Is Fred the worst regular starter for United in living memory?

[Jerry Garcia]

Why do people start threads like this? Mods, please clamp down on this trash. Take it to the player performance thread.

 

[dal]

He doesn’t seem fit yet he will perform much much better soon.

He isn’t the worst by a long shot.

 

[Ole's screen]

He was Wolves best player. He made more chances for them the any of their players did.

 

[PeteManic]

I don’t think Fred is good enough for us but he’s a long, long way from being our worst starter in recent memory.

I could reel off a long list of poor players but even just in central midfield we have had Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Miller and Cleverley.

People really didn't read the title and OP did they?

 

[PeteManic]

No he's not the worst Lingard during some of his bad seasons is down there but he also had decent seasons.

For me Darmian has to be the worst regular in my 30 years watching United. Fred is no where near as bad as him usually.



Judging from some of Fred's passing this season I think Fred needs an eye test.

Good shout on Darmian.

 

[Seij]

Not even close to being the worst although he doesn't look good enough for a team trying to win trophies. He was asked to play behind Greenwood, James, Sancho, Fernandes, and Pogba all by himself for 75% of the game, and then Sancho was replaced with Martial, who defends even less, and James replaced with a full out and out forward Cavani.

You need a Kante caliber of CDM to even have a chance of pulling that off. Ole and the board chose not to sign a midfielder and Ole played this lineup with no discernible tactic. Fred is a regular starter for a decent Brazil team and would look a whole lot better in the City team.

 

[Diabovermelho]

Fred is important for us, even tough he's not that good. But the way he works with Scott is good for us. They share the same duties, they have the same responsabilities and they work really well together. McFred brings balance, toughness and stamina to the midfield.

Even if we bring Camavinga or Saul on deadline day, i don't think they would be regular starters for us. In the big games, i'm sure Ole would continue to trust McFred.

With Neves, i'm not sure. I think he would eventually replace Fred as the starter, because he can actually pass the ball quite well.

 

[Real Name]

Complete exaggeration of a thread.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Complete exaggeration of a thread.

Yep
He was what we were missing in the EL final along with Maguire- apparently

Today he’s the worst player in living memory

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Dribbled past just 5 times today. At least it wasn’t 6, right?

 

[lysglimt]

The only other one I can think of is maybe Danny Daley Blind. Fred is absolutely completely shit.

Fcuking Fellaini. Completely forgot about him. Sorry Daley.

I can name 20 worse - what a stupid thread!

 

[MyBloodIsRed]

I appreciate Fred’s work rate but running around half kicking the ball or half tackling isn’t enough to justify a starting spot IMO.

so frustrating to watch him play

 

[11101]

Well he's our best centre mid, so god knows what you must think of the others in the squad.

 

[Desert Eagle]

No

 

[::sonny::]

Jones
Rojo
Darmian
Schneiderlin
James

 

[Godfather]

Game of two halves from him again. Atrocious in the first. Decent in the second

 

[M Bison]

Fellaini is the worst starter for us, no one else even comes close. Fred has had some decent runs in the team in fairness.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Well he's our best centre mid, so god knows what you must think of the others in the squad.

This is true.

It’s crazy how he generates such extreme opinions. The worst regular starter in living memory yet one of the first names on the team-sheet in a season where we finish second. Go figure.

He badly needs to sort out his early game yips though. You can sort of understand the hyperbolic criticism when he starts games as poorly as he started our opening games this season. He finished all of them strongly, mind you. It would be nice if attention spans lasted the whole 90 minutes but c’est la vie.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Game of two halves from him again. Atrocious in the first. Decent in the second

Every single fecking game, right?!?

 

[Godfather]

Every single fecking game, right?!?

Should let him run some 45 minutes before every game if that is what he needs. Very strange.

 

[The Hilton]

Awful from him today, probably his worst performance for us, and yet still less of a horror show than OP starting this thread.

 

[NoMidfielders]

Blind was quite good. As a CDM he played nice simple passes and intercepted without tackling but by reading the game. But then Shaw got injured and he started playing FB, still quite good much better than Young, but as a CB he wasn’t built for that in this league.

He was good enough at CB that a number of people still rate Smalling to this day because his partnership covered up a fair few of his flaws for a time.

As for the title, I don’t rate Fred highly but there was a worse regular starter in the xi today and there have been many more who were worse over the last few years. Blind isn’t even in the conversation in my mind.

 

[Zlatattack]

Cleverly too.

 

[wolvored]

This is on Ole for not strengthening the CM it was obvious last season we couldnt trust Fred or McTom to be a DM/CM. It takes two of them to do one role. Fred was a complete waste of £50 million. Ole didnt sign him, but has 2 days to do something about it. This we need to sell to buy is bollocks, as buying Ronaldo proves.

 

[Mickeza]

He’s awful with Pogba because despite pressing and ball winning being his biggest asset he’s high risk with it and when he gets caught out it means we’re fecked as Pogba won’t be covering him. To do that with Traore in the opposing team where you have no chance of then recovering is why we looked so open first half. More disciplined second half which allowed Pogba to control the game a bit more. Obviously his passing is erratic…it’s not so much how often he gives the ball away but how sloppy and dangerous the positions are when he does. I think Mctominay is probably our most important player at the moment simply because he is the only CM we have who can play alongside the others without us spending long periods of the game looking completely dysfunctional.

 

[ExoduS]

He has been absolutely abysmal. Bad passes and constantly gets beaten by pace, constantly. I mean how are you a Man Utd player but you like pace to catch up with opponents midfielders? It's time for him to go. No wonder we keep Matic and Ole keeps saying Matic is excellent. When you compare him to Fred, he is pretty decent.

 

[Dan_F]

Dribbled past just 5 times today. At least it wasn’t 6, right?

I remember two against Trincao in the first half. He showed him the outside and then fell over when Trincao ran past him round the outside.

 

[Oranges038]

The first minute of these highlights, highlight just how shit he is and why he is not and never will be good enough.

That chance he gave to Trincao, would have been hands down the worst and funniest goal I've seen in a long long time.

 

[daveskimufc]

Did darmian play consistently enough to be considered here

 

[elmo]

Blind was quite good. As a CDM he played nice simple passes and intercepted without tackling but by reading the game. But then Shaw got injured and he started playing FB, still quite good much better than Young, but as a CB he wasn’t built for that in this league.

Blind at CB wasn't even that bad. He was even better than Lindelof because he read the game so much better and actually knew how to cut attacks off before he got targeted.

Jose selling Blind and replacing him with Lindelof was one of the worst transfer he did.

 

[Blood Mage]

Nah Tom Cleverley for me. Fergie was an unquantifiable genius for winning a league with him in midfield.

Fred is a good player, just not a DM and it's a fecking joke that we're going into a season with him as first choice in that role. We'll be back in for a midfielder in January once Ole's luck has run out and our shocking midfield starts costing us games.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

I’m convinced Fred and McTominay are actually one being in two bodies. When they’re together, our midfield looks impressive but when either one is not there, the other might as well fall sleep near the corner flag.

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

He’s not great but he’s a one man midfield today, extremely difficult in this league.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

This is true.

It’s crazy how he generates such extreme opinions. The worst regular starter in living memory yet one of the first names on the team-sheet in a season where we finish second. Go figure.

He badly needs to sort out his early game yips though. You can sort of understand the hyperbolic criticism when he starts games as poorly as he started our opening games this season. He finished all of them strongly, mind you. It would be nice if attention spans lasted the whole 90 minutes but c’est la vie.

He starts every game like he's been out for 18 months.

It's bizarre.

 

[Ali Dia]

Awful from him today, probably his worst performance for us, and yet still less of a horror show than OP starting this thread.

hahaha!

 

[Ferguson’s Hairdryer]

He was good enough at CB that a number of people still rate Smalling to this day because his partnership covered up a fair few of his flaws for a time.

As for the title, I don’t rate Fred highly but there was a worse regular starter in the xi today and there have been many more who were worse over the last few years. Blind isn’t even in the conversation in my mind.

Blind at CB wasn't even that bad. He was even better than Lindelof because he read the game so much better and actually knew how to cut attacks off before he got targeted.

Jose selling Blind and replacing him with Lindelof was one of the worst transfer he did.

I think he was one of our better post SAF signings. Don’t think CB was his best position for this league but the media definitely over exaggerated his lack of size/strength as a weakness , I much preferred him as classy CDM funnily enough similar to Rodri at City, and as a FB he was so much more intelligent than Young with his final cross/ball

 

[Will Singh]

Ok I’ll bite, Fred ain’t the worst player to play trust me but he needs McT with him to be half decent. But overall I’d rather we replaced them both and get 2 solid CM’s who we can rely on!!!!!

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Game of two halves from him again. Atrocious in the first. Decent in the second

Yeah but atrocious in one half and decent in the second is pretty woeful for a Manchester United starting midfielder. He's just overrated by some fans because our other midfielder - Mctominay - is even worse.

 

[Denis79]

I like his spirit but let's be honest, he's lacking in many areas.

 

[Tragically Hip]

The streets remember Tom Cleverley.