Fletcher return adds to the joy

It has been open season on Manchester United this campaign.

Rubberneckers have gawped and guffawed at David Moyes’ ongoing travails at Old Trafford, with a 20-year history book of Premier League supremacy not just tinged in sepia but consigned to the back shelf by some.

While tatty Ta Ra Fergie bedsheets and terrace angst used to convey Red misery in the late 80s, electronic indignation now rules. #MoyesOut trends on Twitter on match days.

Not yesterday.

Moyes enjoyed one of his best days in the league as United manager with the sort of win that supporters used to take for granted down the years.

A swagger returned where indecision once lurked.

Nothing typified their steely resistance amid adversity than the sight of Darren Fletcher in the midfield, returning to action following a long and ongoing battle with chronic illness.

A man robbed of the joy of football, who has missed almost a year, has been down before yet he keeps fighting back. Some fans were ready to give up on him in 2005 but Fletcher battled to win their trust, becoming an integral member of the team before illness forced him out of the game.

United will require such strength and resolve as they attempt to salvage their season; a campaign that threatened to plunge into a full-blown crisis if they lost here.

Patrice Evra said it would have been ‘dramatic’ had they slipped to a third straight league defeat.

There was little drama at Villa Park as United met such welcoming hosts. Danny Welbeck netted twice and Tom Cleverley, criticised for lacking the fight and risk-taking that the club have trademarked, scored a third as Moyes’ men ran riot. The immediate battle for United is to eradicate the gap on the top four. Every time they threaten to turn a corner this season, a feeling this result will no doubt trigger, a fall ensues. It’s time for the champions to remind everyone there is life in them yet.

They were alive and kicking yesterday.

Such a vibrancy on the pitch was met with appreciation off it, as the travelling fans rattled off odes to old and new.

“We are staying up,” they sung, tongue firmly in cheek.

Friends and foes have queued up to pore over Moyes’ embryonic reign, which may or may not have six years to run. Alex Ferguson’s predecessor, Ron Atkinson, says the United manager will not be allowed a transitional period.

Former and current players and rivals, most recently Thierry Henry, say nobody fears the champions any more.

Villa certainly did. Paralysed by worry when Valencia tore down the right time and time again, they had no answer.

‘David Moyes is a football genius’ the sarcastic chant goes, as heard at Anfield, the Etihad and former home Goodison Park this season.

The home faithful had no chance to get their jibes in, though. United looked like the side of old and were in charge the minute Welbeck slammed home on 14 minutes.

After two decades of feeling miserable at the sight of another late goal, a contentious decision, a crushing win or the latest trophy parade, advocates of ‘Anyone But United’ have been getting their kicks.

There might be no ticker tape this season, but yesterday United halted the titters.

For the challenged, Moyes’ and United’s difficulties this season is hard to compute. ‘But he inherited the champions’, they cry — seemingly (wilfully?) overlooking the paucity of Premier League quality last term and the toils of its protagonists. Chelsea sacked a manager, again, Arsenal sold Robin van Persie to Ferguson and Manchester City were at war with Roberto Mancini.

This time around, though, United have been significantly weakened — the departure of Alex Ferguson and his trusted lieutenants will do that — while the rest have improved.

That’s why the sight of Fletcher returning — he’s a central midfielder, for one — was a welcoming one for the supporters and Moyes.

In time, he will become a viable option.

The tiresome cliche of a player’s comeback being akin to a new signing may be trotted out but Moyes knows he will need strengthening in January to fortify United in their pursuit of the top four and possibly beyond.