[carlosp]

Was pish to be honest.

 

[RooneyLegend]

He's done at the highest level. The sooner we accept that the better. We're not a charity organisation, this is high end sports and we just can't afford to have players who can contribute anything positive to our team.

 

[The Law of Denis]

Fletcher confuses me, he was excellent pre-season but unlike players like Young and Valencia he has not taken that form into the league season. On our US tour Fletch was arguably our best player, yet now he seems unable to make even the simplest passes. You have to think its a confidence issue. I get what people are saying about the speed and pace of the game, but its one thing to lose mobility its another to lose the ability to hit a straight pass. Its odd too because from the outside it feels like LVG has tried to boost his confidence e.g. making him a team captain etc. Maybe something else is going on with him? Maybe he's worried about his contract situation?

I think he knows his time is almost up. Gary Neville retired in the middle of the season and Giggs has talked about performances that are so bad that made him consider doing that. Fletcher knows the standards expected of him, and I think he realizes that unless he steps up that he's leaving soon. I feel sorry for him to be honest, but for the good of the team and himself, he needs to reconsider his playing days.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

http://www.espnfc.com/club/manchest...ure-looks-unlikely-to-be-at-manchester-united

 

[Van Piorsing]

Usual outcome. He enters the pitch and suddenly team plays a bit shit.

 

[Leg-End]

He's been a great servant to this club and its premature to declare him finished but can we stop pretending he's good enough to be getting minutes right now?

 

[Dumbat12]

I really have no idea why Van Gaal continues to persist with him.

 

[Walrus]

The only thing I can think of is that LVG wanted to give Carrick a rest and didnt really have anyone else to bring on. Still, we could have put on Rojo or someone and moved Jones into midfield perhaps, or just brought on another striker.

 

[MoneyMay]

Usual outcome. He enters the pitch and suddenly team plays a bit shit.

Really don't understand this type of mentality. Our performance towards the end of the game wasn't Fletcher's fault. We were winning 3-0 at home. While it may not be pleasing for some supporters, it made sense for us to keep the ball.

 

[Redo91]

Finished. Absolutely baffled as to how he got on ahead of Pereira who, at 18 years of age, is already a superior player.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

If Herrera or Fellini were on the bench they would've come on not fletcher. He was brought on to give carrick a rest for Spurs game simply because we had nobody else.

 

[Will Singh]

Great servant for the club and it's a shame his return has not lived up to how he was before his illness but he doesn't pick himself to play LVG does so if his trying his best that's all we can ask for from him.

 

[Devil may care]

Difficult to judge today, we'd taken our foot off the gas and then removing our best CM and the movement of Falcao in quick succession really took our game down a few notches, it was not merely that Fletcher stepped on the pitch, I didn't really notice him lose the ball or get brushed off it easily as has been the case in most games this season.

 

[::sonny::]

Championship player

 

[Galactic]

Who else do we have in the holding midfield role? He's probably our best backup to Carrick. Jones is the closest but not sure if we should be moving him around again.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Really don't understand this type of mentality. Our performance towards the end of the game wasn't Fletcher's fault. We were winning 3-0 at home. While it may not be pleasing for some supporters, it made sense for us to keep the ball.

Keep the ball ? You mean like after Fletcher's feck up where he leaves only McNair against charging Newcastle player and De Gea must again do his 150% ?

I'm sorry but people saw enough already to start making conclusions. Now tell me we'll use him against Tottenham with a straight face.

 

[Amethyst]

The only thing I can think of is that LVG wanted to give Carrick a rest and didnt really have anyone else to bring on. Still, we could have put on Rojo or someone and moved Jones into midfield perhaps, or just brought on another striker.

Probably did want to give Carrick a rest, so important in the midfield whilst Blind is out and we've two games in quick succession. As for Flecher, he was sloppy on the ball at times and almost gifted them a goal but for me it's not so much him coming on that's an irritant as much as it's Januzaj or Pereira not coming on and getting minutes.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

So LVG made some changes to help with the management of the squad during a congested period in the fixture calendar, introduced Fletcher at a time when were already 3-0 up and looking to see out the game, and this pretty much came to pass.

I'm aware of one error which led to a save from De Gea but then we were also vulnerable to such in the first half, only Newcastle failed to be threatening/Jones didn't concede a penalty.

 

[finneh]

It's like he's won a competition. We may as well just play with 10 men if we want to rest Carrick; or just play a random youth player.

People may say it's disrespectful but please just put him out to pasture; it's like watching Bruce Forsyth cracking jokes and people are only giving him a sympathy "heh".

 

[roseguy64]

Barely put a foot wrong and he's being lambasted. At that stage of the game no one was doing much attacking. We were in a mode to see out the game. He helped in that and provided an option for defenders to pass to and helped keep possession.

 

[kouroux]

He made a pass which went out straight to throw-in, at that precise moment I really felt bad for him. He is completely finished at this level.

 

[Kostur]

He made a pass which went out straight to throw-in, at that precise moment I really felt bad for him. He is completely finished at this level.

Pretty much this.

No reason to give him shit, he's simply past it and he's played because our other mifield options are injured/can't play the holding role. I suppose that it would be Fellaini playing at CDM again if he wasn't ill.

 

[sunama]

Really don't understand this type of mentality. Our performance towards the end of the game wasn't Fletcher's fault. We were winning 3-0 at home. While it may not be pleasing for some supporters, it made sense for us to keep the ball.

Dude, you can't use the same excuse every game.
What about against Villa, when he was on the pitch and we went behind and needed to score?
LvG took him off, as he was so bad. The problem is that LvG brought him back today and once again, a poor performance.

When was his last good performance? Does anybody know?

 

[Raw]

He wasn't too bad today, still looked off the pace though. I'd hate it if he becomes a complete liability.

 

[Red Dreams]

Barely put a foot wrong and he's being lambasted. At that stage of the game no one was doing much attacking. We were in a mode to see out the game. He helped in that and provided an option for defenders to pass to and helped keep possession.

fair enough. love the fella. but I think his playing days for a Prem side are over.

 

[MoneyMay]

Keep the ball ? You mean like after Fletcher's feck up where he leaves only McNair against charging Newcastle player and De Gea must again do his 150% ?

I'm sorry but people saw enough already to start making conclusions. Now tell me we'll use him against Tottenham with a straight face.

You're attributing our poor performance towards the end with Fletcher coming on. He completed around 97% of his passes, which is far more useful than you isolating one particular incident to disprove a point. Fwiw, I don't think he's good enough even as a squad player for us. Whenever he comes on, he doesn't really do much and is often bypassed. His strongest point is probably his pressing which says a lot about the decline he's endured.

 

[Dumbat12]

Barely put a foot wrong and he's being lambasted. At that stage of the game no one was doing much attacking. We were in a mode to see out the game. He helped in that and provided an option for defenders to pass to and helped keep possession.

What match did you watch? Probably some match from 2009.

 

[MoneyMay]

Dude, you can't use the same excuse every game.
What about against Villa, when he was on the pitch and we went behind and needed to score?
LvG took him off, as he was so bad. The problem is that LvG brought him back today and once again, a poor performance.

When was his last good performance? Does anybody know?

I've not used that excuse ever before. In fact, that was my first post in this thread, and I don't rate Fletcher any more. He's patently past it. However, it's silly to blame our performance towards the end on him coming on the field.

 

[Van Piorsing]

You're attributing our poor performance towards the end with Fletcher coming on. He completed around 97% of his passes, which is far more useful than you isolating one particular incident to disprove a point. Fwiw, I don't think he's good enough even as a squad player for us. Whenever he comes on, he doesn't really do much and is often bypassed. His strongest point is probably his pressing which says a lot about the sad decline he's endured.

In the face of team that LVG is trying to build with quality depth and ability to win major trophies also in Europe, it's gonna be only harder for Darren to start even in this type of matches unless we'll see a progress like with Young which I'm not saying it's impossible... but it's really hard to see a light in the tunnel.

 

[roseguy64]

He made a pass which went out straight to throw-in, at that precise moment I really felt bad for him. He is completely finished at this level.

Because he was passing it to Mata who had moved just as the pass was made. FFS.

 

[roseguy64]

Dude, you can't use the same excuse every game.
What about against Villa, when he was on the pitch and we went behind and needed to score?
LvG took him off, as he was so bad. The problem is that LvG brought him back today and once again, a poor performance.

When was his last good performance? Does anybody know?

He was bad against Villa yes but he was fine today. As simple as that.

 

[kouroux]

Because he was passing it to Mata who had moved just as the pass was made. FFS.

Yeah right.

 

[roseguy64]

It's hard to see Fletcher having much of a future with us but could people try to be fair and not biased against him?

 

[Ace of Spades]

The game was pretty much a formality when he came on, and Newcastle were hardly pressing us, yet he still made a fair few mistakes even under no pressure. That is not good enough.

It is not like he is performing much better than our youth prospects. If we want to take risks, I would rather we atleast give some youngsters a chance. Pearson or Rothwell could have done as well.

 

[roseguy64]

Yeah right.

Think you need to watch that bit again. He was passing the ball back to Mata but there was a mixup between them.

 

[Amethyst]

It's hard to see Fletcher having much of a future with us but could people try to be fair and not biased against him?

His only role when coming on really was to see us through the game so to be fair he's basically doing his job if you don't notice him. That said, the only time I remember seeing him was when he gave it away (twice) and dallied on the ball meaning De Gea had to make a save. That's as unbiased as I can be.

 

[Shimo]

LVG needs to stop tarnishing Fletcher's place in our history by still playing him - put a youngster instead. The guy just doesn't have it anymore, which is really sad to see.

 

[Summit]

LVG needs to stop tarnishing Fletcher's place in our history by still playing him - put a youngster instead. The guy just doesn't have it anymore, which is really sad to see.

I agree that fletcher is past it, but the first part to your sentence is completely wrong. Why is LvG tarnishing Fletcher's place in history again? Any fan worth their salt knows what Fletcher used to bring to the team, and no amount of bad performances will take away the memories he once gave us. Unlucky for Fletcher he's been sick, battled through and come back. That in itself is a credit to the lad's determination, and I'm gutted for him that it isn't working out as of yet. Remember though, Fletcher still wants to play for United, so when he takes to the field the responsibility is in his own hands to play well.

Perhaps LvG seen how well we were strolling today and seen this as a great chance to install some much needed confidence back into Darren's game?

 

[Shimo]

I agree that fletcher is past it, but the first part to your sentence is completely wrong. Why is LvG tarnishing Fletcher's place in history again? Any fan worth their salt knows what Fletcher used to bring to the team, and no amount of bad performances will take away the memories he once gave us. Unlucky for Fletcher he's been sick, battled through and come back. That in itself is a credit to the lad's determination, and I'm gutted for him that it isn't working out as of yet. Remember though, Fletcher still wants to play for United, so when he takes to the field the responsibility is in his own hands to play well.

Perhaps LvG seen how well we were strolling today and seen this as a great chance to install some much needed confidence back into Darren's game?

You are probably right but, people often only remember the most recent performances. I think he was a very good footballer before he got ill but, a lot just remember him as a destroyer/harrier only type. Now he can't even do that part well enough.

Also, when we are strolling, it would be a great opportunity to give a younger player a chance if Fletcher is not in our long term plans.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

The sooner Blind comes back, hopefully the lesser we can see of him on the pitch. Wonderful servant but he just cannot run around coughing up the ball at the slightest hint of pressure while playing as a defensive midfielder.