He was pretty good in the 1st 20 minutes, and then horrendous thereafter, which often seems to be the case with him. Total lottery of a player.
Why did we buy Fred?
- Thread starter Josep Dowling
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
He doesn't know how to defend.
Funny they when he expert fans kept telling us he would allow Pogba to play lol.
Not going to pretend I knew anything about him.
We've lowered the bar a lot apparently.
Made a lot of mistakes, missed a sitter, committed silly foul at the end of the 1st half... For a player that costs £52M he should be doing a lot better. I wonder if that free kick at the end of the first half had gone in and we hadn't equalized before would you be still thinking the same..
Made a lot of mistakes, missed a sitter, committed silly foul at the end of the 1st half... For a player that costs £52M he should be doing a lot better. I wonder if that free kick at the end of the first half had gone in and we hadn't equalized before would you be still thinking the same..
Same here to be honest.
Still, you expect a player that costs £50 million quid to at least be mildly competent defensively. Fred has no idea, even his basic positioning is miles off premier league quality.
We're supposed to have one of the worlds best scouting systems, you'd think they might have noticed this side of his game.
He worked hard to make tackles today though and its Matic's job to protect the defense.
Fred had more touches, more touches, and more than double anyone else in tackles in the first half.
Maybe he ran out of energy
He’s far too raw for my liking. We’re not signing the right players, we needed a midfielder who improved on Herrera and actually bring us up a level. Fred isn’t good enough.
His work rate does him credit, it's his lack of basic defensive knowledge that is holding him back.
I'd like to see him positioned further up the pitch, in a more attacking role, where his defensive frailties would be less costly.
A midfield 3 of Herrera at DM (in place of Matic), Pogba in a box-to-box role and Fred furthest forward of the three, pressing and harrying the opposition.
This. We basically needed Kante. Which is Herrara a level up.
Silly signing. Reminds me a lot of Kleberson.
Nowhere near the elite midfielder we needed. Will be another we will be looking to ship on at a loss.
Nowhere near the elite midfielder we needed. Will be another we will be looking to ship on at a loss.
I think he’s got the attributes to be really good. Give him a bit more time.
Fred needs time to adapt. However, I have seen some improvement on his touches. He spent less time on the ball and pass it more quickly than previous games. Making improvement.
I still think he'll come good, and I don't think he was too awful today, but Herrera was miles better when he came on.
Seeing Herrera come on and instantly be a better player made me wonder why we bothered. Would have been better off buying a pure DM to take over from Matic.
Still, he deserves more time.
Still, he deserves more time.
I thought he was decent actually.
Hopefully because they can play together, working hard to win the ball and giving Pogba freedom
But lets be real, even if we look at the positives from today and his past 2 games where he's done better than earlier on in the season...
£50 million+?
I dont see it at all
Should’ve taken Matic off instead of Fred, thought he was fine today and played two great passes, the one Sanchez got ruled offside for in particular was excellent. Was defensively rubbish but he’s not the one I’d expect to be doing the dirty work. Herrera was very good when he came on, has to be said.
He is used to play for a Shakhtar team that defends way higher up the pitch than we are even close to do. And a team that defends by pressing. He is an aggressive player who is not suited for a defensive setup as ours under Mourinho.
We saw it with Sanchez and its the same with Fred; they look completely confused when we lose the ball and their first instinct is to press and win the ball back. While the rest of our team are running back towards our own goal to "cover spaces". It does make them both look a ltb like headless chickens when they are actually applying another quite relevant type of defending. If the rest of the team does not it looks like this though.
We will see if Mourinho can re-educate Fred. Another idea would of course be to remove Mourinho, but tbh I do not see that happening anytime soon.
I wrote this a bit tongue in cheek, but Fred needs time. I refer to my earlier posts in this thread regarding this.
The expectations on him was way to high to begin with.
PPoor today. Herrera needs to tak his spot going forward.
I can't see it. He's very inconsistent even in the same game it's ridiculous. Some quality moments in interceptions followed by ridiculous passing decision or weird movement. We didn't want a replacement for Herrera, who is already better and more composed than him anyway. We wanted someone to control the tempo of the game.
I thought he did alright, one of our best players in the 1st (not saying much) We did look better with Herrera though.
Why did you buy Memphis Depay? Because he was about to sign a contract with PSG
Why did you buy Fred? Because PSG was interested
Why did you buy Fred? Because PSG was interested
He wasn't too bad it's matic that needs to come out of the team.
B
That's harsh on Fred. He's played maybe 3 matches since being shut out for weeks prior. He takes chances most of our players don't and does not always play the safe pass and then we rely on Matic to cover. I'd rather see Herrera replace Matic than Fred. Matic slows us down too much.
I didn't get to see him play for Shakhtar so I'll have to take your word for it. Makes you wonder why Jose chose to buy him in the first place.
Fred deserves time to adapt, absolutely, but I just don't see him ever realising his true potential under Jose's leadership and guidance, which is frankly the case for many of our first team squad.
My main worries regarding Fred has always been that he was not proven at any major scene of football except for some CL-games were both he and Shakhtar did well. His games for Brazil were not the most competetive ones and also a bit earlier in his career.
The other worry was that he really is not a typical Mourinho-midfielder. I said earlier that I actually thought Mourinho would start using Fred at RW as competition for Lingard or Mata. Instead of playing him at CM in the grueling pit that is the PL. He has not so far used him as RW so I was wrong there I guess.
That said, living in the Ukraine, I thought it was exciting when we bought Fred. Even if I have trouble seeing the motives behind the purchase of that type of player to a Mourinho-team.
He won the ball in their half a good few times and still looked poor.
Our style doesn't suit him at all. Looks rattled when he has the ball at his feet... feel like I could be talking about a few players here, hope he goes the Shaw/Martial route
Our style doesn't suit him at all. Looks rattled when he has the ball at his feet... feel like I could be talking about a few players here, hope he goes the Shaw/Martial route
He sometimes needs to make simple passes. Good that he looks to play adventurous passes but sometimes when the games is at tipping balance he needs to keep it simple.
I like him, I didn't think he was bad today. I feel we should go with him Ander and Pogba in midfield.
Then again I seem to be the only one, maybe I like him so much because he's an in shape Anderson.
Then again I seem to be the only one, maybe I like him so much because he's an in shape Anderson.
Will have poor games. Have to stick with him and he will improve .
He was bought as city wanted him, i believe.
Jose cannot stand pep and would do anything to get one over him.
Jose cannot stand pep and would do anything to get one over him.
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I like him. Mobile and positive. Thought he was decent today. A hell of a lot better than Matic anyway
Agree 100%. Looks mobile, can switch the play either side of him. Seems to have a good engine. Needs to cut that play acting s*it out though.
Agree. The lads just arrived and played only a few games. Stating the obvious but I think it's easier to look 'better' when you are finding your feet in a good team than one that's struggling.
Just be grateful we didn't buy keita and fabinho instead
Spot on...
Didnt know much of him to be completely honest but from the few clips of him had seen assumed he'd be an upgrade on Herrera. Box to box high press player passing and moving in between the lines.
Herrera looked much, much better when he came on though but you have to give the guy time to adapt coming from the Ukranian league and all. Think he'll be a solid player eventually but we needed more of a DLP to play between Matic and Pogba tbh, that which he is certainly not.
I want to see a midfield of Herrera Fred and Pogba against one of the weaker sides, see how that works.
Herrera looked much, much better when he came on though but you have to give the guy time to adapt coming from the Ukranian league and all. Think he'll be a solid player eventually but we needed more of a DLP to play between Matic and Pogba tbh, that which he is certainly not.
I want to see a midfield of Herrera Fred and Pogba against one of the weaker sides, see how that works.
He’s a good player adapting to a new league.
We’ve got far bigger worries than our midfield and attack. I actually quite like our midfield.
We’ve got far bigger worries than our midfield and attack. I actually quite like our midfield.
Thought he was good in the first half. Made a lot of good tackles and interceptions and passes. But had 2 or 3 bad moments. Could have had a nice assist if Sanchez had bent his run a foot more.
Will be decent with time I think.
Will be decent with time I think.
Best thing is his ability to give through balls. Just bloody brilliant.
He will be a good player for us. We have some good players who can play nice one touch footy.
He will be a good player for us. We have some good players who can play nice one touch footy.