What have Ronaldo and Giggs got to do with it? Neither of them would have partnered Darren Fletcher back then. Hargreaves was actually shunted out wide, he played very little in the centre as the season went on, and Anderson was most definitely not first choice. Darren Fletcher was the first name on the team sheet for the big games, strangely enough I think if you're in the first 11 in the all the big games it means you're first choice, and he was immense in Ronaldo's last year with us, absolutely fecking immense. And no, he didn't just kick better players, Jesus Christ. Fletcher continually gets underrated with regards to his actual ability, this is a guy Ferguson wanted to play at 15, he's rather good technically. Unfortunately I'm not sure he can return to his previous level, which is a massive loss for us because that Fletcher would be our best midfielder by a mile.
Also, unless my memory is playing tricks on me didn't we play a midfield three back quite a lot then? I remember Rooney having to play wide a fair bit.
What Ronaldo and Giggs have to do with it is the fact that Fletch has often lined up nominally on the right hand side in big games when we had to play three in the middle. Rooney played wide far less than people make out too. The wide men were relevant as Scholes/Carrick made it strong competition in the middle, and the fact that Giggs/Ronaldo were around meant they often played wide too (or Park), so we either did not play with three, or Fletch did not play on the right.
Fletch had some ball ability, but it was more a case of 'great, a guy that is there to kick and close people down is not actually useless on the ball. Result', as opposed to him simply being a top notch ball playing midfielder in his own right. It was always a case of 'and he can actually play a bit too'.
And being in the first XI in big games doesn't make you 'first choice' per se, it is a tactical selection, perhaps borne out of fear even. Just like playing Danny Welbeck ahead of Wayne Rooney because we are more scared of what Alonso can do than thinking about the problems Rooney can cause for Alonso.
I may sound like I'm being too harsh on Fletch, maybe I am unintentionally to make a point. But he was never as good a ball player as Scholes or Carrick, and was played because he did more work than them. In my view, maybe Fergie wouldn't trust Scholes and Carrick to win a straight football match against some of the best midfields like Arsenal or Chelsea. We've lined up in games against them with Phil fecking Neville in midfield, and the job description was always the same - to go around and kick. We seem to brag about the fact we kicked Reyes about at Old Trafford, when in reality, all it is was a concession that we couldn't play as well as Arsenal. Fletcher wasn't in the team against the very best due to how he can hurt them with the ball. It was just a bonus that he wouldn't hurt us with the ball either.