The unfancied duo came through again last night, and Goal.com's Mike Maguire explains what makes them different from the average, average player.
Apr 30, 2009 6:18:13 AM
When you watch any Manchester United game, big or small, there are certain names you expect to hear spewing forth from the commentators' microphones with predictable regularity and emphasis.
'Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez' becomes a mesmerising chant when the Red Devils are in full flow, and while all three starred throughout the course of Wednesday's Champions League win over Arsenal, it was the far less glamorous pair of Darren Fletcher and John O'Shea who provided the substance behind their more gifted team-mates' style - and, in truth, th at is the way it has been for much of the season.
Fletcher, often written off as a sentimental favourite of his fellow Scot, Sir Alex Ferguson, put in a typically dogged shift in midfield alongside the eye-catching Anderson and Michael Carrick to nullify the threat of Cesc Fabregas & co. He's had better showings this season, sure; but this is the sort of display we've come to view as stock from the 25-year-old, which is a testament to his reliability.
Indeed, perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay him is that United have hardly missed the ultra-crocked Owen Hargreaves at all this term, because Fletcher has proven every bit as hard-tackling, committed, energetic, versatile and switched-on as his English-Canadian-German club-mate - and probably a tad tidier on the ball, to boot.
But while Paul Scholes' sidekick worked largely behind-the-scenes against the Gunners, O'Shea strolled unblinkingly into the limelight as he gave his side a precious 1-0 lead heading into the return leg at the Emirates.
That winning goal came just moments after the Irish utility had put in a perfectly measured daisy-cutter from the right flank that Tevez failed to convert from point-blank range (due to some heroic goalkeeping from Manuel Almunia, it must be said). It was just the icing on a cake made up of disciplined defending, neat distribution and very solid decision-making.
Of course, neither of these two would get a sniff if United's injury list read like their goals-against column did from November to March. Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick and Scholes are all, when fully fit and able, ahead of Fletcher for the midfield roles, whilst the constant knocks and niggles to Gary Neville, Rafael da Silva and the long forgotten Wes Brown have allowed O'Shea a regular run at right-back.
What other team in European football can rely so surely on fourth- or fifth-choice players to step up when it matters? Imagine if Liverpool were forced to play Damien Plessis and Nabil El-Zhar week in, week out, or if Real Madrid needed Javi Garcia to do Lassana Diarra's work for an entire season? One can only shudder at the thought (although I hasten to add that I do rate Plessis quite highly)...
One might criticise the fact that I've picked on youngsters, but that's the thing: the most of the fourth-in-line players at even the biggest clubs are inexperienced up-and-comers. And that makes it even more remarkable that Old Trafford boasts a pair who are nearing their prime years but are quite satisfied to sit on the pine and play understudy.
So what is the secret to garnering such blind loyalty from squad fodder? Perhaps it is down to the fact that both Fletcher and O'Shea came through the youth ranks and thus feel a strong emotional attachment to the only professional club they've ever known. It is not a wholly uncommon situation.
But then you look at a player like Park Ji-sung - who operates under similar circumstances and plays with the same sort of devotion and selflessness despite having earned his stripes a million miles away and come to England via PSV Eindhoven - you can't help but think that there's a Fergie factor lurking in there somewhere.
There is one common trait (aside from their modest abilities) that binds these players: none of them are leaders in any way, shape or form. They are soldiers who do what they are told to a tee, and who have no noticeable ambition to transcend their current station. And that might be the very reason they were chosen by the wily old Knight of the Realm and his scouts.
The fact is, not everybody can be a superstar, especially within a functional football team - Florentino Perez and his Galacticos found that out the hard way. You need players who put themselves about and do a job purely because that is what they've been programmed to do. People say Dirk Kuyt is just that sort for Liverpool, but you have to ask: would he keep his yap shut if Rafa Benitez left him out of the squad for a few weeks?
That's what separates the Fletchers and O'Sheas of this world from the rest of the cut-rate talents on the books of the powerhouse clubs. And, hence, it could also be argued that Sir Alex's loyal lapdogs are just as important as the Rooneys and Ronaldos in keeping Man United a step ahead in the English game.
Mike Maguire, Goal.com
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