FRED HAILS BRAZIL LINK WITH CAS
BRAZIL midfielder Fred believes that his international team-mate Casemiro is the perfect partner to help lift Manchester United to another level this season.
The often-criticised Fred had arguably his best game in a United shirt in Wednesday’s clash with Tottenham, opening the scoring in the 2-0 home win. But he was keen to point to the contribution made by his midfield compatriot, in helping create an environment for him and the rest of Erik ten Hag’s side to shine. Fred said: “I’m very happy playing next to Casemiro. He’s a big player for Brazil, and we’ve already played a long time together in that team. It’s very important to me, being side by side with him – and playing there alongside him really improves my football.
“I can’t say anything new about Casemiro, everybody knows his qualities and how important he is for the team.
“But I would also say that Scott McTominay is a great player as well.” That ‘McFred’ partnership with the Scotland international would seem to be ranking as Ten Hag’s second or third midfield pairing at the moment.
But with seven games to squeeze in before the World Cup starts, it is clear the Dutch coach will need to explore his range of combinations. Fred said: “We have big games at this club all of the time and it’s a midfield where we have big players. Scott’s a very important player.”
Fred has started and finished United’s last two league games, against Newcastle and Spurs, and will most likely carry on in tandem with Casemiro for the trip to Chelsea tomorrow.
He added: “The Tottenham game was a very important one for me.
“We are still adapting with the new coach, the pre-season and now starting the season, game after game. After the Europa League then the Newcastle game, I felt like we were close to getting a great result.
“Here we finally could score, but it was not like night and day – we have been working hard for this all season and it happened.”