Fletcher confident of team's stars

Philadelphia: As the man who gave rise to the phrase "anti-football", Darren Fletcher knows a thing or two about the less glamorous side of the game.

He is well versed in the often unappreciated art of breaking up play and getting his foot in.

Fletcher knows his place at Manchester United. He understands what he is there to do.

But try telling him that his team-mates lack star quality, that another quiet summer in the transfer market has left Sir Alex Ferguson's side looking a bit ordinary, and Fletcher is having none of it.

"We've got a fantastic squad," he says. "Plenty of players with ability who can make a difference.

"We've got the experience of Giggs, Scholes, Neville and Van der Sar. We've got Rooney, Berbatov, and the rest of the players who know their role in the team, who are willing to work hard for the team and who are willing to sacrifice for the team.

Step up

"People always speak about us losing Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, but Antonio Valencia has come in, Nani will step up to the plate and others will improve."

It is true that, without their World Cup contingent and the injured Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves, the squad on tour here in North America is a little light on big names.

Ferguson is refusing, or unable, to go down the open chequebook route that was once United's hallmark but now typifies rivals Manchester City, choosing instead to call on his younger generation to make the step up.

Even hard-up Liverpool have pushed out the boat for Joe Cole. It has left some pundits wondering if United will be excessively reliant on Wayne Rooney, much as they were for long stretches last season.

Fletcher admits a different United will evolve, but he maintains that the Premier League title would have headed to Old Trafford for a record fourth year in a row instead of Stamford Bridge last season had it not been for the injury crisis that crippled Ferguson's side.

At one stage in December, United were without eight first-team defenders, and Fletcher had to form an emergency central defensive partnership with fellow midfielder Michael Carrick.

"I'd have liked to have seen Chelsea cope with Lampard and Ballack at the back," he says, smiling.

"We've still got star quality and we'd have won the league last year if it wasn't for that injury crisis. But it's not necessarily about your star players. You need different components to make a team."