Vocalizing Sport

Not known as a first team regular, Darren Fletcher has been on the edge of the first team for a very long while, however it seems as if, in his current role he is shining, and proving what a valuable asset he is to the Manchester United team.

In recent months, Fletcher has been called upon to fill the void left by Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick due to injuries, and Anderson, who in August was playing in Beijing for Brazil in the Olympic Football event, and Fletcher has successfully filled this void, by not only putting in good, consistent performances, but also scoring 3 league goals in 6 league matches.

The goals he has scored have turned out to be fairly important in getting United up to there current position in the Premier League, with his first goal rescuing a point in United’s first league match of their title defence against Newcastle United, then scoring his second to give United all three points in their trip to Fratton Park and most recently scoring the opener against Everton, for it to be equalised later on in the match by Fellaini.

Oddly enough, having scored 3 goals in the league thus far, Darren is currently ahead of Manchester United’s £30.75milllion new signing Dimitar Berbatov, formerly of Tottenham Hotspur, in the amount of league goals he has currently scored, with the Bulgarian hit man currently only on 1 league goal, having scored that against Premier League new boys West Brom, in a 4-0 victory.

Whether or not he is a marvel is yet to be seen, but at the age of 24, I firmly believe he can and will improve, and perhaps become a first team regular at United, as long as Sir Alex Ferguson decides to keep hold of his fellow Scot. If Fletcher is sold to another club, then I have no doubts in my mind that he will become a first team regular for that team, and during the summer transfer window, it looked as if Everton would be the team to capture the Scottish midfielder.

His attitude and work rate on the field rarely get recognised by fans of any teams, and that really disappoints me, as he is one of the most underrated players in the Barclays Premier League, and it is a rare case to see him moaning and groaning about not playing enough games, and he could easily get those games if he opted to move to a ‘lesser’ club. However this young Scottish midfielder has opted to remain at The Theatre of Dreams and battle his way into the United starting line up, and so far this season, it seems as if he has done more than enough to warrant him a starting place.

As if escaping relegation with Portsmouth in the 2005/06 season wasn’t tough enough, it seems as if Harry Redknapp wants to try to repeat a great escape, but this time with struggling Tottenham Hoptspur.

Spurs were languishing in 20th place with just 2 points after 8 games when Juande Ramos was sacked as manager, and just hours before Tottenham kicked off against Bolton Wanderers Harry Redknapp was installed as the new manager in the hope that he could revitalise their vastly talented squad. A win was provided as Spurs beat Wanderers 2-0 at White Hart Lane.

Although Redknapp started off with a win, his defence looked shaky, even with Ledley King playing his second game in a row, something which he hasn’t done for a long while. Spurs may have picked up all three points, but it didn’t stop them from languishing at the foot of the table, but it did mean that they were only 1 point off of the other surprise team struggling thus far, Newcastle United and 2 points off one of the Premier League new boys, Stoke City.

This win over relegation threatened rivals Bolton will have helped build up Spurs confidence no end, and with a new manager in place, it will not only have helped the Spurs players turn a new leaf, but also Harry Redknapp is likely to put in place a new regime, which should have the players on their toes, and hopefully produce the kind of football the extremely talented squad has, with players such as Giovanni Dos Santos and Luka Modric.

With 14 of the 38 Premier League matches having already been played, Spurs have lifted themselves out of the relegation zone into 16th spot. However, Spurs fans should not be relaxing just yet, as there are only 4 points between the current team in 20th place, West Bromwich Albion and Spurs in 16th with Blackburn, Newcastle and Sunderland being the teams to fill up the 19th, 18th and 17th spot respectively.

On a more positive note for Tottenham, there are also only 4 points between them, and the team currently occupying 7th spot, with that team being Everton and with the two teams facing off against each other on Sunday at the Lane, then Spurs have an ideal opportunity to reduce the Toffees advantage to just 1 point and this would mean that so long as Spurs can win at Upton Park against the Hammers and Everton lose or draw to the newest member of the Top 4, Aston Villa.

If Harry Redknapp is able to keep Spurs in the Barclays Premier League it is likely to be seen as less of a great escape than when he kept Portsmouth up in the 05/06 season, as he will have been manager for roughly 2 months longer, that is if he manages to remain Spurs manager, and produce a string of good results.

I for one am hoping Spurs stay up this season, with the vast array of talent they have on offer, it would be a shame to see that talent on display in the Championship, rather than playing against the elite teams of the Barclays Premier League. However if it does go wrong for Spurs, then I’m sure teams like Portsmouth, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal etc will all be waiting to make offers for the talented, yet unfortunate players, and if all goes badly for Harry, then I’m sure he may also do a repeat of what he did during the 04/05 and 05/06 season, starting at Portsmouth, moving clubs, doing badly and then returning to Portsmouth.