Darren f*cking Fletcher

Denis' cuff

cue

Nem 7

I told you so.

711

I admit I would have sold him if it was up to me, glad to be proved wrong, hope he goes up another notch.

Would also like Berbatov to prove he's not a lazy bastard, would be happy to be wrong there as well.

LLMU

our topscorer

Richter

I have eaten a lot of humble pie because of Fletch...

reelworld

Only played because he's Scottish apparently.

Ballache

i was thinking the samething today...he's suddenly become so good...

Ekeke

Suddenly?

He's been fantastic for two years.

Alex

.........world class...............

MadDogg

He controlled the match for the first half an hour. Wasn't quite so good for the rest of the match, but still one of our best players.

Fletch has always done well as the tireless hassler against the top teams, but generally struggled against lesser teams where we've needed better use of the ball. But he's showing signs of coming good in that area as well, he ran the show for the first 30 today and did the same in one of our other games (Villareal I think).

Hopefully he can keep this form up, I want to see the Carrick-Fletcher combo again. The two of them together have pulled off some of our best performances of the last two seasons, but haven't really had a good run together.

pathfinder

what exactly did Fletch do so special today ? He had a good game, against Bolton. and ?. Now he is world class ?. wtf ?
He is having a good run at the moment. He is playing well , I have not got a problem with that. Long may it last. But steady on peeps.

Name Changed

Did anyone say he is world class? He deserves to play over anybody at the moment. He has been our best and most consistent player so far this season.

B Cantona

He's had a very solid start to the season. Think some are going a little overboard with how good its been, then again his goals have been the difference between picking up points and not early on

I've always said I don't think he's good enough to play for United. At the moment, that viewpoint is wrong. In a fully fit first choice United side, he wouldn't get in it, but he's certainly looking the part more than ever before

Ekeke

Even when fully fit the other midfielders would need to find some sort of form. Which frankly he has and none of the others do, except maybe Anderson.

"What did he do?" Some good crossing - which is frankly new from Fletcher. Great competativeness, which is not new. And we've seen how much he's improved over the years as a goal threat. He's dangerous in the air and he's starting to put the ball in the back of the net with his feet too.

What does Hargreaves do? The same. He may not be world class, but he's an outstanding and loyal backup (Fletcher) and we'd have to part with more than £18 million to replace him.

x42bn6

If Fletcher gets injured, we'd miss him.

And that's not because he's such an easy scapegoat.

The same applies for O'Shea, in some ways (i.e. not midfield).

032Devil

Possibly Evans and Possebon this season too!

x42bn6

Possebon's hardly "brought up from the youth".

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

I largely agree. Except I've always believed he is superior to Butt.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Indeed

pathfinder

Yep, quite a few in this thread infact. It would help if you read it !

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Indeed. The Roma demolition crew haven't had enough games together. Yet when they are used we beat Roma 7-1, murdered Arsenal in the fa cup, then pumped 5 past Newcastle at St. James Park last season. The Milan games are the only blight on their record so far. If I'm not mistaken.

Elliott

The thing about Darren is he's the perfect pro. He lives and breathes football. He lost 2 very important years of development due to his knee so it's not surprising that he's still improving at 24. I'm sure he'll get even better over the next 2 seasons.

Plechazunga

This place never ceases to amaze me. I spent about 4 years fighting a virtually lone battle in thread after thread, arguing that Darren was a good footballer, wan't shit, wasn't talentless, wasn't a Championship player, had plenty to offer. Now he gets a bit of consistency and scores a couple of goals and suddenly he's brilliant, a great player, world class.

You're a bunch of fucking retards

B Cantona

How becomingly humble of you!

The true test of how good a player he is now will come from Fergusons selections. It wasn't random bad luck that Fletcher didn't feature in a Premiership starting line up last season until Sunderland towards the end of December, it wasn't injury, Fergie simply didn't fancy him with his other options available

Injuries have opened the door to Fletcher this season early on, and he's looking a very decent player. Lets not go overboard, we're still not playing very well, and he's not exactly playing like Keane reincarnate. But for someone like me who doesn't think he should even be in a United squad previously - it's not that he's so bad, it's more I see it as more productive that young players who have the potentially to be the best in their position, like a Possebon, have their opportunities held back by his presence. But I'm being made to look a little foolish with that opinion right now

Elliott

What do you expect from this place? For the record I've always backed him as well.

Plechazunga

It's a tribute to your status as the King of Wrong that in the one case where you're actually admitting to being wrong, you're wrong

e.cantona

He showed a lot of talent at a very early age. Was out with injury alot for cant remember how long, two year period he said? That's two years he wont be developing much, and not to mention the fact it sets him back a bit. So he's pretty much lost three years of development back there. The last two years now he's started to show what a player he can be and everyone was hoping he'd turn into back then. He's still only 24, I say he'll keep developing, and make a lot of people on here look a bit foolish. Not that he hasnt already done that..

Richter

You also backed Liam Miller so of course people are going to doubt you.

711

Fletcher is more mobile than Butt. Although Butt's tackle is better.

As Fletcher has, hopefully, a lot of his career in front of him and Butt hasn't then it was right to sell Butt.

Superior? Not yet, anyway.

Mozza

He did well but the defending was pretty shocking, they were running through us far too easily and it's his job along with Anderson to stop that

choiboyx012

ronaldinho has a lot to learn to be as brilliant as fletcher.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

The only reason why I felt he is superior to Butt is for me he passes the ball better than Butt ever could. Plus he now seems to be able to score goals too. Defensively though Butt still shades it because he was always a fantastic tackler and game reader. While Fletcher is still mastering that part of his game.

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

Julian Denny

The interesting thing about Fletcher's performance was to seem him running midfield, "unfettered" by the normal presence of Scholes or Carrick. Whenever the latter are in the team Fletcher does tend to play second fiddle. Armed with the additional responsibility it brought out the best in him. On this evidence he is more than a capable stand in for Carrick or Scholes. Another selection headache for Fergie. One that he won't mind.

Brwned

He's done brilliantly so far, but he doesn't deserve to start when Carrick comes back, Scholes-Carrick is still our best partnership.

Similar to the debate about Tevez and Rooney actually, Scholes and Rooney both have a touch of genius in them, but have been off form up until now. Whereas Fletcher and Tevez have had a great start to the season, but are the lesser players, although the gap is getting smaller in both cases.

kf

Agree with this. I've always thought Fletch had the potential to be a good player with United. It used to be that he was a bit unreliable when he first came into the side after a spell out of it and needed two or three games to get back on his game at which point he would start to impress. That's not a lot different to most players. He seems to have added the ability to be completely reliable from game 1 of a spell which is one of the things that made Nicky Butt such an asset to the squad. Any United fan who isn't happy to see someone who can play the role Nicky Butt did wants his head feeling.

But in my opinion - I see I'm agreeing with the Chief here - Darren is actually now a better player than Butt. Earlier in the thread, someone compared him to Scholes and got laughed at - he's no Scholes and probably never will be. But at Old Trafford yesterday, particularly in the first half, Fletcher did things like letting the ball run across his body before selecting a simple but telling pass or spinning with the ball under control, fending off opposition players as if they weren't there, then finding a colleague in space or always being available to take the ball from a team mate under pressure - all of which were reminiscent of Scholes and which he's learned and copied from the Ginger Prince.

If he can become a tenth of the player Paul Scholes is, he'll be a very good player indeed.

Merman

Can you not praise any any midfielder other than Carrick?

x42bn6

Just thank goodness he's not the next Beckham. I hated him when he was young and attempting to play like Beckham.

Ringo 07

But we were missing Vidic and Ferdinand for that game in Milan

Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber

So? The midfield simply couldn't compete with Milan. Especially at the San Siro. But now they probably can because they are both greatly improved.