other than that, his passings are just at good level, nothing great about it. It's not top level.
I love the effort he puts in, his ability to keep pressure and stress the opposition, but his passing isn't great and he goes to ground too often considering he's not very good at it. Makes some very odd and often hasty decisions at times during our buildup, seems stressed with the ball and often squanders good counters, but yeah... A huge asset, has a destructive impact on the opposition and his work capacity is second to none, my only grief is he should improve on his creative efforts too. But then again, that's not really his job and he's absolutely great at what he's doing, so maybe not risk the formula too much as it's clearly doing the trick? 
Good assessment of a player who imv is bang average, if that!
dude does everything kante did yet keeps getting shat on when the whole team doesnt function well. he might become our best brazilian signing by far.
Kante won the league with Leicester, Fred’s United currently sits 15th in the league. Then Kante went and won the World Cup with France. I’d pipe down the comprisons just a little bit when it comes to Kante.
I guess we all have to accept the fact that people have massively lowered their standard rating midfielders nowadays. In the past midfielders were appreciated for their passing range, creativity, technical ability, awareness etc. In recent years they have been praised just because they're energetic and covering a lot of ground. This doesn't only happen to Fred, but also Kante and Herrera who also give the ball away cheaply and have shit shooting.
Regarding the op, Fred is underrated relative to Kante (the so-called best midfielder in the world) and Herrera (the most highly rated player in our team post-Fergie). He does things similar to or argually better than them but he doesn't receive the same recognition. But if you refer to general midfielders as a whole, I think he's correctly rated. His strength (ball recovery) makes him pretty useful in some games, while his weakness makes him look limited in others. This debate will never end.
Indeed. He needs to work on his passing, however as what he tries is often outside of his scope, which can undo the good work he had initially put in - winning the ball and then giving it back to the opposition is something that he needs to cut out entirely. Either shortening his pass distance or working hard on his longer ones.
It would also be great if he learned to shoot as he is often left wide open when we attack in acres of space to take shots on but can barely hit the target let alone be a goalscoring threat.
He is a vital cog for us nonetheless, as too is McTominay.
It's a weird one, I trust him more than most under pressure as he's very good at turning his way out of tight spaces and starting transitions but then, as you've said, he'll botch the pass having done the hard part. I think I've almost given up on seeing a more expansive side to his game but if he could just win the ball, keep it simple and not lose possession, he'd be a top midfielder.
I'm tempted but not taking the bait!
I am convinced he is not Brazilian.
I just watched yesterdays 2nd half again to better understand how we won so easily. Fred is incredible a both as a destroyer and assist machine. And he is always at the heart of our presses and attacks.
For the first, he presses a Liepzig player from behind and pokes the ball perfectly into Rashfods path for his 2nd goal.
The 2nd is amazing as he starts the move on edge of our box with a defensive interception which does to Bruno and then makes a 50m sprint to receive the ball off Bruno again and delivers a one touch pass into Martial.
For the first, he presses a Liepzig player from behind and pokes the ball perfectly into Rashfods path for his 2nd goal.
The 2nd is amazing as he starts the move on edge of our box with a defensive interception which does to Bruno and then makes a 50m sprint to receive the ball off Bruno again and delivers a one touch pass into Martial.
Outperformed Kante last season and still barely got acknowledged. If he has a good game, its still reminded how he's 'much maligned' despite being very good for pretty much the last 12 months
He was our best player yesterday, brilliant performance he was everywhere biting into their players and tidy on the ball, he is doing it now more regularly.
When did getting all uppity about league positions after 6 games become a thing???
If he keeps it up, he won’t remain underrated for too long.
Kante didn't win these alone ?!
Has one good match - he is underrated.
Has one bad match - how is he in the team ahead of VDB or Pogba?
Has one good match - he is the new Ji Sung Park
Has one bad match - Ole doesn't know what he is doing
Has one good match - Start a new thread on the forum
Has one bad match - Change thread title on forum
etc, etc, etc ad nauseam, the end.
Has one bad match - how is he in the team ahead of VDB or Pogba?
Has one good match - he is the new Ji Sung Park
Has one bad match - Ole doesn't know what he is doing
Has one good match - Start a new thread on the forum
Has one bad match - Change thread title on forum
etc, etc, etc ad nauseam, the end.
I'm not good with stats but my impression is that Fred's passing improves a lot when he is played regularly, you don't see the same errors.
A bit manic, Pete. He's been more consistent than that and I think even the Caf are seeing his value.
My assessment of Fred from way back was that he had the potential to be a better version of peak Kante. People caught in media narratives were very loud about him being useless though
I wouldn’t say “underrated”. Fred is a limited player who understands that and works hard in other areas to make a contribution. He’s not typical “Utd of old” quality though. You expect application and world class ability.
Paul Pogba is an example of a far more talented who seems to think he is “above” running and tackling and doing the nasty bits that should be the minimum requirement for a CM
So its fair to say Pogba is a much more talented player than Fred, whilst accepting Fred can be more effective.
Paul Pogba is an example of a far more talented who seems to think he is “above” running and tackling and doing the nasty bits that should be the minimum requirement for a CM
So its fair to say Pogba is a much more talented player than Fred, whilst accepting Fred can be more effective.
He was one of our best players pre lockdown. Was strange how he fell out of the team in the restart but now he’s slowly working his way back to being one of the first names on the team sheet.
Fortunately, Fred is quite consistent
He barely ever has a bad match. He's not had back to back bad matches in about 2 years.
He's very good at what he does and the role he's asked to do.
Another that was struggling before Ole arrived.
Another that was struggling before Ole arrived.
You're getting a lot of mileage out of this 15th place bullshit aren't you, quite amusing that you've mentioned it in several threads already as if league position 5 games in with a game in hand somehow matters
He's probably been our most consistent player since the start of last season. He's barely had any bad games since then.
Also “best midfielder in the league”....that’s a helluva claim for someone who’s barely broken into our first XI.In this thread he has been compared to Gattuso, Davids & Kante - this place is a f*cking joke.
God loves a trier but this thread
That being said, valuable in terms of what he does for us and compliments our other mids superbly well with his work rate and tenacity.
Crazy how it goes on here though. We go on a winning run and the players are all amazing, worldies or potential worldies. The moment we struggle, they’re all barely mid prem level. Some even championship level.
You are a parody of a poster.
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