38 foot passes, only one less pass than Maguire, ranking second in the team; 14 forward passes, ranking first in the team; 2 passes, 2 interceptions, 2 steals. That's the excellent answer that Brazilian star Fred delivered in the Manchester Derby.
Fred has become an absolute mainstay for United
After joining Manchester United in the summer of 2018, Fred has never found his form, carrying the pressure of a transfer fee of 59 million euros, making him struggle on the field and even being considered by fans as the biggest "parallel cargo". After a season of adaptation, Fred has now played his mark and has become an indispensable midfielder for the team. In the 29th round of the Premier League, Manchester United played at home to Manchester City, Fred and Matic, b- Fernandis composed of midfield "Iron Triangle" successfully suppressed Manchester City, helping the team to win 2-0.
Let's take a look at Fred's "thigh" performance in this game.
In this game, Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lined up a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Fred playing as the right back. Defensively, he was primarily responsible for defending the right side with The Van-Bissaka Union; when attacking, his main task was to connect the midfield, help b-Fernandis sort out the ball and build the first line of defence when the opponent counter-attacked.
From the picture above, Fred always maintains a close distance from the back line in the midfield position, which can minimize the space for Manchester City players to hold the ball and reduce the chances of the opponent transmitting a straight ball or a top ball.
Judging from the heat map of the game, Fred's running range basically covers all positions in the midfield, and even has the performance of breaking into the box, but it is mainly concentrated on the right side of the midfield, indicating that he strictly implements the tactics laid out by the head coach.
In this game, Fred can be said to have completed the defensive task perfectly, he not only built a copper wall on the right side with Wan-Bissaka, but also played a key role in the defense of the midfield.
The left side is City's main attack direction in the game, Sterling has extremely fast speed and exquisite dribbling skills, and his personal ability can bring threats to United's backline. In order to limit Sterling's breakthrough on the left, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer arranged for Wan Bissaka to focus on Sterling on the right, while fred assisted in strengthening the defense. As a result, fred and Wan-Bissaka can often be seen joining forces to block Sterling during the game, successfully paralyzing City's left side attack.
Pictured below, when Sterling single-handedly picks out Wan-Bissaka, Fred is watching from a distance away, ready to encircle.
Pictured below, when Sterling can't get rid of Wan-Bissaka's defense and can't complete the breakthrough under the bottom and cross, he will go around and prepare for the inside cut. By this time, Fred was already on Sterling's line. In this case, Sterling could only pass the ball back. This allows City's attack to always hover on the periphery, with no way to pose a threat inside the penalty area.
Pictured below, even if Sterling had a chance to get the ball in the penalty area, Wan-Bissaka and Fred would be close together, and the two would work together to block Sterling's cross route. During the game, it is often seen that Sterling looks helpless under the defense of the two.
In the game, Manchester City has repeatedly hoped to play a fast pace and be able to quickly form an attack through the midfield. In this case, as a defensive midfielder, Fred must choose a position in advance, block or delay the opponent's attack, and at the same time let his teammates return to position. Therefore, it is particularly important for defenders to choose to intercept the ball line or keep an eye on the players.
As you can see from the image below, after City left-back Zinchenko received a hand-throw from Ederson, Sterling and Gundogan approached at the same time to prepare to receive the pass. At this time Fred decisively stepped forward, and at this time he seemed very clever, not swooping up to grab the ball at Zinchenko's feet, but controlling two passing routes, which made Zinchenko feel very embarrassed.
This small detail reflects Fred's excellent big picture view, if he chooses to grab at this time, it will leave a huge gap behind him, as long as Zinchenko passes the ball out, then the Manchester City player who gets the ball can directly create a killing opportunity through the midfield. So it was his clever selection of positions that bought time for his teammates to set up defensive formations.
Also pictured below, when Aguero completed a steal near midfield, Sterling had already activated the diagonal insertion. At this time, 8 Manchester United players remained in the opposing half, only Maguire remained in the back, and Wan-Bissaka was running back. It was a very dangerous scenario, when the United players' defence was not in place, and most of the players were walking slowly and slowly, and the Manchester City players were very likely to complete a penetrating straight plug.
Pictured below, when Aguero flicked the ball to B-Silva, Sterling had stepped forward into a very comfortable position, between Maguire and Van-Bissaka. At this point, as long as b-Silva sends an accurate direct plug, then Maguire will definitely be left behind, Sterling's speed advantage will be reflected, and he is likely to shake off Wan-Bissaka's defense to form a single knife.
In this case, if the defender chooses to block the passing route, then b-Silva can find the passing route by looking for a gap by shaking. At this time, Fred saw the opportunity to go straight up and successfully blocked the ball, killing a quick counter-attack by Manchester City.
Due to the overall formation shrinking back, United's attack is basically launched from the back line, with the backs Matic and Fred Cerstay receiving the ball, and then splitting the side or handing it over to b Fernandis to organize the attack. In the game, Fred completed a total of 38 passes and Matic 35 passes, which were almost the same. However, Fred has a pass success rate of 76%, compared to 68% of Nemanja Matic, so Fred has more precision in tandem offense.
Pictured below is United's right half, with Lindelof handing the ball over to Fred, who then pushes forward to pass the ball, a route United often uses in this game.
Compared to Nemanja Matic, Fred is more aggressive in his selection of passing opportunities. If Nemanja Matic gets the ball in midfield, he will choose to pass the ball forward, but if he gets the ball in front, he will generally choose a safer cross or return pass, which will delay some excellent offensive opportunities.
Fred is more diverse in his choice of passing opportunities, he is not limited to passing stability, and will often choose some unexpected passing lines. Pictured below, when Fred got the ball off the line, he was ready to pass the ball to James in front of him, but the regular pass line was blocked by a Manchester City defender. So Fred pretended to carry the ball to the left, drew the Manchester City player over, and then suddenly reversed the ball and successfully delivered the ball to James' feet.
Fred's passes are deeper and he will find sharper directions to pass. As shown below, when United successfully snatched the ball, the players of the team were crowded in the left of the middle, and if they counterattacked on the spot, they could be counter-grabbed by The Manchester City players. As you can see, fred chose the most aggressive line at that time, he took advantage of the Manchester City players to gain a foothold and quickly passed the ball directly to b- Fernandis, who was inserted forward.
The danger is that 2 City players have observed the passing line and they are converging at the same time to intercept the ball. So if the angle and force of Fred's pass are not well controlled, the ball is likely to be cut off by a Manchester City player.
As shown below, from another point of view, when Fred has not yet received the ball, the b fee has already started to run, and the 2 Manchester City players have also started ahead of schedule. Whether the ball is passed or not is a test of Fred's psychology and technique.
In the end, Fred managed to hand the ball to B Fee, who poked lightly and the ball came to James' feet. James then used his speed to rush into the box to form a shot. The finishing touch of the attack was Fred's decisive pass, which pierced through City's midfield interception line.
As the game progressed, the City players began to pay attention to Fred, and they became more and more aware of his role in combing in the midfield, and could no longer let him easily take the ball and pass the ball, so they began to focus on Fred. As pictured above, while Fred was holding the ball, Gundogan was in hot pursuit behind him, Zinchenko and b-Silva blocked the passing route, and the three players formed an "iron triangle" to surround Fred.
In United's attacking system, B Fee has the first possession, and the ball passes under his feet and is assigned to a more suitable position. But when Fee is in a poor position or is being watched by an opponent, Fred takes over the ball, after all, he is a Brazilian player with natural inspiration for passing.
As shown below, in Manchester United's attack, City's defensive line has been completely displaced, and the front of the penalty area is densely packed around players from both sides. Fred, who was in possession at this time, had 4 passing routes to choose from:
Route 1 is to turn around and pass back, for example to Nemanja Matic, so that the attack will be reorganized.
Line 2 was for Luke Shaw on the left side of the penalty area, but his position was not ideal and he was already surrounded by opposing players.
Line 3 is passed to the B fee in front of him, but the latter has been sandwiched between Gundogan and Sterling.
Line 4 is passed to The Far End of The One-Bissaka, who is in a "vacuum" of undefended.
Finally, Fred's vision observed Wan-Bissaka and delivered the ball to the right to form an attack.
Toward the end of the second half, when B was physically exhausted and was replaced, Fred took on the task of organizing the attack. At this time, he fully demonstrated the passing imagination of Brazilian players. In the two pictures below, Fred held the ball twice near the midfield, and James in the middle quickly stepped forward. At this time, Fred's arc ball seemed to have eyes, and cleverly bypassed the defender and came to James.
However, these two passes, although exquisite, were far away after all, and were destroyed by Manchester city goalkeeper Ederson. Probably because Ederson is also a Brazilian player, he had expected his compatriots to pass such an arc straight ball.
Back in February 2019, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pointed out that the team has Fred's place, but he still needs the style of English football. By the end of the game, Fred had passed the test of the boss, who believed he had adapted to the rhythm of the Premier League.
Fred became an indispensable pawn for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
From "parallel cargo" to "thigh", the 27-year-old Fred has not actually improved in dribbling, passing, passing, etc., and he does not have the space to improve in this regard. In fact, Fred just changed his style of playing a little bit. In the past, Fred, after getting the ball, was influenced by the previous "core" play style of the Doneesk miners, always used to control it, dribble a few steps, and then pass the ball out. In the extremely fast-paced Premier League, Fred's style of play is very easy to delay the fighter, and it is easy to be surrounded by the opponent and break the ball. Now, Fred has become no longer sticky to the ball, but instead finds the right time to deliver the ball to the best position, which both speeds up the rhythm of the attack and avoids the risk of steals.
Now that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found the best combination of United midfield, Fred's presence is more sweeping in midfield, he can both comb the attack for the auxiliary b fee and assist Nemanja Matic to complete the interception. As long as Fred remains in this state, United can be a strong contender for next season's Premier League title.