Fletcher: We've got an amazing Academy

Fletcher discussed the importance of our youth set-up, answered questions on VAR's decision not to get involved when Kyle Walker appeared to stamp on Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu's leg, and also provided team news, with regards to returning players and our representatives at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Keep scrolling to read, and watch, everything he had to say...

First of all, just team news, what is the situation with [Noussair] Mazraoui and [Bryan] Mbeumo. Could one of them potentially feature this weekend, or would you give them some time off?

"I don't think so. I think it's too close a turnaround. So we'll have the same players available for the game as we had against Burnley, so no new additions, and Bryan and Nous will be not available for the game."

Grimsby was the low point of the season in the Carabao Cup. This is a club synonymous with cup success, so how important is it to have an FA Cup run in this competition?

“It’s an important competition, and Manchester United's about winning trophies, and I think we've had good success in the competition in recent years, won it a couple years ago, lost in the final. It's an amazing competition. It's the first trophy that I won as a player. It's a special tournament, and, with the season so far; not in Europe, out of the League Cup. [We’ve got] Premier League, obviously, but it's the FA Cup, it’s a trophy that we should be vying to win and giving ourselves every opportunity to win.”

You've been really open about some of the conversations you've had with different players so far this week. Just wondering if you've had a chance to speak to Kobbie [Mainoo]? Just because there's been so much speculation around his future because of lack of game-time, but overall, how is he? How has he been doing?

“He seems in a good place. Kobbie doesn't give you much [indication], so you wouldn't know if he was in a good place or not so good. He's like that, that's his natural way. But I know him well, and I've known him for a long time, and I've seen him around the building and around different places throughout the season. Not so much about the building, but you see people around. And I've had conversations with him in general. But he's in a good place. I know Kobbie, and I think he knows me, and he knows Travis Binnion, so he’s comfortable with his environment. So, he's in a good place. He's trained well and, as I said, he's hard to read, Kobbie, so that remains to be seen.”

Harry Maguire, I think most people are a little bit surprised that he was on the bench on Wednesday night. Is he in a position where he could start, or what's his fitness? Because he's obviously been out for a while.

"Well, he has been out for a while so it would probably be looking at his load and things like that. That decision's not been made, but you've seen the players come back the other night. You've seen Mason [Mount], you've seen Kobbie [Mainoo], you've seen Bruno [Fernandes]. There has to be some understanding of their first minutes, we might have to be careful with that process to build back in, so I think Harry will probably be in that situation for the weekend."

We saw the impact Shea [Lacey] made off the bench the other day. I don't know whether you’re going to start him this weekend or not, I’m not going to ask about that, but in terms of the Academy, that's what young players can do. It felt like it was kind of an issue, maybe, towards the end of Ruben [Amorim]'s time. Obviously, just the mention of Chido [Obi] and Harry [Amass] and the entitled mention in his press conference. You've seen a lot of them with the Under-18s and working in the Academy. What's your view of how the Academy is working here and how players are developing? I guess, in terms of ability and character and attitude and things like that.

“I just think, historically, this club's built around the Academy. We've got an amazing Academy. Our record speaks for itself. I'm not going to sit here and say anything other than that. We've got an amazing record. I think it's hard to beat in terms of the history of clubs around the world. I think we've got some amazing players, some amazing talents. I think what I see is a lot of hard-working, humble young players, who aren't perfect, because they're young and they're learning and they've got a lot to do. I think we ask and expect too much of young people sometimes - in society and in general. And that's not a criticism of anybody, that's just my beliefs. I think we have to let them learn, educate them, help them, understand they're going to make mistakes, and they're going to do things that'll frustrate you. But through time with good guidance of coaches, family members, players in the first-team squad, all of us play a part. That's our role, that's our jobs, of developing them to be Manchester United players and Manchester United people. So, all I can say is my workings with those players as individuals, and, in general throughout the Academy, I deal with hard-working, honest, coachable, super-talented kids, and we've got a lot of talent in our Academy, and hopefully they can showcase themselves like Shea did when he came on against Burnley and was so close to scoring a fantastic goal.”

Darren, you spoke on Wednesday night after the match about the fact that you're learning about the confidence levels of players, when it came to not holding onto that lead. What have you done this week to try and restore that confidence. What techniques have you used? Is it meetings? Is it showing them videos of the past? How have you tried to do that?

“It's just feedback. It's just talking to them. It's just trying to paint the picture of what to expect and how to deal with disappointments in games, how to see out different situations in games. It's been not a lot of time to practice it. So video, we'll review the game against Burnley and there's some key details in that, that we'll try and improve on. I think it's a constant thing that evolves over time for me. It’s conversations, it's video, it's coaching on the training ground, it's learning from new experiences that happened within game. And growing and building as a team and developing confidence and going on a run where you deal with those situations, but handling disappointment in football is everything, on and off the pitch, different situations in the game, and recognising and understanding that you've got 90 minutes to rectify things, and nothing's going to be perfect. I think people strive for perfection. Football is about chance, luck, opportunities, different things happen. Look at the game the other night, I mean, we conceded one shot on goal, another shot off target, and we draw 2-2. But that's football. You have a disallowed goal, which is unfortunate. Things happen in football. You’ve got to be able to deal with them constantly and just keep believing, while there's 90 minutes on the clock, that you can change it around.”

Darren, just going back to the Burnley game. There was an incident that was missed by VAR where Kyle Walker stamped on Patrick [Chinazaekpere] Dorgu. One, can I ask your reaction to that incident? And two, Patrick didn't react, but are we in a situation where the players are actually feeling they maybe need to react to get the referee and the VAR’s attention? Because had he done, had he milked that moment or rolled around, Kyle Walker would have probably ended up being sent off.

“So like Kyle Walker did when Licha [Martinez] didn't touch him? Yeah, that's sort of the territory we're getting into with this now. But Patrick's such an honest guy, he's never going to do that. It didn't look great from Kyle Walker's point of view, but I like Kyle and I know him as a person, so I hope the intent was to get the ball. Patrick thought his intention, at the time, was Kyle tried to get the ball and made contact with him, so that was his understanding of the incident in the moment. For me personally, I think VAR should have looked at it. They looked at the goal disallowed, which was ridiculous, so they should have been looking at that, for me. And, as you say, if they don't, you're just going to encourage players making massive dramas out of things and being theatrical, which is what we don't want in the game. I don't want that from my players. I'd strive my players not to do it. But those two situations, probably, were massive influences on the game the other night, so it shows you how influential it can be.”

I was just wondering if you might have had the chance to speak to Sir Jim Ratcliffe this week? Any conversations with him? Just about the vision of the club, and also your own future?

“I've not, no. And again, the process here works: I speak to Omar [Berrada] and Jason [Wilcox]. That's how that's how the processes work. For me, I've been focusing on the job in hand, preparing the team for these two games. There's been no thoughts or conversations about my future. Honestly, Jason and Omar have given me full responsibility to take control of these two games, make my own decisions, lead the team, guide the team, prepare the team, and that's what I've been doing. There's been no conversations with anybody outside of those two people in higher-up positions in the club.”