Manchester United humiliated Real Betis 4-1 at Old Trafford on Thursday night, putting their humiliating loss to Liverpool behind them.

Erik ten Hag bravely decided to start with the same lineup that dominated at Anfield, and his confidence paid off as United now appear to be strong favorites to advance to the quarterfinals.

At Old Trafford, goals were scored by Marcus Rashford, Antony, Bruno Fernandes, and Wout Weghorst, all four attackers rebounding after poor performances the previous time out.

But not every United player was at their best against the La Liga team; Fred turned in yet another lackluster performance, suggesting that he still cannot be relied upon to be a reliable midfielder for the Red Devils.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk player’s performance against Betis received a Sofascore rating of 6.4/10, the lowest of any United player to start the match.

At Old Trafford, Fernandes shifted deeper to give the Brazilian player more of a free role. However, against the Spanish opposition, Fernandes struggled, and it may have been for the best that Manuel Pellegrini’s team didn’t take advantage of him.

Fred’s passing efficiency dropped from his average of 30.4 passes and 83.1% in the Europa League this season to just 26/33 with a success percentage of 79% when he was on the field.

The 30-year-old, who makes £120,000 a week at United, also failed to make a single crucial pass, successful dribble, or cross on Thursday, underscoring just how little he was involved in the offense despite the fact that Ten Hag’s team had a ton of chances against Betis.

Fred had a shocking 23% success rate in his 13 ground duels, which showed how much he struggled in the midfield battle. He also committed three fouls and was passed four times.

It was evident that he wasn’t at his best against Betis given that he has averaged only one foul and has only been dribbled past 0.8 times per game in the Premier League thus far this season.

It was expected that Fred would be replaced by Ten Hag in the closing minutes after Roy Keane had criticized the Brazil international for being “all over the place” against Brighton earlier in the season. Fred put on a performance very similar to that on Thursday.

It may indicate that United should think about benching Fred for important games in the future because a better team might have penalized his lackluster performance on Thursday night, as Liverpool did last weekend.