I read the article on big money flops and 2 names were mentioned that had me thinking fred vs keita
full disclosure I am a utd fan but do not consider myself blinkered and I will be basing my opinion on what i have seen in the EPL not in their respective previous leagues
Fred: ability wise he is below average or poor (imo) in many things I rate midfielders on. Passing, intelligence, anticipaton, tackling, marking etc. While many utd fans pointed to his handful of good games in his 1st season, I honestly still thought he was atrocious, I beliieve because I could/can not see past his lack of ability. This season even though I still see a player with poor ability, i am forced to begrudgingly accept his impact has been immense. Fletcher was a utd player I loved even though compared to the others around him he will probably be the first to admit his talent was limited. Maybe I will one day grow to like fred half as much
Keita: I have seen him do things on the ball that made me go wow in the handfully of times I have seen him play. It shocks me to find out his impact has been mediocre for what ever reason.Someone tried to compare his situation to Hargreaves. Hargreaves impact was imense the last piece of the jigsaw (not dissimilar to VVD) and I think had he stayed fit that utd team would have dominated europe and maybe CR7 would not have left in his prime.
So my question is would you rather have keita who clearly has ability but has failed to have any impact in 2 years or Fred whose abilty (imo) is limited but his impact in his second season has been very good. To answer my own question, I was firmly in the keita camp but fred slowly won me over to his camp with his impact but only just. I just pray the break does not affect him negatively
Ability vs Impact
posted on 18/5/20
Your stats listed the time Keita has been injured this season and last, with the number of games he has missed.
I posted the stats for Hargreaves.
You've already proven yourself wrong because your stats show a player who has been in and out of the squad due to injury over two seasons and who is struggling to get any game time when he's fits.
The stats for Hargreaves show a player who was a key first team player until a bad injury effectively ended his United career after the first season.
Very different.
Let me know which bit you're struggling with.
posted on 18/5/20
People clearly haven’t watched Fred this season if they think he lacks ability and has only performed in a handful of games.
posted on 18/5/20
comment by There'sOnlyOneRed's (U1721)
posted 13 minutes ago
I would rather have Fred who isn't great but is able to actually play, despite Keita being a better player. No point being a better player if you can't get on the pitch.
Hopefully this break has done Keita good. If not, I can see him gone by the end of next season.
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Agreed.
posted on 18/5/20
Your stats listed the time Keita has been injured this season and last, with the number of games he has missed.
I posted the stats for Hargreaves.
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Which was complete nonsense and irrelevant to what I actually said because you posted the wrong stats because they're convenient to your agenda of following me around the site trying to get one over me
Hope this helps.
posted on 18/5/20
comment by Thor (U22388)
posted 1 minute ago
Your stats listed the time Keita has been injured this season and last, with the number of games he has missed.
I posted the stats for Hargreaves.
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Which was complete nonsense and irrelevant to what I actually said because you posted the wrong stats because they're convenient to your agenda of following me around the site trying to get one over me
Hope this helps.
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What was nonsense about them? They're factual.
How are they irrelevant when they're the same stats as you're posting for Keita?
posted on 18/5/20
"following me around the site trying to get one over me"
You have a massive complex don't you?
Let's not forget that when you accused me of that earlier, it turned out I had commented on the thread before you had.
You obviously follow me and others around, so you assume other people do. Don't judge others by your own standards.
posted on 18/5/20
I think most fans (and managers) would pick a player that impacts a game over one with ability but poor output. What I would say is that it slightly depends on where the club is and what the competition is like.
If the club is currently performing well and, in the example of Fred v Keita, you have a decent midfield then you can probably afford to take your chances with the ability in the hope impact can develop.
I know Liverpool's midfield divides the crowd a little but I'm not sure Fred would make that much difference to us. We have dependable players in Henderson, Wij and Fabinho so for us taking a punt on high ability levels makes sense. For Utd right now, would they want the inconsistency of a Keita type player over the steady impact of a Fred? Probably not.
I do agree with TOOR though, this next season is make or break for him. If he's not regularly translating talent into performance after 3 years then I can see him leaving.
posted on 18/5/20
a little hargreves fact. did you know he was canadian? dual citizenship and of course never played for canada unfortunately.
posted on 18/5/20
comment by montleeds (U18330)
posted 2 hours, 29 minutes ago
a little hargreves fact. did you know he was canadian? dual citizenship and of course never played for canada unfortunately.
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Wasn’t his england link a lot more tenuous than his canada one? Shame his career was hit so hard with injuries..
posted on 18/5/20
Fred has been good to okay this year, his games prior were so poor that his improvement to just decent has been so vast that people are now overrating his impact. He’s still just an okay player. When pogba and mctom are back I fully expect Fred to be left out