Darren Fletcher is confident that Manchester United will prove their doubters wrong this season after the Old Trafford side incurred criticism following a home defeat by Swansea City on the opening game of the new season.
It was the first opening day loss suffered by United since 1972.
Among the fiercest critics has been former Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman - now working as a television pundit - who claimed that this is the weakest United squad in 20 years. The quality of the side was disparaged last term and that trend has continued into the reign of Louis van Gaal, who has been recruited as manager to turn the club's fortunes around.
Fletcher - who played the entire 90 minutes against Swansea - is convinced that his side will prove themselves before the campaign is over. "People have been waiting for an opportunity to have a go at United for years and this is the perfect time [to do it]," said the midfielder.
"It's a long season and I don't think they will be saying those things at the end of it. I believe we're going to have a very good season. All the players believe that too. Comments like [McManaman's] give us a greater determination, without a shadow of a doubt."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article