Owen Hargreaves says Sir Alex Ferguson would drop Fred for a month after Everton draw

Add as preferred source on Google

Manchester United’s farcical defending allowed Everton to leave Old Trafford with a point on Saturday.

Demarai Gray and Andros Townsend combined on the counter attack to score an equalising goal.

Fred was twice bustled off the ball by Gray in the lead up to the goal.

Former United midfielder and Champions League winner Owen Hargreaves was critical of the Brazilian on BT Sport.

Hargreaves said: “Sir Alex wouldn’t have forgiven Fred for that, he wouldn’t have played for a month, he had two chances to stop Gray and he missed both.”

Will Solskjaer be so ruthless?

Solskjaer did substitute Fred shortly after. Whether this was directly correlated to frustration with the midfielder was unclear.

From a tactical point of view United needed a better attacking midfielder with the score at 1-1, so Paul Pogba came on to replace him.

Midfield is a problem area for United at present. Solskjaer has been too overly reliant on Fred and Scott McTominay.

Donny van de Beek and Nemanja Matic played against Everton in pre-season at United won that game 4-0.

This game would have been an ideal opportunity to play either, or indeed both of the players.

Matic impressed in the win over Newcastle at the start of the month and has not started a league game since, while Van de Beek has not started a league game since May.

Both players need minutes and won’t be featuring for their countries during the international break.

There is a big run of games upcoming after the break and it’s unlikely Fred does get dropped for a month as Hargreaves suggests.

But Solskjaer does have a chance to reduce his role and put greater trust in either Matic or Van de Beek.

With Marcus Rashford returning, Paul Pogba will also likely end up shifting back into one of the midfield positions, likely at Fred’s expense.

• Five times David Beckham stole the show at the World Cup
• Man Utd are in talks to sign wonderkid defensive midfielder David Eze after leaving Man City
• Ben Foster claims one Marcus Rashford ‘problem’ is preventing Man Utd star from playing under Michael Carrick
• Gary Lineker shares what he honestly thinks about Harry Maguire being left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad
• Manchester United’s £5bn bubble could burst at any moment – and the Glazers know it
• Man Utd in talks to sign Liverpool prospect amid double hint over possible transfer switch
• Manchester United takeover value revealed by finance expert amid Glazer sale talks
• Omar Berrada hints at the biggest challenge Michael Carrick faces next season at Man Utd
• Manchester United fans respond to ‘Glazer family considering selling stake’ claims