There was a moment in the first half yesterday when one of Cluj's midfielders was running with the ball to our half and was near the half way line, Fletcher charged but tackled him very conservatively made a 180 degrees turn and started running towards the opposition defense.
I missed these moments, as good as Carrick is he is more of a passive interceptor rather than an active tackler. Barring 2 weak passes in the second half i thought for a player coming out of a 1 year injury/disease recovery period, Fletch played very very well. To be honest i had given up all hope of him ever playing for the first team again after reading abt his illness and its reprecussions but this man proved us all wrong.
I am sure that if his health remains good, he will be exactly like a new midfield signing we have all been wanting. He can do all that a player like Tiote/DeJong does, and then a lot more attacking wise(his passing is criminally underrated). He will provide the balance to our team, the tracking of midfield runners, the pressing of opposition midfielders, helping out fullbacks when they go forward..a fit Fletch can do it all and can do it well.
Welcome back Fletch, the one who's always done it the hard way!!!!!!
Fletch...Welcome home son!!!
posted on 3/10/12
hiro
I hope you are right.
posted on 3/10/12
From my point of view, we have been short of cover as well as star quality in midfield in recent seasons, so if we can call on a fit Fletcher this year it's undoubtedly a net plus.
In addition, I don't necessarily see him as an obstacle to Anderson getting time in the team. For a start, if we have enough midfielders available, I think we'll play three of them more often this year than in the past. Secondly, I think Fletcher should be regarded as an alternative to Carrick, as a ball winner with unfussy distribution, rather than the midfielder who gets involved in the forward moving triangles (which suit Anderson and Cleverley better).
Fletcher isn't going to offer us breathtaking vision as a midfielder but he can play the 'Busquets' role - snappy in closing down / tackling, releasing the ball reliably and with intelligent decision making - with diligence and physical presence. I think that's a useful option to have in our squad as a more mobile and aggressive alternative to the more talented Carrick and a more defensively effective player to offset Anderson / Cleverley.
I really couldn't see him coming back to play regularly after reading the signals from the press releases about his condition. It's still unclear whether things are now permanently under control or he's just going through a temporary better phase. If it's the former, we actually do have a much better midfield than we did last autumn: Anderson and Cleverley currently fit, Fletcher available, Carrick in decent form, Scholes playing. In an ideal world we might have a player in there over which there were no question marks (too old? injury prone? not dynamic enough? not proven yet?) but that's a group of players with a lot of quality and variety between them. If they can be blended effectively over the course of the season, that group + our improved forward line + a defence that hopefully won't be hit by quite so many injuries as last year = on paper a decent side.
posted on 3/10/12
Fletcher is a massive boost to our.. midfield.. lets hope he can stay on top of his fitness. The manager said recently that his illness is a tricky one as it can surface again and take a lot out of the body. I feel if that does happen..at least he has been given the chance..which would be important to the lad cause he is a great servant to the club.
posted on 3/10/12
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 40 seconds ago
From my point of view, we have been short of cover as well as star quality in midfield in recent seasons, so if we can call on a fit Fletcher this year it's undoubtedly a net plus.
In addition, I don't necessarily see him as an obstacle to Anderson getting time in the team. For a start, if we have enough midfielders available, I think we'll play three of them more often this year than in the past. Secondly, I think Fletcher should be regarded as an alternative to Carrick, as a ball winner with unfussy distribution, rather than the midfielder who gets involved in the forward moving triangles (which suit Anderson and Cleverley better).
Fletcher isn't going to offer us breathtaking vision as a midfielder but he can play the 'Busquets' role - snappy in closing down / tackling, releasing the ball reliably and with intelligent decision making - with diligence and physical presence. I think that's a useful option to have in our squad as a more mobile and aggressive alternative to the more talented Carrick and a more defensively effective player to offset Anderson / Cleverley.
I really couldn't see him coming back to play regularly after reading the signals from the press releases about his condition. It's still unclear whether things are now permanently under control or he's just going through a temporary better phase. If it's the former, we actually do have a much better midfield than we did last autumn: Anderson and Cleverley currently fit, Fletcher available, Carrick in decent form, Scholes playing. In an ideal world we might have a player in there over which there were no question marks (too old? injury prone? not dynamic enough? not proven yet?) but that's a group of players with a lot of quality and variety between them. If they can be blended effectively over the course of the season, that group + our improved forward line + a defence that hopefully won't be hit by quite so many injuries as last year = on paper a decent side.
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Nice analysis.
posted on 3/10/12
By the way, we all see different things when we're watching games and I'm sure I'm as guilty as anyone of seeing things that confirm my preconceptions. But in my version of last night's match, Rooney and Cleverley were the players who impressed me most over the course of the game. Anderson and Fletcher both had decent games but the two Englishmen were the ones, in my view, making the most imaginative use of the ball.
posted on 3/10/12
Fletcher is a massive boost to our.. midfield.. lets hope he can stay on top of his fitness. The manager said recently that his illness is a tricky one as it can surface again and take a lot out of the body. I feel if that does happen..at least he has been given the chance..which would be important to the lad cause he is a great servant to the club.
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Yes. Sentiment shouldn't have anything to do with who gets picked for the team, but as fans who don't pick the team we can be forgiven for indulging in sentimentality from time to time. Aside from the footballing arguments, I'm delighted Fletcher is back because he comes across as a classy human being: modest, hard working, team spirited. He was on the end of some unforgivable vitriol from a lot of our fans earlier in his career based on the fact that he was an unflashy player who was only gradually reaching maturity. In our 2008-9 Champions League run he put in some excellent performances, only to be denied a shot at the final due to a very harsh sending off, to which he reacted with amazing dignity. I'm quite a calm person with a lot of self-control but I would have gone mad if that had happened to me.
posted on 3/10/12
Agreed..thats why if his illness happened again..Maybe fletcher decides enough is enough..the club has stuck by me and thats all he could have asked for.
Tho i do see signs of the aggressive midfielder reutrning
posted on 3/10/12
Tho i do see signs of the aggressive midfielder reutrning
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i wouldnt say fletcher has ever been an aggresive midfielder, he's a workhorse, i'll give you that, but i wouldnt call him aggressive.
posted on 3/10/12
Always thought he was good at going shoulder to shoulder when not in possession ..winning the ball back and distributing ..maybe not aggressive in the sense
posted on 3/10/12
i wouldnt say fletcher has ever been an aggresive midfielder, he's a workhorse, i'll give you that, but i wouldnt call him aggressive.
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He's not really known for being an aggressor no but I've seen him be aggressive before. He's got it in him.
I'm so glad that Fletcher is able to play for the first team again, I couldn't be more pleased for him. There was a time I thought that I'd never see that happen again. Whether we'll ever see the form he showed from 2008-10, that's a whole other story.
I think we need to take it a game at a time though. The games he has featured in for the first team have been perfect for him. Both playing in a 3 man midfield where all he was required to do was shield the defence and recycle the ball. One game was in the League Cup against what was basically a Newcastle B side and the other was in a game which we more or less dominated from start to finish. I think the manager's eagerness for him to return points to there being bigger tests ahead for Darren which may be in a 2 man midfield or playing against a much better side so he does in those sorts of games will give us a better idea to how he's progressing.
Every game he plays though is a plus. The more playing time he gets, the better and fitter he'll hopefully become. At the moment I'm just glad to see him back kicking a ball around again for the first team and he's done reasonably well in the two games he's played so far.