Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has urged Brazillian duo of Fred and Andreas Pereira to bring energy and creativity to midfield in the absence of Paul Pogba who has been sidelined due to injury.
World Cup-winner with France, Pogba, who has missed United’s eight of last 10 matches, is expected to be out till December. Amidst his absence, the team suffered heavily and lost to Newcastle United and West Ham.
However, Pereira, who replaced Pogba, has started to develop a fluid midfield relationship with fellow Brazilian Fred and Scott McTominay. It has transformed the Old Trafford team’s performance to some extent as they held Liverpool 1-1 and defeated Norwich City 3-1 in the League on Sunday.
All the action from an eventful afternoon in Norfolk as #MUFC picked up an important three points 👇 pic.twitter.com/wR6k88pOS7
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 27, 2019
“I think his energy and drive – the two Brazilians to be fair, Fred and Andreas – they are going to be important for us. Fred will probably take Paul’s position for a while now and that’s been brilliant for us. But Andreas has grown in the last few games. His energy and running, chasing, he is a different sort of 10,” Solskjaer was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Next up for United are Chelsea, who are in the middle of a winning streak of seven matches, in League Cup’s round of 16. Both the teams had begun their season against each other and the Solskjaer-managed team were ruthless on the opening weekend for their 4-0 victory.
But, the Norwegian didn’t sound very optimistic and admitted that the scoreline might be different this time at the Stamford Bridge on Thursday. “It is a very exciting team. Frank has got players that have been on loan for one or two seasons in the Championship,” Solskjaer added.