Sir Alex Ferguson has hailed Darren Fletcher’s performance against Newcastle midweek, and claims that the midfielder’s come back may continue against Cluj next week.
Fletcher started his first game in 10 months when he captained United to a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Capital One Cup, and having been out for since December the Scot managed to complete the full 90 minutes.
Part of this may be down to the new role we saw Fletcher performing as he sat in front of and protected the young center backs Scott Wootton and Michael Keane, rather than his usual all action cover every blade of grass style.
Whilst he may be named on the bench for the Spurs game tomorrow, Sir Alex is targeting a place against Romainian side Cluj in the Champions League next week for the midfielder to continue his comeback from a chronic bowel complaint:
“Darren’s in the squad for tomorrow.
“Obviously, having played on Wednesday night and contributed so well – also it was his first game of that magnitude for 10 months – I wouldn’t think he’ll start. But he may get a place on the bench and he could possibly go to Romania and play against Cluj.
“That may be an ideal opportunity for him. The great thing about Fletcher the other night was his enthusiasm was fantastic. He played a great part in the victory and in a role different from how we’ve used him in the past. Darren was always the type to get about the midfield players but, on Wednesday, he sat in front of the two centre-backs and did a really good job.”
Fletcher was terrific against Newcastle and it was a good return for him. I hope he can continue in that fashion, although it will be a slow recovery. He is the type of midfielder we have been missing.