Is darren Flecther becoming the best midfielder in the esl

Vampireskiss

Despite Uniteds loss yesterday, I thought flecther was immense and stood out compared to essien,lampard and ballack and amoung his own teammates?

Iago

no

/thread

whatawaster

Vampireskiss wrote: »

Despite Uniteds loss yesterday, I thought flecther was immense and stood out compared to essien,lampard and ballack and amoung his own teammates?

What’s the ESL?

And no. But he’s a very good player. And a living example of why you don’t judge players fully in their first few years

Vampireskiss

Sorry meant EPL

Vampireskiss

If he was spanish or italian he would surely be more highly regarded

eddiehead

Vampireskiss wrote: »

If he was spanish or italian much better he would surely be more highly regarded

FYP

Lampard, Essien, Fabregas, Arshavin, Gerrard are all better than him, he's nowhere near the best and he never will be

koHd

He's a good player. Not the best.

Maybe the best if you are a biased Man United fan that doesn't watch a lot of other games in full that don't involve Man United.

CHD

Essien is the best, I know different mifielders do different jobs. Essien is the best.

Boggles

eddiehead wrote: »

FYP

Lampard, Essien, Fabregas, Arshavin, Gerrard are all better than him, he's nowhere near the best and he never will be

Gerrard is a forward.

Arshavin central midfielder???

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

That is all

Keano

No where near the best but he stood in yesterdays game. He would need that sort of performance week in week out to even be compared to Gerrard, Lampard et al

The Muppet

He could well be, he's improving season on season so who knows in a few seasons time he could be the best in the prem.

Macca07

The Muppet wrote: »

He could well be, he's improving season on season so who knows in a few seasons time he could be the best in the prem.

+1

Look at where he was a few years ago

super_furry

He's a decent midfielder but nowhere near the top.

Mitch Connor

super_furry wrote: »

He's a decent midfielder but nowhere near the top.

He isn't world class but he is several levels above decent.

He was brilliant for United in 07/08. Was excellent for us last season and has been even better this season.

In terms of what he offers the team, Essien is the only player in the premier league I would take over him. Lampard is a better attacking midfielder, and Fabregas is the best creative midfielder, but as a combative CM, Essien is the only one I would swap him for. Lampard, Gerrard and Fabregas (lol at Arshavin getting mentioned...) wouldn't do the job Fletcher does.

super_furry

You'd seriously have Fletcher over Mascherano? Really?

GavRedKing

No, not even close, he is a good midfielder but he doesnt have the scoring or passing ability or ball carrying ability that the best in the world combine to make them great, yes he can tackle and his main job is to go out and win the ball back and close down but having just that quality doesnt mean he is becoming the best in EPL, hes years off and will never reach the levels of the below.

IMO it would be in the EPL :
1. Essien
2. Cesc
3. Lampard

Gerrard has become more like wayne rooney in where he plays his football but if he was to play in centre mid he would be above Fletcher to.

Mars Bar

Not yet...but he could become one of the best.

eddiehead

Mitch Connor wrote: »

He isn't world class but he is several levels above decent.

He was brilliant for United in 07/08. Was excellent for us last season and has been even better this season.

In terms of what he offers the team, Essien is the only player in the premier league I would take over him. Lampard is a better attacking midfielder, and Fabregas is the best creative midfielder, but as a combative CM, Essien is the only one I would swap him for. Lampard, Gerrard and Fabregas (lol at Arshavin getting mentioned...) wouldn't do the job Fletcher does.

That was me, maybe the OP should change the thread title to best DM in the EPL because Arshavin is a midfielder and I would take him over Fletcher all day long

Mitch Connor

super_furry wrote: »

You'd seriously have Fletcher over Mascherano? Really?

Better going forward than Mascherano and a better passer of the ball. So yeah. If I wanted a pure DM (such as Makalele was) I would go for Mascherano. But I value the combativeness of Fletcher allied to his ability to hussle and harry players from box to box.

Mascherano is better defensively, but that is 98% of Mascherano's role in the team so I would expect that.

EDIT: Also, if you only rate Fletcher as decent, there is no point in having this conversation with you as our opinions on the lad are poles apart.

The Muppet

eddiehead wrote: »

That was me, maybe the OP should change the thread title to best DM in the EPL because Arshavin is a midfielder and I would take him over Fletcher all day long

Maybe people should answer the question the OP asked instead of making up one of their own to answer.

Mitch Connor

eddiehead wrote: »

That was me, maybe the OP should change the thread title to best DM in the EPL because Arshavin is a midfielder and I would take him over Fletcher all day long

I'd say he is a forward/winger.

SWAR

No IMO, but he's definately up there with the likes of Lucas

eddiehead

The Muppet wrote: »

Maybe people should answer the question the OP asked instead of making up one of their own to answer.

Are you referring to wheather or not I think he will become the best? If so, I already answered that in my first reply.
I've rated fletcher very highly for a while now, I've definitely said it on here too, but I dont think he is or ever will be the best in the league

LuckyLloyd

Very good player improving all the time. Not elite at this stage.

Kev_ps3

As a Utd fan..

.. No

eddiehead

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I'd say he is a forward/winger.

Its certainly debatable, I personally consider him a midfielder, as I do with most midfielders until they are out and out strikers

thegen

No.

event

not the best, but he'd get into any other team in the premiership

Aidric

He is and is becoming even more so a hugely important player for Utd. I didn't have much confidence in him a few years back but you have to admire the improvements he has made to his game. The comparison with Essien is a valid one. Take either player out of their respective sides and there's a soft centre.

Joeyjoejoe43

No, no, no, no..... NO

Vampireskiss

The comparison with mascherano just proves my point about foreign players, mascherano is a good player no doubt but because he is argintinian his goes up in peoples thinking as being better

gosplan

It's not debatable, no he's not. He's quite good and he does the basics very well but that's all he'll ever be able to do.

Also lol at trying to recategorise Gerrard as a forward so Fletcher moves a place higher.

leninbenjamin

Essien's the most complete midfielder in the Prem. Unfortunately he's always relegated to the rear of the diamond at Chelsea so we rarely see how good he is, but he's as good going forward as he is defensively. His time at Lyon and his early days at Chelsea showed this, strength, pace, imo uses the ball better in advanced positions than Lampard and has a stinging shot. He's my pick for the best midfielder in the prem.

As for Fletcher, he's really come on a lot in the past two seasons. But he's still nowhere near the top of the Prem. Defensively he works hard, and he's good in the tackle but his positioning isn't fantastic. He can make life very difficult for the opposition, but more often than not he doesn't turn this into any serious advantage to United as on the ball he's mediocre still, his range of passing isn't great and his shooting is poor tbh. Frankly, Hargreaves is a much better all rounder and is still the best midfielder on United's books (in theory at least, whether he'll be able to fully recover is another story...).

And that's completely ignoring Mascherano, Gerrard, Lampard, Cesc, Rosicky (imo the most underrated midfielder in the Prem), Barry, Ireland, Reid to name a few...

Fletcher imo is on the level of someone like Dempsey or Palacios. A good hard working midfielder, but he wont set the world alight.

carlop

I think people underrate Fletcher's ability on the ball. In a purely defensive sense he is not at the same level as Mascherano or Essien (I realise Essien has more to his game than just defending), but he is a decent crosser of the ball, passer of the ball and can dribble quite well, all benefits I guess of his former life as a winger.

Is he the best midfielder in the EPL? No, but if he continues to perform like he has been, he will soon be pushing the others close. He will never be the best midfielder at any particular aspect of the game, but an ability to perform decently in every aspect required of a midfielder is what makes him such a useful player.

super_furry

To be honest I'd rate Fletcher alongside the likes of Scott Parker and Danny Murphy

Johner

Fletcher used to be average. Now he is an above average midfielder nothing more nothing less.

Fabregas,Essien,Gerrard,Lampard are world class. Fletcher is not.

Dont be at yourself

He's a poor man's Lucas.

Johner

Fletcher went from being underated to now being overrated.

Bubs101

Vampireskiss wrote: »

The comparison with mascherano just proves my point about foreign players, mascherano is a good player no doubt but because he is argintinian his goes up in peoples thinking as being better

Sam Allardyce re-reg

GLaDOS

Vampireskiss wrote: »

The comparison with mascherano just proves my point about foreign players, mascherano is a good player no doubt but because he is argintinian his goes up in peoples thinking as being better

Fletcher is Scottish :P

Julez

Johner wrote: »

Fletcher went from being underated to now being overrated.

made me laugh. I'm a united fan and was one of his biggest critcs. But he is hugely important for united and has improved greatly over the past few years. He's not the best, no. But defensively he's probably in the top 5.

gucci

Johner wrote: »

Fletcher went from being underated to now being overrated.

Standard message board behaviour, no middle ground here!

Kess73

Fletcher one of the best or heading that way?

I don't think so, not if being amongst the best is measured with the likes of Essien.

Essien is the best midfileder by a distance in England for me, but Fletcher is still a damn good midfielder, just not in the Essien class.

Would Fletcher get into the Liverpool team right now? I think he would and I'm a Liverpool supporter. I see no way that Lucas could keep Fletcher from the team.

Would he get into the Arsenal team? I think he is good enough for there too.

The only midfield amongst the so called big four that he would not get into is the Chelsea one.

He would easily get into the team at sides like Villa and City, imho. That is not a knock against those teams, just means that I think Fletcher is a blody good midfielder.

~Rebel~

No, he's not the best, and is a nice bit off it, but what he does do is make the absolute very most of his abilities. If some other players with more natural ability put in his workrate and showed his desire, they'd be incredible.

kida

you see how good he is when he doesn't play. Pool game vs Chelsea game

leninbenjamin

Julez wrote: »

made me laugh. I'm a united fan and was one of his biggest critcs. But he is hugely important for united and has improved greatly over the past few years. He's not the best, no. But defensively he's probably in the top 5.

He's very important to United in the same way Song is very important to Arsenal's current form, but I don't think anyone will be calling Song one of the EPL's best just yet. I agree that United are much better team with Fletcher in the starting line-up, but that doesn't make him a great midfielder. It just means United have no backup for him.

I suppose though there's a fair argument he might be in the top 5 defensively, but that's more because there's so few good midfielders in the premiership at the moment imo.

flahavaj

The improvement in Fletcher over the last three years has been stunning. Hes the only midfielder that United have fit at the moment who seems determined to sieze every game by the scruff of the neck. He always demands the ball ad makes himself available to support whomever is on the ball. Hes always looking up before he even receives the ball to see whos available or whats on. His passing has improved immeasurably the past 12-18 months and hes now capable of delivering killer passes over long distances, or playing the simple ball when needed. His engine is immense and he'll literally run all day. Hes so disciplined in tracking back runs from opposition midfielders which is one of the more underrated arts of MF play (see his tracking back of Fabregas in the CL semi last season). He loves getting stuck in to teh tackle and has built his upper body strength to the extent that hes very hard to shake off the ball. The thing I admire most about him though, is that he ALWAYS shows up for the big occasions. he relishes the big games more than any other and seems to up his game the better the opposition. The likes of Carrick could take a leaf out of his book in that regard.

To answer the OP, no hes not the best around, but real United fans who know their football recognise his immense worth to the team. Hes up there with Rooney as one of those guys that United really really miss when hes injured. Love the guy to bits.

redzerdrog

he is easily man utds best CM but is below world class but is still a very good player.

super_furry

Vampireskiss wrote: »

The comparison with mascherano just proves my point about foreign players, mascherano is a good player no doubt but because he is argintinian his goes up in peoples thinking as being better

I think it's quite the opposite actually. Average British players like Fletcher get hyped much more because of the fact that they're British. If Fletcher was to be sold now for example you'd see Ferguson holding out for a daft £20million to £25million price just because of his nationality. There's a premium and hype factor around players from Britain.

Boggles

super_furry wrote: »

I think it's quite the opposite actually. Average British players like Fletcher get hyped much more because of the fact that they're British. If Fletcher was to be sold now for example you'd see Ferguson holding out for a daft £20million to £25million price just because of his nationality. There's a premium and hype factor around players from Britain.

You think Fletcher is just an average player?