I'm ok with him playing in the cup and in rotation but he's not at the stage of his development where he can be counted on consistently. Furthermore, as you say, he's limited. He doesn't have expansive range, he isn't super athletic and he doesn't score goals. There's no reason for him to play ahead of someone like Fred if he can turn in performances like he is capable of. To put another way, the things that McTominay offers that Herrera and Fred don't are height and strength. He doesn't turn those things into goals or stop goals with them. At his best, he's just holding occasionally and pressing otherwise. I'd rather have Fred and Ander rotate playing a deeper or slightly more conservative role and assisting with the press. McTominay would be helpful in the way Butt was helpful. He's obviously not at that level, but he could play (at his peak unless he shows some growth) maybe 20 to 30 games a season with half his appearances coming as a sub.
That's all a conventional DM should be at a top club - secondary support when you need to pack out a midfield, then back on the bench when you're playing the other 14 clubs in the league and you don't have any injuries. I don't think Fred has got it in him to play the deeper role, I thought he was always the less defensive of Shakhtar's double pivot?
Im not saying he should be integrated into starting 11 but he can be used more often in Matic position. I agree about Fred he was good against PSG and Arsenal and Herrera and Fred can interchange 6/8. My point is he can be useful squad player and im just starting to hate Matic more.
Fully agree but it won't happen. For whatever reason Ole seems like he's going to ride Matic into the ground just like Jose. I hope I'm wrong. I also hope I'm wrong in thinking that we won't add another 6 this summer even though an improvement there will improve the 11 far more than the addition of a top class CB.
How can carrick watch tape of the arsenal game and not say to himself, “fvck me, Matic gives the position a shit name.” Get him out of here.
What Fred did to kickstart his United career. https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...news/manchester-united-news-now-fred-15971334 Nice to see him slowly but surely finding his stride. What is said above really outlines how behind he was in adaptation and fitness, first thanks to Mourinho all but making him an afterthought. And then when Ole first arrived and the birth of his kid. Think this is just the beginning with him, as he appears determined to repay the club's confidence in him.
The last 2 games he played he was very good, hopefully he will continue to excel n improve and with good pre-season he can kickstart renaissance next season.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...s/manchester-united-fred-news-latest-16301265 After a very slow start, he started coming along under Ole, even if he didn't play as much as he should have IMO. The hope certainly will be that he can take it a step further next season. With his summer free and a full preseason, I'm confident he will.
We can’t expect him to improve by leaps and bounds like Lindelof did in his second season but I believe Fred settled in during the latter part of this season so I think he can be a valuable option next year.
Fred is expected to link up with the rest of the team after he gets married. Fred is believed to be getting married next week, even though he appeared to have got married last year 🤷🏼♂️ . His wife has been posting about wedding plans recently. #mufc— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) July 7, 2019 From Fred’s perspective, understand he thought/hoped he would be in Brazil’s Copa America squad so would have had time off to get married the next week. But he wasn’t included in Tite’s squad. #mufc— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) July 7, 2019
Rivaldo urges Fred to stay at United and fight for his place. https://www.goal.com/en/news/leavin...blems-rivaldo-urges/h1qke3mgxk6m1n434u9ii5gzb He put himself against it (albeit, once again, not his fault) for the second summer in a row by failing to have a full preseason with the team. Still hold out hope he will come good, particularly if we somehow fail to bring in another midfielder into the fold by the end of next week.
Most PassesMost TouchesMost Tackles Most InterceptionIn a poor team performance Fred was lowkey brilliant again #MUFC pic.twitter.com/scgntUhisD— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) September 26, 2019 Yesterday's game vs Rochdale was easily Fred's worst performance so far from him this season. Yet there is absolutely no doubt that he needs to start vs Arsenal Monday. Need his hustle and bustle out there. And it needs to be part of a mid 3 in partnership with McTominay and Pogba.
He was ok but what still stands out most in his game to me is how often he gets caught on the ball. His decision making time needs to speed up a lot.
It was as far as I'm concerned and pretty obviously at that. Albeit, his sample size so far is very small but he was far better and more effective vs Astana or in short cameo vs Leicester. His stats might tell one thing, but his play yesterday lacked the usual incisiveness associated with what we've come to expect from him (lots of sideways/safe passes yesterday). Besides the energy he brings, what we're looking from him is the ability and willingness to push up and move the ball forward. Saw little of that yesterday. But as previously stated, I definitely feel he needs a sustained run in the team and I hope he'll keep his place vs Arsenal on Monday. Actually believe it would be a pretty bad mistake to leave him out of the starting lineup for that game. I also think he can play a vital role in making Pogs that much more effective as well, provided we ditch our current 4-2-3-1 set up, in favor of the 4-3-3.
The issue with Fred is that he doesn’t fit anywhere in our current formation. He doesn’t cover as much ground or play as defensively sound as McT. He’s obvious not going to replace Pogba. And he’s not offensive minded enough to play the 10. He’s built to play as an 8 in a 433.
That's where he should be playing. I'm fine w/ him playing between the CBs in build up play against dross. The biggest problem we have w/ the 10 right now is that we aren't getting goals in general and not getting goals from a 10, we may as well allow Pogba the freedom to get forward. I like Fred's ability to turn and pass forward when Pogba is playing up the pitch. I don't trust anyone else on our books to get us pointed in the right direction. McTominay is only as good as his partner in terms of getting the ball going. When he's played next to Matic, he abdicates responsibility to the CBs. I think the biggest hindrance to Fred is the fact that we don't have a proper DM or RW in the team. I think next season, if we can add a proper DM and we add an elite or elite potential RW to the team, things will look up for Fred. ---------------------------Martial(Mase) Rash(James)-------------------------------Sancho(Mase/James) ------------Pogba(McT)----------------Fred(AP) --------------------------------DM(McT) It is asking a lot, but I think if we can add 3 starter quality players at RW, LB and DM the squad will be much better balanced. With a balanced team: Fred, who is a balanced player capable of doing a lot of jobs, will shine.
That could work. Frankly I think we need a proper 10 more than a DM in this formation. There’s just so much reliance on the 10 for chance creation in our current setup. It’s frustrating every game watch there be pockets of space for Jesse and him fail to find it. There’s also a lot of space once our 10 gets the ball because of our speed up front defenses are dropping off. I can’t help but feel Bruno would be perfect for us in that role. Creative, good at finding space, excellent distance shooter. He would improve our offense tenfold.
I don't like Bruno at all. He's wasteful. He's as wasteful as Sanchez is, in a worse league. If he didn't hit the ground running, he'd be panned as a flop and I don't know if he has the mentality to overcome that. If we can get a hold of Sancho, that adds some penetration and a 'natural' right sided player who is going to create a lot of chances. I think that outlet along w/ from our LW and Pogba, we should be ok against teams who want to play. You are right, against teams that won't come out, we may need a 10 unless we change the way we play.
I don't buy the wasteful angle on Bruno particularly. His pass completion is not that dissimilar to other higher risk AM players like Maddison or Dmitri Payet when he was at West Ham, and that's at a club that is poor offensively besides him. He has 7 G+A in 5 league games this season again. Sanchez was losing the ball that frequently despite dropping deep and robbing Pogba of the ball, and not playing any dangerous or effective passes. I'd definitely agree he's not a conductor type, and, if we end up keeping Pogba then we'd seriously need a dictator of tempo in the 6 slot. But then we'd still lack that if we played Pogba and Fred in a midfield 3.