I know some people like to defend him, but honestly my heart sinks every time I see his name on the team sheet. You just know that the midfield will be lost, the pace of our game will be lost, and that's exactly what's happened in the games he's been picked to start. He's even poor at the things he's supposed to be good at. He's there to be a nuisance and break up play, yet Stoke could've driven a bus through our midfield if they had technically skilful players. He's not good enough and he's never been good enough. Giggs would've been a better option in midfield, with Park coming on if he tired. Personally I'm hoping that Cleverly returns soon, because his link-up play was pivotal to our early season form. I'm also hoping that Fergie sees sense, and gracefully "retires" Fletcher a a relic of the previous era. A favoured workhorse, but not a thoroughbred. He'd do a job for someone like Sunderland, but really at United he's just getting in the way. Hate to say it, but Hargreaves would've been a far better option.
Never been a big Fletcher fan, even though he had a good spell at one time, rate him along side the likes of Gibson and Carrick. Our midfield is certainly weaker without Scholes and Hopefully Cleverley can sustain his impressive start, once he is fit again but in the long run I think we will have to buy a quality midfielder. When all our squad is fit I would like to see Phill Jones in midfield playing along side Cleverley and maybe Anderson, as I think the lad is quality and like Rooney could possibly play in any outfield position . Stoke just ran through our midfield today, just like Chelsea did last week and because we were not as prolific up front as we have been, we did not win today.
It's because of Fletcher that Gibson was able to get a game in the first place. It lowered the bar for what was expected of a United midfielder. I think Anderson's problem is that he has to do too much donkey work when he's playing in a midfield 2. He's a rhythmic player, but when he's chasing around fighting fires he tends to hurry his passes.
Fletcher only works in a 3 man Midfield IMO, so when we play with a 433 or a 451. In order for our CM to be effective we NEED to play to Anderson's strengths, and we can't do that with Fletcher, but we can with Carrick and Cleverly. I was a bit worried when i saw Fletchers name on the team sheet tbh.
He's a good player. Manchester Utd quality? No. I'm surprised Brucie didn't take him to Sunderland with the other two.
Utterly abysmal today, just plodding along as usual. Took his goal well, but that doesn't disguise a shocking performance. He's a stain on Fergie's judgment, and the principal reason why our midfield declined so sharply after Keane left. In a way I'm angry at Fergie for using United to bring through "the future of Scottish football", even though he was never anywhere near good enough. From that point on, Fergie's perception of our midfield wasn't objective, when he was so clearly biased towards one player. It lowered the bar for what was expected of a United midfielder. If Fletcher was good enough, then Carrick's level of performance was also good enough, and even Gibson was good enough to get a game. Hopefully today will be a wake-up call, but I doubt it. He's the future of Scottish football, don't you know.
Your right about Fletcher, apart from his goal he was crap today and I agree that he is just not good enough for United ! You could add half a dozen names to Fletcher's from today's team, they were that bad and what has happened to Evra's game ? That defeat, however hard to take, has been on the cards for weeks. We have not been playing well lately and our passing, particularly in midfield, has been woeful. Teams are just running through our midfield as though it is not there ! Well get ready for all the ****ty teeshirts with 6-1 printed on them, they've only just thrown away the old ones that had 5-1 printed on them.
My view on Evra is that he's never been a team player, and that this affects his performance when the going gets tough. He's been in too many French dressing rooms.
