Robin van Persie blames Harry Maguire and Fred for bunting the Manchester United attack
Manchester United stars Harry Maguire and Fred share the same birthday. That is however not the same thing that duo share according to Robin van Persie.
According to BT Sport (h/t The Metro), the former United ace has named the two players responsible for hindering our attacking output.
The comments come after we slipped to a second loss on the trot yestrerday, this time to Istanbul Basaksehir.
The Turkish side raced to a two goal lead thanks to some gloriously poor defending by United. Anthony Martial pulled one back before the break but that was as good as it got for us.
While we had plenty of possession, there was a lack of imagination in a largely disjointed attack.
Van Persie believes Maguire and Fred slow down the tempo of our attack. He was critical of the former’s forward distribution and the latter dropping too deep to collect the ball.
“Everyone is talking about Maguire being fantastic on the ball, so far he’s not been fantastic on the ball going forward, with his passing.”
Van Persie believes Maguire should be making forward passes. Doing so will free up Fred to press forward. This will give United many more options in breaking down the opposition.
“You see Fred coming to take the ball from centre-back, he should not do that. Maguire should do that.”
Fred to his credit has been one of our better players over the past few weeks. Alongside Scott McTominay, he has often helped us win the midfield battles.
However, Van Persie is not wrong in stating that it has come at the cost of our attacking impetus. As someone who has led our attack with distinction, he will be familiar with what constitutes an offensive threat.
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United next face Everton in the Premier League this weekend. A win will see us break what has been a two-match losing streak.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are no pushovers. United will have to be at their best to defeat what has been a rejuvenated Toffees side.
