Darren Fletcher | 2013/14 Performances

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Great to see him doing well. Backed him last season to come back and move himself above Fellaini (not a hard task at all but given his health at the time is a decent achievement) and really pleased he has got back to making a positive contribution to the team.

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#07 said:
Captain, leader, legend.
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I don't tend to quote myself but I'll make an exception today: Fletcher for captain. Said it before, saying it again now.
 
Stobzilla said:
If Van Gaal sees him starting regularly then he should be named captain.
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I'd agree with you but I wouldn't want to see Fletch starting regularly. He's done well this pre-season but still not convinced he'll be good enough. As a personality and everything else though there's no doubting he's a leader.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Fletcher has arguably been our most consistent performer in pre-season. Best player last night, by a margin.

I know it pains many of ye to hear it but he's played his way into our best XI, come the start of the season. If we do sign Vidal, based on the three games so far (taking into account the varying standard of the opposition) I'd play Fletcher alongside him before I'd play Herrera in our first PL game.
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Love me some fletch but Herrera would have had a full pre season by the first game of the season, Vidal just got back to training this week. He wont be that fit in 2 weeks time.
 
saivet said:
I'd agree with you but I wouldn't want to see Fletch starting regularly.
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Why? Based on pre-season form our midfield should be Darren Fletcher and one other.

If Fletch has truly, fully recovered from his illness how many midfielders in the Premier League are better than him? E.g.



Pogue Mahone said:
He's blatantly good enough to start for us. Bit fecking odd you could decide that our best player in the strongest possible selection last night isn't actually good enough to start for us.
Van Gaal obviously thinks differently.
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Exactly.
 
Good to see he had a good game against Inter but it's way to early(for me) to be coming to any conclusions on Fletcher's worth as a player and whether he can get back to his best. I don't think these pre-season games give us any real indication on much.
 
#07 said:
Why? Based on pre-season form our midfield should be Darren Fletcher and one other.

If Fletch has truly, fully recovered from his illness how many midfielders in the Premier League are better than him? E.g.

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I agree with you but I still think we should sign another midfielder. If that doesn't happen then playing Fletcher only makes sense.
 
Ole'sbodyguard said:
Good to see he had a good game against Inter but it's way to early(for me) to be coming to any conclusions on Fletcher's worth as a player and whether he can get back to his best. I don't think these pre-season games give us any real indication on much.
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Don't write off the pre-season performances. When we lost to Singha All Stars and Yokohama last summer it was a pretty clear indication of where we'd go last season. You're right in the sense that Madrid, for example, won't be worried they've lost their first two games of this U.S. tour. However, our games have been competitive since we smashed L.A. and Fletcher has performed most consistently of all our midfield players. Fletch says he's over his illness, the club are clearly happy with that assessment, Van Gaal is playing him, his passing long and short is crisp, his defensive work and covering ability has been extremely strong. Why can't we take anything from these games? I bet you if Fletch had been playing badly, if he had been horribly skewing passes all over the place and looked unable to track runners, people wouldn't be saying give him time its only pre-season.
 
Ole'sbodyguard said:
Good to see he had a good game against Inter but it's way to early(for me) to be coming to any conclusions on Fletcher's worth as a player and whether he can get back to his best. I don't think these pre-season games give us any real indication on much.
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I think that's a fair point. Lots of examples of players looking like stars in pre-season only to end up marginalised. The difference for me is that Fletcher comes with established quality. He's had a terrible few years but had a decent run of good health leading up to this pre-season and there's no good reason to assume he can't get back to bringing what we know he can bring to the team. It's not as though he broke his leg or wrecked his knee and might not be able to play his usual game. He's basically had a nasty and prolonged bout of diarrhoea, which has been cured for almost a year now. I think there's every reason to be optimistic about his pre-season form.
 
Regardless of any transfers into midfield for the coming season, I am so delighted to see Fletcher's form in pre-season. I have no idea whether last season's average form was down to his rehabilitation into competitive football or the "Moyes effect" but he does look good. I think he distributes the ball quicker than Carrick, too.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think that's a fair point. Lots of examples of players looking like stars in pre-season only to end up marginalised. The difference for me is that Fletcher comes with established quality. He's had a terrible few years but had a decent run of good health leading up to this pre-season and there's no good reason to assume he can't get back to bringing what we know he can bring to the team. It's not as though he broke his leg or wrecked his knee and might not be able to play his usual game. He's basically had a nasty and prolonged bout of diarrhoea, which has been cured for almost a year now. I think there's every reason to be optimistic about his pre-season form.
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He's spent a lot of time out with a very debilitiating illness which cured or not, is likely to have an effect on anyone long term, let alone a highly tuned professional athlete playing in a sport which boils down to small percentages in performance.

If he gets back to where he was he'll be a useful player, no doubt but for me I dobt whether he is a player who can lose 10% of what he was and be of the standard we should be aiming for if we want to go forward and compete with the big European teams.

In the end it all depends how he performs I suppose but I personally wouldnt be relying on him rather than bringing in quality players who can slot in and do a job right away becuase ultimaately you dont know whether he'll be the same player over the course of a season, or whether he is really "cured". I find the suggestion that the illness is completely resolved to an extent where it can't come back strange given that for a while it was considered to be something that might end his career. That would indicate it is something that is not easy to resolve with certainty.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
So Fletcher and Herrera to start the first game? More than likely, I'd say.
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Yep. I expect.

------------DDG-----------
----Jones--Smalling--Evans
Valencia-------------Shaw
----Fletcher--Herrera------
---------Mata-------------
-----Rooney-----Welbeck--

Welbeck instead of RVP because of fitness levels.
 
I argued this a month or so ago in this thread but I'll state my case again, he was actually fairly decent last season, and certainly better than both Carrick and Cleverley. I didn't watch the game, but it's fantastic to hear he's in some good form. He's a good player, who was once very, very good, that is positive in his play and always attempts to move the balls forwards. He's a massive figure in our dressing room going forward and we shouldn't even contemplate losing his nous on top of what has already left us.
 
RedRover said:
He's spent a lot of time out with a very debilitiating illness which cured or not, is likely to have an effect on anyone long term, let alone a highly tuned professional athlete playing in a sport which boils down to small percentages in performance.

If he gets back to where he was he'll be a useful player, no doubt but for me I dobt whether he is a player who can lose 10% of what he was and be of the standard we should be aiming for if we want to go forward and compete with the big European teams.

In the end it all depends how he performs I suppose but I personally wouldnt be relying on him rather than bringing in quality players who can slot in and do a job right away becuase ultimaately you dont know whether he'll be the same player over the course of a season, or whether he is really "cured". I find the suggestion that the illness is completely resolved to an extent where it can't come back strange given that for a while it was considered to be something that might end his career. That would indicate it is something that is not easy to resolve with certainty.
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I don't really get this idea that there are long term implications. As I said before in this thread a couple of years out of football might, if anything, benefit a player of his age. You seem to be making negative assumptions about his current and future health/fitness based on very little evidence.

Re the ongoing skepticism about his UC being cured, I've blathered on at length about this earlier on in the thread. Without knowing exactly which op he underwent and the extent of his symptoms beforehand it's hard to be 100% certain that he will never have any symptoms from his illness again but there's a very good chance that this is the case. Don't take my word for it, take Darren Fletcher's.

“I am back to normal. I am standing here now, I do not have ulcerative colitis. I have come through that now. I am leading a normal life."
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Anyway, it's not as though he'd be the first elite athlete to perform at the highest level with UC. Steve Redgrave went on to win 5 olympic medals after his diagnosis!
 
He was very good last night, pre season pinch of salt and all but very good so far. Im tempted to go all Kevin Keegan on how much i would love it if Fletch manages to get back to somewhere near his old performance level on a regular basis. If so, he is perfect captain material IMO, already Scotlands captain.
 
quethenoo said:
He was very good last night, pre season pinch of salt and all but very good so far. Im tempted to go all Kevin Keegan on how much i would love it if Fletch manages to get back to somewhere near his old performance level on a regular basis. If so, he is perfect captain material IMO, already Scotlands captain.
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I'm just happy that he's getting a solid pre-season under his belt. It was vitally important that he does, of we're going to see anything close to a fletcher back to his best.
 
I didn't think he had an amazing game last night and still think he looks slow on the ball.

Will be interesting to see how he copes when the tempo's cranked up to normal levels but it's encouraging that LVG seem to trust him. Not that he's got much choice with the state of our midfield.

Nevertheless, he's still looked better than Cleverley, who just doesn't get it.
 
Kag said:
I argued this a month or so ago in this thread but I'll state my case again, he was actually fairly decent last season, and certainly better than both Carrick and Cleverley. I didn't watch the game, but it's fantastic to hear he's in some good form. He's a good player, who was once very, very good, that is positive in his play and always attempts to move the balls forwards. He's a massive figure in our dressing room going forward and we shouldn't even contemplate losing his nous on top of what has already left us.
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I thought I was the only one that saw he was more than decent last season. His passing is so under rated by most people. He is about 120 times the player Cleverly will ever be.
 
marjen said:
I didn't think he had an amazing game last night and still think he looks slow on the ball.

Will be interesting to see how he copes when the tempo's cranked up to normal levels but it's encouraging that LVG seem to trust him. Not that he's got much choice with the state of our midfield.

Nevertheless, he's still looked better than Cleverley, who just doesn't get it.
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I thought Cleverly did well when he came on. Looked full of confidence and was refreshingly purposeful in his attacking.
 
Shark said:
I thought Cleverly did well when he came on. Looked full of confidence and was refreshingly purposeful in his attacking.
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Last night wasn't his worst game, true. I'm just so, so tired of seeing the amount of times Cleverley gets the ball in acres of space with a lot of passing options ahead of him, only for him to take a couple of touches, then get his head up, spin and play the pass back to the CBs.

His match against Rome was horrid.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I don't really get this idea that there are long term implications. As I said before in this thread a couple of years out of football might, if anything, benefit a player of his age. You seem to be making negative assumptions about his current and future health/fitness based on very little evidence.

Re the ongoing skepticism about his UC being cured, I've blathered on at length about this earlier on in the thread. Without knowing exactly which op he underwent and the extent of his symptoms beforehand it's hard to be 100% certain that he will never have any symptoms from his illness again but there's a very good chance that this is the case. Don't take my word for it, take Darren Fletcher's.



Anyway, it's not as though he'd be the first elite athlete to perform at the highest level with UC. Steve Redgrave went on to win 5 olympic medals after his diagnosis!
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Time out of the game is one thing, time out battling an extremely unpleasant and quite serious condition is another. He might come back 100% and be absolutely fine, and I hope he does, but he also might not. I'm not making any assumptions that he wont be absolutley fine but the reality is that batting a serious illness, which this is, can take a lot out of people - its not a given that you make a recovery to the extent that you were as well as you were before.

As I understand it its a condition with varying degrees, like a lot of bowel conditions, from mildly problematic to serious. It seems to be something that requires careful management and possibly a special diet - something else which could evidently affect someone's physical conditioning, especially a footballer trying to get to the top of his game. That also doesnt take into account the effects of drugs a person might have to take to deal with teh illness in the first place.

As above I hope he has come through this and it completely cured and 100% well again - both as an indiviual and as a player. I'm just sceptical that something evidently so serious can be resolved that quickly and not leave lasting effects. It seems to be a disease which goes into "remission" rather than being cured, which suggests it can flare up again. As I said, hopefully it doesn't.

I hope what he says is right, but he's not likely to make any other comment anyway is he? As it is I hope he's fine and can make a massive contribution, I just hope we're not relying on that rather than invest in an area of the pitch where we're desperately short.
 
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He is the resurrection and he is the light. The joy I get from Fletch looking like Fletch again goes far beyond the footballing side of things. Give him the armband, Louis. Fook it, give him two.
 
He was excellent last night. A lot of peoples concerns for Fletch are down to the widely held belief that stamina was his main attribute. It was always unlikely he'd get back to the same physical level.

He's never really got much credit for his use of the ball which is unfair IMO. He's got decent vision, a good football brain and a nice range of passing.

While I'd be slightly concerned by starting him each week in a 442 I see no reason why he can't flourish in the current system where he has a little bit more help especially alongside Herrera who seems to have bags of energy to get around the pitch.
 
Nobby style said:
Plus there's the fact that he's basically saved himself from a couple years of wear and tear at PL/CL levels which can be very positive for a midfielder of his ilk.
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I'm not convinced his debilitating illness is a better alternative. It's a permanent thing that he has to manage remember.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
For sure. Although that should only happen if he can also contribute on the pitch. Which I think he can do. Very hard to be at your best when you've been out as long as he was and didn't participate in pre-season. Should be a different player this time round.
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That is going to be the concern if herrera picks up a injury, especially with carrick out for a while
 
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