Darren Fletcher reveals key to United U18s’ unstoppable run this season

“I must admit I’ve enjoyed the way we’ve played this season and we’ve played in an extreme, extreme way, but that’s also recognising what the opposition do as well. So we won’t just keep the ball for the sake of it, if there’s space to exploit in behind and it needs a long pass.”

On the Under-18s playing at Old Trafford, Fletcher remarked, “I think we’ve progressed with each round, of having the experience of being on there.”

“It shows how important it is for these young players to experience that for their development. More so than anything in front of fans, the games being on TV, the games being high-profile.”

“The most pleasing thing for me is how we’ve improved with each game, as we’ve gone along on the journey. Great learning, but, obviously, we’re going to have to go away now for a final, which will be another great experience and another great challenge, and part of their development.”

Fletcher stressed the importance of being defensively resolute.

“We want to dominate the ball. We want to build up from the back. We want to play our way through the opposition. I think the out-of-possession principles are probably more powerful – we want pressure on the ball at all times. Pressing is how we’ve scored a lot of our goals, actually.”

“I’ve really enjoyed watching us play. I said that to you before we came on here, that the amount of times the opposition coaches have complimented us on our off-the-ball [work]. We’ve not conceded that many goals, which has come from a combination of the way we keep the ball off the opposition, so we starve them of possession.”

“But as soon as the opposition have the ball, we try and win it back as quickly as possible, and we sprint back every time the opposition have an attack. So the players have bought into that right from the beginning of the season.”

The Under-18s are next in action on Wednesday when they face Palace again, this time in the Premier League Cup final at Selhurst Park.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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