Fletcher: We Still Believe

Darren Fletcher says one defeat isn’t going to diminish the Manchester United players’ belief in the manager and themselves following the opening-day loss to Swansea City.

The Reds went down 2-1 at Old Trafford in the first match of the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League on a hugely disappointing afternoon.

Fletcher revealed the frustration in the dressing room after the match, but remains confident the players can move forward quickly from this and maintain belief.

“It’s a massive disappointment. It’s all good and well doing well in pre-season but you’ve got to win when it counts and we didn’t do that, and it’s a very disappointed dressing room,” the vice-captain told ManUtd.com.

“The manager reiterated the fact that nothing is won in the first game and there are no medals handed out now. Obviously you want to win the first game and you don’t want to lose at home but we have to still believe in ourselves and we do. We all believe in the squad.

“We need to pick the young players up quickly because there were plenty of positives from them and we need to tap into the pre-season form, cut out the mistakes and believe in the manager as we all do, and let’s win against Sunderland.”

Fletcher said the defeat was made all the more infuriating by Swansea offering little in attack for the majority of the afternoon.

“We conceded bad goals and, for me, it felt like Swansea scored with their first attack,” he added. “We started the second half very well and got back into the game and then they sucker-punched us again.

“It felt like they had only two chances in the game and they’ve managed to score them both. That’s hard to take and disappointing, but we also know we can play better than we played.”