Darren Fletcher has a simple explanation for the raft of own goals
to benefit Manchester United this season - plenty of pressure.
James Collins turned a Ryan Giggs cross-shot into his own net
at Aston Villa on Wednesday to make it 10 own goals for the
champions.
That figure is second in the goalscoring charts, more than
Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen and nearly halfway towards Wayne
Rooney's tally of 23.
But, according to Fletcher, anyone putting that huge number
down to bad luck on the opposition's part would be missing the
point.
"The own goals come from putting teams under pressure," he
said.
"If you put the ball into the right areas, it is difficult to
defend.
"When you look at all these own goals there is always a
United player coming in behind them who could easily tap the ball
into the net.
"If we can put the ball between the goalkeeper and the
defence and one of your players can get on it, great. But it
certainly causes problems for defenders and fortunately for us,
they have been knocking them into their own net."
