Thread by @Yuli_MUFC, A few days ago @goal started an interesting topic about who's better [...]

A few days ago @goal started an interesting topic about who's better - Fred or Wijnaldum. I've been thinking about it and I decided that it is good to do a research before I actually decide who is the better player. | A thread

I'm going to start off by comparing them defensively.

Fred's stats:
Tackles per game - 2
Interceptions per game - 1.4
Fouls per game - 1.5
Clearances per game - 0.9
Dribbled past per game - 2.6
Blocks per game - 0.3

Wijnaldum's defensive stats:

Tackles per game - 1
Interceptions per game - 0.5
Fouls per game - 0.5
Clearances per game - 0.8
Dribbled past per game - 0.6
Blocks per game - 0.1

First conclusion: Fred has to do more defensive work than Wijnaldum. He tackles more, he intercepts more, he clears the ball more. The standout stat for me is that people dribble past Fred a lot - 2.6 times on average per game. That is a big number BUT...

... to be fair that is because Wijnaldum doesn't have to help defensively his team mates as much as Fred does. As you can see Fred is good at tackling and intercepting, which means that even though people get past him a lot he can recover the ball for his team.

I think there's no doubt about Fred being the better player defensively.

The next category is their offensive work.

Fred's offensive stats:

Goals this season - 2
Assists this season - 4
Shots per game - 1.5
Key passes per game - 1.3
Dribbles per game - 1.3
Fouled per game - 1.3
Offsides per game - 0
Dispossessed per game - 0.9
Bad control per game - 1.6

Wijnaldum's offensive stats:

Goals this season - 5
Assists this season - 0
Shots per game - 1.1
Key passes per game - 0.5
Dribbles per game - 1.3
Fouled per game - 0.8
Offsides per game - 0.1
Dispossessed per game - 0.9
Bad control per game - 1.8

Fred gets lots of stick for not contributing enough in attacking sense but as you can see he is clearly very good going forward and is more of a B2B midfielder than a CDM even though people think that he's a CDM because it says it on FIFA.

As I said earlier - he has to do more defensive work than Georginio but he isn't a midfielder who is going to sit in front of the back 4 and just pass it forward. Fred wants to be part of the build-up and help the team to score goals.

I'm not denying that Gini Wijnaldum is a very good B2B midfielder. He has scored some really important goals for Liverpool, especially in the Champions League. His G/A has been worse so far this season than Fred though, which is surprising, considering that he's playing...

... for a better side. Yes, I agree that we have to take under consideration the fact that Fred has been playing for Manchester United in the Europa League - a competition much easier than the Champions League, especially at it's early stages.

Who's better offensively? Well, I didn't think I was going to say it because of everything that has been said about him but I think I have to choose Fred. He tries to do more and stats don't tell the full story about Fred. Even though that his G/A is 6...

... Fred has played a big part in some of our other goals. Example: our first goal at Stamford Bridge (in the Prem).

Even though it looks like we've discussed everything that we could've - it isn't true. We actually have things that we can compare between the players. The following category is about passing.

Fred's stats:

Assists this season - 4
Key passes per game - 1.3
Passes per game - 64.4
Pass success percentage - 87.7
Crosses per game - 0.5
Long balls per game - 4.3
Through balls per game - 0

Wijnaldum:

Assists this season - 0
Key passes per game - 0.5
Passes per game - 42.1
Pass success percentage - 90.9
Crosses per game - 0
Long balls per game - 1.2
Through balls per game - 0

As you can see Fred is the better passer of the ball, even though the pass success percentage is higher for Wijnaldum. Fred tries more passes per game and as you can see he tries to pass the ball through the lines and that sometimes leads to good attacks.

Other stats:
Minutes played:
* Fred - 3 056
* Wijnaldum - 3 028
Yellow Cards:
* Fred - 11
* 0
Average rating:
* Fred - 7.06
* Wijnaldum - 6.86

Strengths:
* Fred - passing, interceptions
* Wijnaldum - passing, aerial duals
Weaknesses:
* Fred - Commits fouls often
* Wijnaldum - Tackling

Style of playing:

Fred loves to tackle, loves intercepting and passing the ball through the lines.

Wijnaldum doesn't really dive into tackles and likes to play short passes.

Overall I think Fred has been the better player this season. He's been so crucial to us since that Liverpool game at home during the first half of the season. He's really underrated and I think this thread just proved how good he is.

Of course I just compared him to Wijnaldum and there are a lot of great midfielders in the league. I'm not going to deny that but I think people should start appreciating him more because he deserves it.

I was one of the few people that believed in him before the start of the season and I'm really proud of him. I think he's only going to improve. Of course Pogba is coming back and Fred has good competition, so he might sit on the bench more.

Note: These stats are from all competitions. I didn't use Wijnaldum's stats with Netherlands because it'd be unfair to use them when Fred's not playing for Brazil (somehow).

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