Kind of ironic that he was the only one of our players not to shit himself in the shootout
Darren Fletcher | 2013/14 Performances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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He was completely shattered long before extra time, like completely gone, could hardly run. Still put his pen away.
You, Sir, are on fire tonight!Trying not to laugh but that's pretty good.
Well done.Pretty mean that but yea, he's basically becoming my second favourite player after Giggsy. So much heart and for this club, such desire to win, wow.
I salute his efforts to play 120 minutes...but his actual performance was well, not good.
Basically take a mirror of what Carrick did without knocking the ball for one or two half chances, two or three horrendous touches and even less creativity in his passing.
But to play the full 120 and take the pen, fair fecks. Performance? Just shows how we currently have a bit of quantity but really lack quality in the centre.
Basically take a mirror of what Carrick did without knocking the ball for one or two half chances, two or three horrendous touches and even less creativity in his passing.
But to play the full 120 and take the pen, fair fecks. Performance? Just shows how we currently have a bit of quantity but really lack quality in the centre.
Scored! Great character but he and Carrick and the full backs allowed Sunderland to have a free run at pinging over cross after cross for the last hour of the game.
Credit to the club. If he can, he should be in the side every week.
If so, then I hope he will play much better than last night
I thought he was one of our better performers last night - although that isn't saying much.
Thing that impresses me is his post match comments always seem to be right on the money. I think he would make a great manager when he retires, he says exactly the right things and always has the right attitude, fair fecks.
Thing that impresses me is his post match comments always seem to be right on the money. I think he would make a great manager when he retires, he says exactly the right things and always has the right attitude, fair fecks.
The loyal club servant feels a lot of the work undertaken by his fellow midfielders has been under-appreciated, even though it played an important role in the club's success. By providing a tactical insight into the role, he was able to address some of the questions that have been posed in the media.
"Yes it has," he replied, when asked by MUTV if the criticism has annoyed him. "I don’t think it is fair. Not at all. Even when we win, it’s 'We need a new midfield' so it’s going to be even more of an issue when we’re losing. We lose as a team and win as a team.
"The midfield players at this club, especially in the last few years, have probably gone unnoticed and done a lot of work to help other people perform. It didn’t bother us as long as the manager and players knew we were important to the team. That is all that mattered and maybe we were covering for other people by doing extra work to allow the flair players to go and attack.
"You have got to remember we play 4-4-2 a lot at United so it’s not as if there are three in there and two can bomb forward. Most of the time, we are up against three other ones so we’re having to cover.
"There is a lot more to it than simply saying we should be getting on the ball, creating and scoring goals. That is not really our role at Manchester United, especially in the last few years, and that has been explained to us. We try to perform the way the manager has asked us to perform."
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"Yes it has," he replied, when asked by MUTV if the criticism has annoyed him. "I don’t think it is fair. Not at all. Even when we win, it’s 'We need a new midfield' so it’s going to be even more of an issue when we’re losing. We lose as a team and win as a team.
"The midfield players at this club, especially in the last few years, have probably gone unnoticed and done a lot of work to help other people perform. It didn’t bother us as long as the manager and players knew we were important to the team. That is all that mattered and maybe we were covering for other people by doing extra work to allow the flair players to go and attack.
"You have got to remember we play 4-4-2 a lot at United so it’s not as if there are three in there and two can bomb forward. Most of the time, we are up against three other ones so we’re having to cover.
"There is a lot more to it than simply saying we should be getting on the ball, creating and scoring goals. That is not really our role at Manchester United, especially in the last few years, and that has been explained to us. We try to perform the way the manager has asked us to perform."
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He's still a good passer but hes not half the player he used to be. That half is the defensive half, which used to be his best half. He doesn't close down, track back, tackle or intercept like he used to and it leaves us vulnerable. Sadly the alternatives to Fletcher in CM arent much better at these things.
"We try to perform the way the manager has asked us to perform."
How'd that go Fletch? If you're not scoring, you're not moving posession, you're not getting into the box then you have 1 job - provide a screen for the defense and cover runners.
YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!!
How'd that go Fletch? If you're not scoring, you're not moving posession, you're not getting into the box then you have 1 job - provide a screen for the defense and cover runners.
YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!!
I love Fletch and he'll be an important squad player in the coming seasons no doubt. He was poor today, but the reason I posted this was just it being the first time I've seen this matter discussed by a midfielder of ours. And I kinda think he doesn't realise the midfielders United fans want. I mean, Pogba and Vidal are so much much better than what we have. And I've officially retreated with my suggestion to play Wayne there. Mainly because he's too slow and sluggish there. He is wasted there.
Any news of Fellaini?
Any news of Fellaini?
As soon as I realised that Fletcher would be starting and to to it off partnering Carrick (who have never played well together) I knew we were in for a tough game. Fletcher has never been a good player, and finally the rest of the Caf wake up....
Your hatred of him is so stupid. He definitely should have done better for the goal, as could the defenders but the problems were clearly not in midfield today but ahead of them.
It's not a hatred as I am delighted he's overcoming his illness but it is despair that's he's getting selected for Manchester United.
At his best there was always a big debate over whether Fletcher deserved to be in the first XI. Normally his engine meant he earned his place. Now he is clearly off the pace and should not be starting. And he's not Scholesy or Giggsy a bit off the pace, he's Darren Fletcher, well off the pace.
Awful today. Gave the ball away needlessly, and failed to track the runner for their first goal.
What?
Vidic and Evra were just as culpable for that goal. To be fair to Fletcher, he did see Sidwell but he wouldn't have caught him. He was poor today though.
Rubbish, at his best he was an automatic starter for us and we all considered it a massive loss when he got suspended for the CL final. He was never a world class midfielder as some claimed but he was very effective at what he did. He was extremely disciplined, energetic, passed well and had added a bit more goalscoring threat to his game. He was never a creative type but that wasn't his job. He had a role in the team and he played it very effectively.
If you look at the replay, he looks at Sidwell when he starts the run, he has the chance to follow him, but get's to caught up with ball watching. That is a mistake of a 20 year old, not a player of Fletchers experience. He also had to little presence and gave away possession far to easy at times. You can still see that he is far from match fit, I'm actually a bit worried that he will not get back to the level required for him to play an role in our midfield. Looks a bit like Cleverly in the way he lacks presence.
He looked well off the pace today. It is understandable given his illness. I still think that he is a positive character to have around the squad and should be inter grated into the coaching staff before long. We cannot rely on him as a player anymore. That is not a slight, just an acceptance of what he has been through.
Didn't watch today's game (dodged a bullet there) but though Fletcher was absolutely terrible in his last outing and was surprised he didn't get more stick on here.
His comeback is a lovely story and I hope he gets back to his best but we're in trouble if he keeps getting games only to end being a liability. At his worst he is really really bad.
His comeback is a lovely story and I hope he gets back to his best but we're in trouble if he keeps getting games only to end being a liability. At his worst he is really really bad.
Nice that you can talk for all of us. I remember it was a debate actually. I feel that he was good in that period, clearly the best period in his career.
However, I have always been a bit sad about how Fletchers career turned out. When he made his debute against Basel he was a real player, with a great touch and passes and he was all my friends and I was talking about going home after that game. But, he was unlucky with injuries and never turned out the player he could have, he actually changed a fair bit during that period. Another thing is that we had so much talent in attack at that time that it was not required to be a world beater to play in our midfield and look great.
It is not rubbish. It is fact. Anyone could search the caf if in doubt.
Poor today. Some let his remarkable comeback and the fact he's a youth product cloud his rating. He's an average footballer
In the season where Fletch got sent off in the CL (08/09?) I think it had got to a point where he no longer divided opinions and was a nailed on starter, if not for every game, for every big game.
One of the reasons hes in there is to track runners from midfield. And certainly one of the reasons we used to be able to count on him before his fitness issues. But its certainly not Fletcher alone. This goes for Carrick as well.
In fact lets rewind a year or so ago and it was Anderson and Cleverley in midfield. The main problem was the fact that they werent tracking players back and helping to screen the defence enough. Midfield runners were causing us problems and people in the hole.
Now we spent £28 million on someone to do that job better and have the experienced Carrick and Fletcher to call on... And yet we still have that very same problem
He was definitely a nailed on starter. He was class in 08/09.
It is rubbish. At his best he most certainly was an automatic starter.
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