Why did we buy Fred?

FreakyJim

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It's the name Woodward pulled out of his arse. That's how we sign players it seems.
 

izec

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It's the name Woodward pulled out of his arse. That's how we sign players it seems.
Yeah, Woody would buy a midfielder for 50m, just like that :wenger: It is more a case of him getting recommended to Jose from scouts/club if he wasnt a Jose suggestion per se. Woody pulls the trigger, but i doubt he is the one bringing up players.
 

freeurmind

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Has to has to has to play tonight. If Matic starts and Fred and Herrera are on the bench tonight, Jose should be sacked before kickoff.
 

Zlaatan

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I've gone past caring who starts and who doesn't as we serve up the same dross no matter what, but Fred is the exception to this. Give the man some games to get into his groove and see for real if he can perform at the level he needs to or not, otherwise there's no point in buying him in the first place.
 

utdalltheway

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I've gone past caring who starts and who doesn't as we serve up the same dross no matter what, but Fred is the exception to this. Give the man some games to get into his groove and see for real if he can perform at the level he needs to or not, otherwise there's no point in buying him in the first place.
I’d agree with that. Maybe we’ll see in the next few weeks/months whether he’s worth keeping. His early contribution today was to give away possession in midfield. We’ve all seen players look poor early (e.g. Evra) but improve quickly to become dominant. Jury’s still out.
 

Rocknrolla69er

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I thought Fred was very positive when he came on he was involved in the build up to the last goal, his movement off the ball to create options for his teammates in possession was very good, he surpasses Pogba in this area he’s always available for the pass.

Looking forward to seeing more of him under Solskjaer as I think he’l go onto being a strong signing for us
 
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Suvvernmanc

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I’d agree with that. Maybe we’ll see in the next few weeks/months whether he’s worth keeping. His early contribution today was to give away possession in midfield. We’ve all seen players look poor early (e.g. Evra) but improve quickly to become dominant. Jury’s still out.
His early contribution was losing the ball but he tracked back and won the possession back. After that he played very well I thought.

Ball retention and creative passing is his forte. Something that is very much needed for a number 6/8.

At Shaktar he looked phenomenal at times. And even though the Ukrainian league has nowhere near the same quality as the PL, he still produced some exceptional performances in the CL against better opposition. The City game was one of them.

I think he needs a run of games here, and he just needs to speed things up a tad. The PL can be very fast at times and you don't get as much time on the ball. Our different style we played yesterday under OGS will surely suit Fred. It's quicker and requires short pass and move patterns of play, something we didn't do so much of under Jose, and is much more similar to what we saw of him at Shaktar.
 

Litch

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Thought he looked made for that style of football esterday.....
 

eldoherz

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He gave away possession when he came on but then after a few minutes he started playing some really nice balls around the park. Give him a bit of a run of games and I bet that the being disposesed so easily goes away. I'd really love to see a midfield of Ander, Pogba and then on of either Fred or Pereira.

However we'll see how Matic plays as for some reason yesterday he seemed actually capable of playing quick passes not his recent 5 touches then lose possession shite.

Either way Fred essentially now has a clean slate at this club to rpove himself now and with more minutes and freedom I'm betting he'll start to look the part .
 

Tony247

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Yesterday Fred looked decent. May be it was 'ole ole ole' effect?!
 

Crackers

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Fred looked great yesterday. Made a few bad passes at the start, but grew into the game. Hopefully he can kick on from here.
 

Eire Red United

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Hopefully Fred can find some form now. We’ve a serious bunch of midfielders if we get them all on form and firing. Pogba, Herrera, Matic, Fred and Pereira, with McTominay and Fellaini as back up and we look very strong.
 

fallengt

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He's similar to Pogba in the sense that he always looks for forward & fancy passes. Both of them in the same line up would either be disaster or joy.
Hope Ole can work it out.
 

Isotope

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Ole preferred a 19 y.o. Dalot and 22 y.o. McTominay to kill off the game against Spurs. The message is as clear as watching on OLED Tv.
 

haram

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People wont like to hear it but Scott at least has some height on him so we could better deal with any crosses at the end.
 

ChaddyP

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Ole preferred a 19 y.o. Dalot and 22 y.o. McTominay to kill off the game against Spurs. The message is as clear as watching on OLED Tv.
they started pumping balls into the box and you wanted ole to put on fred ?
 

RyRy11

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Cut him some slack, he couldn't train with the team in Dubai due to the birth of his child. OGS still hasn't trained much with him compared to everyone else.
 

Isotope

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they started pumping balls into the box and you wanted ole to put on fred ?
Doesn't explain 19 y.o. Dalot sub. And it's not like he and McTominay were staying at the back, clearing up crosses.
 

Crashoutcassius

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I think he will get chances when we have an easier run of games again. In games like today it has to be ander and matic.

He is a deep lying player and a direct swap for Matic in a game where we have of the ball I think. Those games should be coming again.
 

Isotope

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He played on the 'right wing' and was mostly there to track Tottenham's leftback.
If Ole rated him, Fred'd still in. You could see our midfield was a mess and run out of steam.

Killing off the game in big game, you don't subbed in 19 and 22 y.o. of relatively nobodies, instead of a 25 y.o. pro, if you rate the later.
 
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He played on the 'right wing' and was mostly there to track Tottenham's leftback.
Precisely, was defensive cover for Young. We were being overrun in the middle, Ive seen nothing to suggest Fred would have helped.

I really can’t see him getting any game time. We now have a belief we can get top 4, so every game is important, not the time to throw in someone who hasn’t shown he can play in the PL. All the other midfielders are ahead of him in the pecking order.
 

Moorie86

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I do think we buy some players under Woodward so City don’t get them.

I have an image of Woodward in his office playing Football Manager, scrolling down transfer gossip icon seeing who city are linked with and going out and buying them
 

ChaddyP

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Doesn't explain 19 y.o. Dalot sub. And it's not like he and McTominay were staying at the back, clearing up crosses.
dalot came on to play on as a defensive winger, Not sure what fred would have done there. Mata would have been the only other choice. Spurs went route 1. I dont think fred is very good, or atleast good for us, but the argument made makes no sense as other players attributes were needed. Poch took off winks and brought on llorente. There is no need for fred after that even if he was in the form of his life. we also brought on lukaku does that also need explaing as to why he came on instead of fred to play striker?
 

Isotope

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dalot came on to play on as a defensive winger, Not sure what fred would have done there. Mata would have been the only other choice. Spurs went route 1. I dont think fred is very good, or atleast good for us, but the argument made makes no sense as other players attributes were needed. Poch took off winks and brought on llorente. There is no need for fred after that even if he was in the form of his life.
That's BS. If we had a shortie Hazard or David Silva or even Scott Parker on the bench, he'd be in. That midfield need someone who can be a good outlet and provide some energy.
 

mu4c_20le

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If Ole rated him, Fred'd still in. You could see our midfield was a mess and run out of steam.

Killing off the game in big game, you don't subbed in 19 and 22 y.o. of relatively nobodies, instead of a 25 y.o. pro, if you rate the later.
To be fair, one specializes playing on the flank, the other is a central midfielder. Fred has drifted out wide before, but since he can be positionally suspect, I can understand putting Dalot on over him.
 

VeevaVee

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Said it before but I'll say it again.... I think there's a decent player in there, but it might be a Depay situation where it comes out too late.
 

Fosu-Mens

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I do think we buy some players under Woodward so City don’t get them.

I have an image of Woodward in his office playing Football Manager, scrolling down transfer gossip icon seeing who city are linked with and going out and buying them
Mourinho wanting them to irritate Pep, and Woodward thinking that if we get the players City want we will beat them?
The signings of Sanchez and Fred finaly makes some sense.
 

Isotope

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To be fair, one specializes playing on the flank, the other is a central midfielder. Fred has drifted out wide before, but since he can be positionally suspect, I can understand putting Dalot on over him.
Exactly. Ole doesn't rate him in any of those positions. The McTominay's height excuse doesn't really match reality, when he's in on the 90+ min replacing Pogba who barely there for his height. Spurs had been crossing like Moyes managing them since the 2nd half start.

We were overrun in midfield, and Ole didn't rate Fred as either defensively or as an outlet (like Pogba was). So I'm not sure what Ole might rate him for?
 
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el3mel

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TBF, we were starved of possession so putting on another midfielder with technical quality made sense too.
We were starving of possession so let's put a midfielder who loses every ball and gets dispossessed easily, make sense yeah ?
 

Litch

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Shall we just wait and see before writing him off just yet in his first season.