Manchester United had a great season in 2020-21 despite their trophy drought stretching to four years, midfielder Fred said.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side finished in the top two of the Premier League for only the second time since Alex Ferguson retired after securing the title in 2012-13.
However, the Red Devils were 12 points adrift of Manchester City, who also defeated them in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, while their FA Cup campaign was ended by Leicester City at the quarter-final stage.
After dropping out of the Champions League following defeats in their final two group games to Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, United reached the final of the Europa League, ending a run of four consecutive semi-final defeats in cup competitions under Solskjaer.
They could not end their wait for silverware, though, goalkeeper David de Gea missing the crucial penalty in a shoot-out with Villarreal following a goalless draw in Gdansk.
That failure to win the final prompted questions over Solskjaer s long-term suitability to the manager s job despite the Norwegian having improved United s league campaign compared with 2019-20, when United won three games fewer, scored seven fewer goals and finished on 66 points, a massive 33 behind champions Liverpool.
Fred sees reason to be optimistic about the future, insisting United can be happy with their efforts given their involvement in last term s rearranged Europa League semi-finals meant they had no proper pre-season.
1983 Following last night’s penalty shootout loss to Villarreal and their 2018 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea, Manchester United have lost back-to-back major European/domestic finals for the first time since losing the 1979 FA Cup final and the 1983 League Cup final. Deflated.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
We had the Europa League semi-final, which prolonged last season, he told United s website. We didn t have a pre-season and got better and better over the season and reached the final.
I think overall the team s had a great season, we could have achieved more, we wanted to win more trophies, but I think generally it s been a great season.
Fred, who is with the Brazil squad preparing for the Copa America, made 48 appearances in all competitions in 2020-21, a tally surpassed by only six United players.
It s really important to me to be starting in games, to be in the 11, he said. I ve played and started in a lot of games this season. I m really happy with this, happy to have been in good form and having a great season together with the entire team.
As I ve already said, I want much more, more trophies with United, I want to achieve a lot here and I m sure there s a lot more to come.
