Fred: Manchester United man has added new dynamic under Ralf Rangnick | OneFootball

Manchester United star Fred has seemingly been inspired by Ralf Rangnick’s arrival, quickly becoming a crucial player for the manager.

The Brazilian was often scapegoated in Jose Mourinho‘s reign and although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lifted him to new heights, it could be said he was equally restricted.

WhoScored revealed the following stat: “After managing one assist in his first 86 Premier League appearances for Manchester United, Fred has registered three in his last seven”

Solskjaer turned Fred into a combative midfielder, using his energy and spirit to bite at opponents’ legs until they ceded possession.

However, the former Shakhtar Donetsk man was often used as a holding midfielder, which arguably isn’t his best role.

In fact, Fred often plays as a box-to-box midfielder for Brazil and has been successful on the international side playing alongside the likes of Fabinho and Casemiro.

The Liverpool and Real Madrid men were the ones tasked with sitting in front of their defence and that meant the United man could roam freely.

In a freer role Fred excelled and Rangnick has given him more of that of late to great reward as can be seen by the stat above.

In the initial 4-2-2-2 experiment, the use of two defensive-midfielder meant one of them would also have more freedom than the other, and that was often what he was given.

In the more recent 4-3-3 formation, Fred was further up the pitch, with either Nemanja Matic or Scott McTominay behind him.

It was the 28-year-old who assisted Anthony Elanga‘s opening goal vs Brentford that gave the team the confidence to go on and win the game 3-1.

Before that, United were largely outplayed and were in desperate need of a moment of magic.