Fred Says What Everyone Is Thinking About Man U

The midfielder finds the club's manager status 'strange'.

For kids growing up in the U.K. and Australia in the 90's, you may remember a show called "Round the Twist".

The theme song was a little diddy that went something like: "Have strange things happened, Are you going round the twist?." You know the words. Don't lie.

The easier culture reference would have been to say Stranger Things - but I stand by my decision.

Either way, Manchester United midfielder Fred has called it "a bit strange" that the club is playing with an interim manager until the end of the season.

Ralf Rangnick took over the club on a temporary basis when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left Old Trafford in November.

This feels like a good time to once again point out that Man U players must be listening to the Swift Kicks Podcast. Steve was first to say it was strange for the club to appoint a substitute teacher in Ralf Rangnick, better known as Thor: Ragnarok. Man U players also reportedly followed Swift Kick's lead in calling assistant coach Chris Armas, "Ted Lasso".

So to the lads at Old Trafford - how ya doing?!

Back to Fred - the 28-year-old Brazil international spoke to Brazilian broadcaster TNT Sports about playing more than half a season with an interim manager.

In addition to his 'strange' comment, Fred said: "I know in football it's important to get good results as soon as possible, but it's also important to have a long-term plan. I think it's a little bit bad for us not to have one, at the moment it's all about the short-term goals."

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Rangnick has previously had spells in charge of Stuttgart, Hannover, Hoffenheim, Schalke and RB Leipzig.

He was appointed as interim manager until the end of the season and will switch to a two-year consultancy at Old Trafford at the end of the season.

United are in Spain preparing to take on Atletico Madrid in their first Champions League last-16 appearance since 2019.

"Every player that comes to this club wants to win titles," said Fred, who joined from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018 - a year after the club's last trophy.

"It's the same with me, Bruno, Alex, Cristiano, Sancho, all of us. We want trophies but it's been a long drought.

"With all due respect to Villarreal, it was our job to win that Europa League final and we failed. It's about having a better football planning on the club. If you don't want to win titles you don't deserve to play for Manchester United. We're still in the Champions League but let's see if we arrive better on next season to find our peak football."