GARY NEVILLE has claimed that Erik ten Hag must play Fred against Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Manchester United face their cross-city rivals at Wembley on Saturday as they look to win a domestic double and stop City from taking another step closer to completing a historic treble.
City have already claimed the Premier League trophy and are in the final of the Champions League, while United picked up the Carabao Cup earlier in the season.
Neville, 48, has insisted for his former side to have the best chance of winning the historic trophy, there needs to be another ball-winner in the midfield.
Fred has cut a forgotten figure at Old Trafford in recent weeks as he has played a reduced role after falling behind Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in the pecking order.
But Neville thinks that the Brazilian could be key in the cup final as he would be able to give the club another man in midfield as well as give Bruno Fernandes more space further up the pitch.
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The club legend also insisted that without Fed in the midfield, it could be an “issue” as he is worried about a 6-0 mauling.
He said on The Overlap: “I don’t want Manchester United to play with Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, and Christian Eriksen in midfield.
“The game where they won, it was Fred with Casemiro. I just don’t see how City won’t run amok if it’s Casemiro, Eriksen and Fernandes.
“I feel not having that little bit of something to break the play up [could be key]. When he won the game at Old Trafford, I think he played with Fred and Casemiro, with Eriksen in front.
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“Then they had [Marcus] Rashford, [Anthony] Martial and Fernandes to the right.
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“The reason I think that works is because City don’t have a left-back going forward and Bruno can tuck in there, which means they almost have four in the middle.
“Closing that off and letting City’s left-back have it – who that’s going to be, [Manuel] Akanji or [Nathan] Ake?
“I feel like, for me, if Bruno gets into a little space and comes inside to defend, let City’s left side have it.
“That’s what I’d like us to do. I’d like that extra [player]. If it’s [Scott] McTominay by the way, alongside Casemiro, it doesn’t really matter. I just feel that having that open midfield is going to be an issue.
“You’ve got Eriksen, Fernandes and only Casmeiro thinks [about defending].
“The other two do alright without the ball but they’re better on the ball than they are off the ball.
“I think not having that extra man, I would be really worried about that, where it could be 6-0. They played at City, it was 6-1 but ended 6-3 and I think that was with McTominay, Eriksen and Fernandes, and they just got killed.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
