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Manchester United’s Below-18s boss Darren Fletcher has given an early verdict on his new place, revealing some of the satisfying features of the job.
Fletcher’s new function
Fletcher was formally named the brand new lead coach of the Below-18s final month, changing the departed Adam Lawrence.
Lawrence left Unitd in pursuit of greener pastures after an extremely profitable stint with the youth group.
Earlier than being handed the reins of the Below-18s, Fletcher held quite a lot of titles at United. He initially returned to the membership in 2020 as an Below-16s coach.
The Scot was then promoted to a first-team coach below Ole Gunnar Solskjær in February 2021. He then went on to turn into technical director alongside soccer director John Murtough in March 2021.
As technical director, Fletcher was primarily involved with offering “technical recommendation throughout all features of the soccer division”. Nonetheless, his duties overlapped as he was typically noticed on the bench throughout matchdays.
Erik ten Hag’s appointment noticed Fletcher return to first-team teaching duties – a task he continued to serve in throughout the early days of Ruben Amorim’s tenure. When Lawrence left, United opted to look inside and appointed Fletcher, who’s believed to harbour ambitions of turning into a supervisor in future.
Fletcher kicked off his reign as Below-18s gaffer with a 1-0 victory over Everton final weekend at Finch Farm.
The previous midfielder spoke to membership media and gave his ideas on the brand new function and revealed essentially the most pleasing bit about it.
Fletcher’s remarks on new job
He stated, “I’ve actually loved it. From the primary time collectively in Germany on the adidas headquarters, the boys have been incredible. We had pre-season video games at Carrington after which we went to Zagreb, and the efficiency ranges, the angle, the appliance, in each sport, they’ve been an actual pleasure to work with so I’m actually having fun with it.”
“It’s good to guide, to be accountable for your individual workforce. I used to be all the time in a assist function earlier than, so I felt that for the subsequent stage of my growth as a coach, it was essential that I led a bunch, and with Adam Lawrence leaving, the chance grew to become out there and it made sense from various causes.”
“I’m actually excited to be on the grass on daily basis, working with the workforce, implementing Manchester United’s model, membership concepts alongside a few of my very own concepts and it’s been actually satisfying.”
“And essentially the most pleasing factor has been the gamers’ utility and buy-in into it and I’m actually having fun with seeing them play the United approach.”
He added concerning the win in opposition to Everton, “We’ve spoken about coaching the way in which we play. We wish the soar to the sport to be small. We don’t need to go from low depth to the excessive depth of a sport they usually’ve utilized that. They’re match as a result of they’ve skilled actually laborious, they’re prepared — the appliance and want is there — and the depth is there. They’ve labored laborious all pre-season.”
“General, I assumed it was an important efficiency. Out and in of possession, we had been incredible and dominant. It’s solely a 1-0 win, nevertheless it ought to have been extra. We most likely had 70-75% possession, created quite a few probabilities, however we didn’t take them. That’s one thing we’ve to study from.”
The 41-year-old warned in opposition to anticipating an excessive amount of from children whereas they’re nonetheless creating and discovering their toes in skilled soccer.
Fletcher emphasised that United’s proficient starlets shouldn’t be pushed into rising up too rapidly because it may finally hamper their progress.
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