While Scott McTominay won the official Man of the Match award, Fred was arguably the standout performer from Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Fred often came in for criticism during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign but has played a key role in Michael Carrick’s two games n charge.
“It doesn’t go unnoticed to us,” Carrick told MUTV when asked about Fred’s input after the win over Villarreal. “I think he brings such an energy and such a drive and such a desire when he plays and when he trains.
“Even the other night there, he took a bad twist of the ankle in the first half and stayed on through half-time. Normally, after half-time, those type of things, when you start running again, they stiffen up a little bit but he gets through the game and actually has a major part in both our goals.”
The midfielder impressed again against Chelsea and we’ve collected five stats from his performance at Stamford Bridge.
– Fred completed 26 of his 32 attempted passes against Chelsea, recording a passing accuracy of 81.3%.
– The Brazil international is renowned for his pressing and made nine ball recoveries during his time on the pitch.
Fred under Rangnick in a proper pressing system is going to be good fun. pic.twitter.com/OYQ6YTyXDZ
— United Peoples TV (@UnitedPeoplesTV) November 28, 2021
– He won six of his 10 ground duels, had four interceptions and made one block against Thomas Tuchel’s side.
– Carrick appeared to take a defensive-minded approach in his first Premier League game in charge but Fred still had one successful dribble and made four passes into the final third.
– The 28-year-old also made two successful tackles, won three free-kicks and didn’t concede a single free-kick.
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