Tireless Fred puts in a shift for United as McTominay earns the plaudits

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Manchester United’s win over West Ham was a tough watch as 120 minutes were required for the team to earn a victory.

David Moyes’ defence-first approach made it tough for the home side. Still, you would hope United would be used to this kind of challenge from opponents by now.

United struggled to break West Ham down and if this was a league game we would have been disappointed to only take a point.

In the end it was substitute Scott McTominay who made the difference with a goal in the 97th minute.

McTominay has grown into an effective player in the final third. This is the third game in a row he has scored.

He is now up to seven goals for the season and six of them have come at Old Trafford.

McTominay had just one shot against West Ham and made it count. He is becoming clinical in front of goal.

Fred can learn from him

While McTominay is adding goals to his game, teammate Fred is getting no closer.

Fred has now gone a year without scoring, his previous goals coming in a home win at Old Trafford against Club Brugge. Before that you have to go back to 2018 for his only other strike in a United shirt.

There was a moment in the second half when the ball broke to Fred on the edge of the box, he lined up to shoot, and you knew what was coming next… he miskicked it.

Fred still put in a tireless shift. He was the only midfielder to play all 120 minutes.

In total he managed 155 touches, exactly 100 more than West Ham’s Tomas Soucek.

Fred did also manage to create three chances, but United struggled to take advantage of this, with just five shots on target in 120 minutes.

While it seemed on a couple of occasions like Fred gave the ball away needlessly, he still ended the game with a 90 per cent pass completion rate.

Alongside Nemanja Matic, United were solid in midfield, but the link-up with Donny van de Beek wasn’t quite right and United didn’t have the creativity needed to break West Ham down.

Fred can’t be faulted for effort, his four tackles made was the highest total of anybody in the United team.

But if he really wants to add to his game, he needs to follow McTominay’s lead, and start having a more direct impact. Perhaps that’s beyond Fred and outside of his skillset. It would be nice to see him chip in every now and again.

For now United are into the quarter-finals and both Fred and McTominay played their parts. That’s just three games sitting between United and a trophy.

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