English Premier League: Fletcher says Man United players need to share responsibility
The new premier league season gets underway on the 11th of August, 2010. With the world cup in progress, focus has temporarily shifted away from club football towards international football. Players are trying to put in good performances for their national sides, so that big name clubs notice their talents and approach them for their services.
On July 11th when the World Cup ends, one can expect the focus to shift back to club football and the related transfer market as well. Manchester United finished second in last year’s premier league season relinquished their English championship crown to Chelsea. They will be looking to regain their kingship in the coming season.
Darren Fletcher, a player who impressed for United last season reckons that it is not rational for United to expect all the goals to come from Wayne Rooney’s boots. Fletcher, whose national team Scotland failed to qualify for the World Cup, thinks that there was a lot of pressure on Rooney last season to score goals for United. The Scotsman thinks that Rooney took that pressure head on and performed admirably throughout the season for Manchester United.
United’s success last season was directly related to Rooney’s ability to score for them. Therefore it is not surprising to note that games in which Rooney didn’t score for Manchester United, wins seldom came their way.
Fletcher told the media that there are times when strikers don’t score as many goals as fans and teammates expect them to do so. However, according to the energetic midfielder these are the times which require other players to step up and take responsibility in order to fulfill the goal deficit.
He also said that teams have to improve every season to compete in the premier league. He added that United’s wingers, Valencia and Nani both improved last season and that more improvement can be expected from them in the coming season as well.
He further added that even the likes of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes as well as Fletcher himself are trying to improve because everyone in the team is hungry for success. Manchester United lost their English premiership crown by only a single point to Chelsea at the end of last season and therefore even minor improvements can help the team.
Fletcher also explained that last season was a transitional period for some players in the team. In the transfer window before the 2009-2010 season, United sold their best player, Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for 80 million pounds. They also lost Carlos Tevez to their city rivals Manchester City which meant that younger players in the squad had to step up and fill the difference in quality which was left behind.
Fletcher said that people did not realize it at the time but the club was in a transition phase last year. He also went onto say that United performed very well in the league despite failing to retain their status as champions of England.
United’s central midfielder stated that his team still managed to win the Carling Cup despite the transition which was taking place at the club. He also remarked that Manchester United were extremely unlucky in the UEFA Champions League where they were knocked out on the away goals rule after winning 3-2 at Old Trafford against Bayern Munich.
Darren Fletcher told the press that, United will learn from their mistakes that they made in the past season and he also expressed his hopes of making it one step further in the upcoming league season.
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