Fred

Ole praises Fred ahead of Reds century

Friday 12 February 2021 14:35

Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has highlighted the increasing confidence with which Fred is playing.

The Brazilian has established himself as one of the boss’s key midfielders this season and is set to bring up a century of appearances for the Reds when we travel to The Hawthorns to take on West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

Solskjaer was keen to point out how far the 27-year-old has come from his difficult first campaign in England – he played only 25 times, one fewer than he has managed so far in 2020/21.

“He's really done well and I have to say I have enjoyed working with him from the few season,” Solskjaer told reporters at his pre-match press conference.

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“When I came he was a boy that was struggling a bit. The numerous questions I got about Fred in press conferences then!

“As I said then, players coming into a new country, it takes time to settle and it took some time for Fred to settle.

“Now that he has, he’s grown in confidence.”

Solskjaer puts the former Shakhtar man’s improvement down to getting used to the breakneck speed of our top-flight football, as well as time spent working on the training ground with the coaches.

Although the boss joked Fred can improve with his shooting – he has three goals from 99 games in a red shirt, two of which came in one game – he acknowledged that our no.17 is always keen to better himself.

“There’s less time in the Premier League than what he’s used to; he's quickened up his game, he's not getting caught on the ball,” Ole commented.

“I’m not going to take any credit for that, it's the coaches, Michael Carrick and Kieran [McKenna] have been brilliant with him.

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“But it’s Fred himself that has had the hunger and the humility and wanted to learn and to stick at it and keep working.

“As you said, 100 games – there are not many people that can say they've played 100 games for Man United, and I’m sure there will be many more [appearances] to come.

“Hopefully he'll from score outside the box soon, although I’m not sure if it’s going to be with his right – I’ve tried to tell him!”

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