After the humiliating defeat against Burnley many expected a United backlash against Wigan, which duly came about in the second set of 45 minutes after Kirkland had put on an impressive first half display and Man Utd appeared profligate.
There were many changes, I think 7 in total, to the team that faced Burnley on Wednesday night but the most significant inclusion had to have been Fletcher. Outside of wasting a glorious opportunity in front of goal, he held onto the ball well, distributing it sensibly and kept himself out of the spotlight by shunning any 'Hollywood passes'. His positional sense also kept any burgeoning Wigan attacks in check with simple block tackles, meaning he wasn't in an unusual position and needing to heroically charge back and slide in.
There is a pattern to Fletcher's play; it's all the simple stuff that lets the rest of the team keep ticking over and do what they want to do, something that was evidently missing the previous Wednesday night. The ageing Scholes may have had a one off bad performance, but it says a lot about the young Scot that he is frequently outshining the Ginger Prince, and that United do seem to struggle when he is excluded.
