Our most important player this season: Fred?

Ali Dia

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Fred will have a much better season, he showed promise towards the end of last, rap in the PSG game. He needs to enhance his confidence as well as become super fit.

Perhaps the biggest issue was he joined us as his first PL team, would have been better for him to join a less hyped team team before he made the jump into a top aspiration team.

Am hoping he follows the Lindelof type trajectory in terms of adjustment as the talent is surely there. He won’t be the last player to take time to adjust to life at Manchester United!
I agree with this. I think he has fantastic attributes. Yes he’s been sloppy at times and I really struggle to say anything positive about his preseason but he’s a baller and I hope he can show it here this season.
 

John Blund

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Fred as DM along with McTominay, then we can send Pogba further up the field. If Fred and McTom work as DMs, we can even survive a few games when Pogba gets his rest later in the season.
 

eire-red

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Think the point of this thread has been missed slightly, think the OP is alluding to the fact that Fred in CM alongside McTominay releases Pobga to have free reign and influence the game in both the middle third and the final third without the defensive duties, which is a part of his game which is questionable.

I am sure that Fred will not become our most important player this season, but often a players most important contribution can be the work done to compliment the more talented players in the team. While the jury is still out on Fred, would rather see him in the starting 11 than Pereira. Bar his assist, he looked out of his depth against a poor Chelsea squad, as he did for a lot of games last season too.

I hope to be proven wrong on both players, but it just further highlights the need to strengthen our midfield.
 

Lt. Deckard

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Defence and forward looks really good and promising, but i'm hoping for january transfer window to solve this midfield tragedy.
Fred will not solve the problems in this area, no, he will aggravete them. With missplaced passes, lost tackles and so on. And he is no creative player too.
But let us hope for a miracle. A miracle we are waiting one year for. Fred, the miracle.
 

mattsville

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Clean slate for him, he has ability let's see what he can do, last season was a mess changes of managers etc, you will know if he is included if Ole believes in him.
 

Needham

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I thought this was a thread about the mascot. Genuinely forgot we had a player with the same name.
I thought it was a post asking a poster called Fred who he thinks our most important player is.
 

ayushreddevil9

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I don't see it happening. He should have been a huge part of the preseason but he had personal stuff to take care of. Don't know how this pans out
 

SCJY

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One thing is for sure: he definitely needs to perform this season. He either contributes or he'll be gone I'm sure.

He had a slow start under JM, then missed time when Ole took the wheel and missed pre-season again due to personal reasons. That's ridiculous and he needs to put his head down and work double-triple hard
 

Ventura

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He's not going to be our most important player this season, but when we look at our midfield, it wouldn't be outrageous to say that he at least has a chance to make it into the team.
 

TRUERED89

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Nobody won more balls higher up the pitch than Fred last season. The thing is he was very misplaced as we weren’t cohesively pressing last season so he created a massive hole in the defensive shape of a team.

He was also pivotal in a few of our performances once he got into gear later on in the season.

He is 100% an upgrade on Perreira and I think the only reason he’s not being played right now is because Ole really really wants Pogba in a midfield two.

Perreira has been given games instead of him because of his dead balls and match fitness with the new system. Perreira is a garbage footballer otherwise.
He's not Smalling, Young, Jones, Rojo, Darmian, Matic is he? Someone who's been in the XI for several years underperforming. Jheez give the guy a chance!
 

shamans

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As usual this place interprets a bad season as a bad footballer. There is obviously a player in there. Who knows if he will come good but he definitely has a the potential
 

bondsname

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I actually think Fred is very important for us, against teams with less quality he can be very useful. I wouldn't trust him against the top 6 though, he has way too many mistakes in him.
 

rotherham_red

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I think people are missing the point. Our midfield is weak with Pogba in a more defensive role and we need Pogba to play higher up the pitch like he did when Ole initially took over.

So what I think the OP is implying is that if Fred can up his game and turn in consistent performances for us, he and McT in a double pivot would free up Pogba from defensive duties and enable him to create and score more.
I was banned at the time this was posted so couldn't quote, but this absolutely what I was getting at.

I'm just surprised the majority in this thread didn't even bother to read beyond the thread title...
 

Andersons Dietician

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I was banned at the time this was posted so couldn't quote, but this absolutely what I was getting at.

I'm just surprised the majority in this thread didn't even bother to read beyond the thread title...
Watching the debate today and they put up a set of stats which was just a direct comparison between Pogba vs Chelsea last year and Pogba vs Chelsea this year and from a deeper role his stats were miles better than when he was played further forward. Hate comparing just 1 game against another as it probably doesn’t show a true reflection of what’s happening in the team generally.

Anyway the general consensus was that Pogba deep can get on the ball and influence play as where in when he played further forward we struggled to get the ball to him in positions he can do his damage. From deeper he can see the play developing and join in.

I like Fred and think his energy, pressing and ability to move the ball could be a massive attribute if he just snaps out of his lapses of concentration. Maybe he can get the ball to Pogba in advanced positions but I’m starting to think Pogba might actually be better coming from deep and then that throws up massive questions if McT and Fred are good enough to hold a more defensive role.
 

The Brown Bull

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I would say it’s Harry Maguire.If he proves a success in our team and has the impact that OGS clearly thinks he can have he will turn out to be our most important player.
 

rotherham_red

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First appearance and he changed the tide of the game. I maintain that a McTombele-Fred double pivot will be a game changer for us. Push Pogba further up and we'll be transformed, IMO
 

davidmichael

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Was easily the best player on the pitch on Thursday night, full of energy and very industrious. It wasn’t the hardest opposition at all but it was definitely a performance to build on, I think Fred as he played on Thursday alongside McTominay as the shield for the defence and Pogba doing his own thing unshackled is the way to go this season or until at least January.
 

Giggsyking

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What I like about him is that he does not keep the ball for fecking too long time at his feet like every other midfielder we have. He always make the ball moving and this is one of the most important things in game buildup to create holes in the opposition defenses. His problem though is that he has mistakes in him and sometimes get dispossessed at dangerous areas.
 

Wayne's World

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I wanted to give him time but think tonight was the performance to tell me he's not and never will be good enough
 

Brophs

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Apparently there are also masking agents to hide how shit you are at football.
 

Bristol_Red_87

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I did :lol: when Matic and Williams threw him under the bus and watched his signature square pass roll out of play..

Ole will be happy though, he did run a lot after all.
 

Gasolin

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So this is kind of true. It's actually Scott but when Fred turns up with Scott, we are quite strong in stopping the attack and resisting the first pressure.
 

Bobski

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His improvement has been striking, looks like he has finally adapted to the pace of the PL, not getting caught on the ball in bad areas, sharper in his touch and decision making and his workrate has been exceptional.