[Sauxees Moi Hui]

He used to be just as good as Carrick and Hargreaves a few years ago. Which is to say that our midfield pretty much looked pedestrian whenever any two out of those three played there.

Due to the aftereffects of his illness, he is no longer good enough. This is not his fault - just an unfortunate fact of life.

I have no issues with him staying and being a 5th choice CM at the club. But under no circumstances can he be our 1st choice.

 

[Rykker_4united]

Bunch of ABUs in here. He wasn't a limited player, he was very good in one of our best ever sides. He was a very important player for us and if anything he was underrated at the time. Stop rewriting history because he isn't good now. If you had been what he'd been through you'd probably be lucky to kick a football at your pub league game. He's not the quality we need but terminating his contract, forcing him to retire, or pushing him into the lower rungs of english/scottish football is stupid, ignorant, classless talk. Keep him around for his contract, but we can't rely on him to play much. We need a replacement but not to fecking lynch the man.

 

[Dargonk]

Horrible performance from him, and just looks well off the pace sadly. As much as I would love to see him back to his best, it just isn't happening and he is a liability in midfield a lot of the time.

 

[Red_toad]

Bunch of ABUs in here. He wasn't a limited player, he was very good in one of our best ever sides. He was a very important player for us and if anything he was underrated at the time. Stop rewriting history because he isn't good now. If you had been what he'd been through you'd probably be lucky to kick a football at your pub league game. He's not the quality we need but terminating his contract, forcing him to retire, or pushing him into the lower rungs of english/scottish football is stupid, ignorant, classless talk. Keep him around for his contract, but we can't rely on him to play much. We need a replacement but not to fecking lynch the man.

Bunch of 'Anyone But United'? Doesn't make sense, in relation to some fans wanting him moved on/retired.

As for Fletcher he's a bit part player at best. I personally find no reason why the club should pay him a fortune to be a footballer for the club. He simply isn't up to it anymore unfortunately. Shame he's not more like Gaz who knew when his number was up & took the correct course of action. Both excellent servants & players to the club, but there comes a time when basically they're stealing a living. Club needs to be a bit more ruthless in this regard as we have a lot of well paid players on the books who simply are not up to the desired quality.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Was a good player for a very successful period for the club. But now, he is living on sentiment. He clearly isn't up to it at this level anymore.

 

[Escobar]

Great that he made a comeback but the current level is just not good enough. He slows us down and lost the ball in the most stupiest moment

 

[Bloxy]

Bunch of 'Anyone But United'? Doesn't make sense, in relation to some fans wanting him moved on/retired.

As for Fletcher he's a bit part player at best. I personally find no reason why the club should pay him a fortune to be a footballer for the club. He simply isn't up to it anymore unfortunately. Shame he's not more like Gaz who knew when his number was up & took the correct course of action. Both excellent servants & players to the club, but there comes a time when basically they're stealing a living. Club needs to be a bit more ruthless in this regard as we have a lot of well paid players on the books who simply are not up to the desired quality.

we all agree he shouldn't start or even be 2nd\3rd choice in our midfield, but lets not get carried away with what the club is paying and not paying. He has a contract so the club will pay him regardless.

as for stealing a living... who the feck are you?. Darren Fletcher is a United player right now so support him even though his shite.

 

[Red_toad]

we all agree he shouldn't start or even be 2nd\3rd choice in our midfield, but lets not get carried away with what the club is paying and not paying. He has a contract so the club will pay him regardless.

as for stealing a living... who the feck are you?. Darren Fletcher is a United player right now so support him even though his shite.

Bloke should have some professional pride & retire. Who I am has nothing to do with Fletch taking up a squad place! It is simply my opinion.

 

[Litch]

It's funny cause I wasn't a fan of his when he was fit. Great pro but a player that needs quality next to him. Looked good the start of the season when Herrera was next to him, now he's injured not so good. Fletch is a good lad and pro but you can't lose so much of your football career to injuries and it not take it's toil....

 

[Kevin]

This just shows the worth of these pre season games, even against good opposition... he looked a world beater in them at times

 

[Rozay]

He should have left this summer, and taken the rest of his 'midfield' with him, perhaps except Michael Carrick.

That he managed to put in a worse performance than Tom Cleverley yesterday is amazing in itself. Yesterday was bad enough to have been his Gary Neville moment.

 

[Red Phoenix Rising]

This just shows the worth of these pre season games, even against good opposition... he looked a world beater in them at times

He looks unfit or something. Jaded or not match fit or something. There just seems to me to be something off - he .. I guess kind of looked like this in pre-season but it wasn't pronounced. He looks like he spent all of his gas on tour and has come back really struggling for fitness. It's bizarre.

edit: Something something fitness

 

[Barca84]

Awful post. Just truly awful. Fletcher does indeed look past it now but to say he had little ability before he was ill is laughably ignorant. Nuisance value was all he had. Jesus wept. There's so much wrong with this post I just don't know where to begin.



Either you never watched him or you're just clueless.



Forum rules dictate that one must attack the post, not the poster. So with that in mind, let me just say that your post is a cnut.

Classy.

Hugely overrated by a percentage of United fans (who seem pretty sensitive to criticism) and underrated by fans elsewhere. I'll stand by my opinion of him and it's the one I've always held....to paraphrase Cantona re Deschamps he was a "water carrier". Some might say that's an important job. He was a decent harrier and niggler of better opposition midfielders (anti football) but his passing has always been poor and he could never beat a man. If that's the sum total of your skillset I call that a very limited player. I'm in agreement with whoever posted that Nicky Butt was a far superior version of the type of player Fletcher is (was)

 

[RedRover]

Classy.

Hugely overrated by a percentage of United fans (who seem pretty sensitive to criticism) and underrated by fans elsewhere. I'll stand by my opinion of him and it's the one I've always held....to paraphrase Cantona re Deschamps he was a "water carrier". Some might say that's an important job. He was a decent harrier and niggler of better opposition midfielders (anti football) but his passing has always been poor and he could never beat a man. If that's the sum total of your skillset I call that a very limited player. I'm in agreement with whoever posted that Nicky Butt was a far superior version of the type of player Fletcher is (was)

To be fair, for me Fletcher looked a good player doing an ugly job in a good side with good players around him. Take those players away and his flaws become glaringly evident - specifically slow sideways passing and at times a heavy touch.

He had a great engine before his illness and maybe that covered some of his flaws, and perhaps that's been affected by the illness.

Sadly, however nice a bloke he is, on current form he looks done at the top level and we need much, much better.

 

[Escobar]

He is a limited player, always has been. Footballing wise, he does not have specific outstanding strengths - he was more about work rate, determination, etc. Now that Carrick and Herrera are out, more is expected of him but he's just unable to deliver. In an ideal world, he should be our 4th choice midfielder

 

[Sarni]

He will obviously never find his top form again but he used to be a decent player. Nothing spectacular, certainly not at the level he was touted at (someone said that Xavi - Iniesta - Fletcher would be the best midfield in the world back in the day, absolutely ridiculous to have his name next to them) but nevertheless a decent player. We could use someone like top form Fletcher at the minute but after 2 years away from football it is not going to happen.

 

[JON.B]

Looked good in pre season but has looked some way off the pace so far. Given his time out with illness and injury I really wanted him to return to some kind of form even if it was as a dependable squad player but the signs are great for him early on.

 

[bugmat]

Was a good player for a very successful period for the club. But now, he is living on sentiment. He clearly isn't up to it at this level anymore.

This - it was incredible to come back from his illness, but he's far too pedestrian and his touch has become worse than nay int eh squad abr Cleverley. He should go into coaching before he has to do a Neville mid-season. It shows how desperate we are for bodies there though.

 

[Freak]

He shouldn't and won't be a starter once our only 2 proper midfielders are fit again.

 

[Minimalist]

Atrocious player. I'd honestly replace him with one of our youth midfielders. They have no chance of being that incompetent on the ball.

 

[Rykker_4united]

Bunch of 'Anyone But United'? Doesn't make sense, in relation to some fans wanting him moved on/retired.

As for Fletcher he's a bit part player at best. I personally find no reason why the club should pay him a fortune to be a footballer for the club. He simply isn't up to it anymore unfortunately. Shame he's not more like Gaz who knew when his number was up & took the correct course of action. Both excellent servants & players to the club, but there comes a time when basically they're stealing a living. Club needs to be a bit more ruthless in this regard as we have a lot of well paid players on the books who simply are not up to the desired quality.

meant to say OTT, it was late lol

 

[marlowe78]

With Cleverley sold off, I find our situation with Fletcher to be very odd. Fletcher has put in a much better career than Clevs but after his illness and seeing that he will probably never get to his old level again, I think the two players can't really be distinguished from one another nowadays. I guess you can argue that Cleverley has a bit more mobility and playmaking ability (largely due to age and staying well), but IMO it doesn't make him much better of a player.

Logic tells me that Fletcher should also be sold off or convinced to retire (which he no doubt wouldn't), but he was made vice-captain and unless there is buying this week our current midfield options barring Herrera and DiMaria include him and Anderson. This prospect frightens me...

 

[Mystry]

Fletcher provides more defensive cover than Cleverley which is what this midfield really lacks so it makes sense to keep him if it was a choice between the two. That and it would probably be a lot harder to sell Fletcher. Cleverley looks like he's going to bring us in £9m, a 30 year old Fletcher isn't going to conjure up those figures, it's better business this way. Add in other factors like experience, leadership, seniority and I would say logic dictates keeping him around, at least until we can adequately replace him. Put it really bluntly, Cleverley is far more expendable than Fletcher.

 

[NoWinNoFee]

How Darren Fletcher is a millionaire from playing football i don't know, if he can be a professional footballer and a professional footballer for Manchester United then I've not given up hope of playing for Manchester United one day too and I'm shit.

 

[Winrar]

Right about now he'd be better off moving on to Scottish league, unfortunately.

 

[Bojan11]

Doesn't come towards the CB. Doesn't get involved in physical challenges. Too slow and awful in possession.

Just woeful .

 

[RedStarUnited]

Doesn't come towards the CB. Doesn't get involved in physical challenges. Too slow and awful in possession.

Just woeful .

He is so bad when the defenders have the ball, its infuriating. He is not making space at ALL for passes.

 

[Orton]

3rd week in a row, same crap performance.

 

[Mister_Stubbs]

The ball continues to bypass the midfield, I almost feel bad for slating the guy after his illness but Darren Fletcher offers nothing.

 

[Giggsforever]

How he can receive the ball with so much time and end up with a yellow card is amazing.

 

[Timdbro]

He's never gonna get a better situation than right now to show he's still good enough. Unfortunately it looks like he just isn't, doesn't really do anything on the pitch anymore.

 

[NoWinNoFee]

Right about now he'd be better off moving on to Scottish league, unfortunately.

I honestly think that's too good for him. His performances are non-league like and i don't think that's an over exaggeration.

 

[All 3 United]

This formation(3-5-2) is totally dependent upon an extremely well positioned deep lying midfielder. Fletchers play is awful, however his positioning and tracking is an absolute disgrace.

 

[Bobcat]

Maybe a but harsh, but this is embarrassing to look at. He is miles away from the player he once was.

 

[Jacob]

Should've ended his career with that illness to be fair. He looks weak, technically abysmal and slow.

 

[NoWinNoFee]

Maybe a but harsh, but this is embarrassing to look at. He is miles away from the player he once was.

What was he once? Let's be right, he was never that great.

 

[Deleted member 78215]

If us laymen can see it, then Van Gaal can definitely see it. Which makes me think ... is this a message to the board, like, "Woody, look at this shit. Blind and Carvalho/Vidal, please."

 

[An Irish Red]

His main strength was always his drive and energy and now that he's lost that he's attempting to play as a deep lying playmaker despite the fact he lacks the positioning and intelligence to do so.

It's like the Steven Gerrard situation with the main difference that Gerrard can actually pass the ball, which Fletcher seemingly can't anymore.

 

[Orton]

His drive and energy are gone. He looks completely useless out there and has caused us nothing but problems since the first ball was kicked this season.

 

[Borys]

If I was one of our CBs today, I would also hoof it rather than pass to him.