Michael Carrick

Form of his life? The team will most likely be accused of being carried by RvP soon enough but we would be absolutely £#%&!ed without him.

Question. Why is he so underrated? No one seems to see how he controlling games for us.

It used to be, if players pressed him higher he would be unable to control games, now he's seemed to find that scholes type way of being able to get 3 yards away from a player with 1 piece of control.

Originally Posted by Jethro

Form of his life? The team will most likely be accused of being carried by RvP soon enough but we would be absolutely £#%&!ed without him.

Question. Why is he so underrated? No one seems to see how he controlling games for us.

it's also worth pointing out as well as being absolutely fantastic for us AGAIN this season Carrick has started 46 of our last 47 games in all competitions...incredible stat

Nah it's not washing with who I am debating it with, all because he can't get in the England set up

Reason he is underrated is he can still have games or long spells in a game where our midfield gets swamped and can't seem to string 3 passes together.

Granted not all on him, but that's where his lack of mobility comes into play. It's not too difficult to out-run or out-muscle him, although he's doing well to not succumb to these flaws too often right now.

But more often than not the quality of our team does shine through and when it's working carrick is a vital cog in the machine.

he doesn't lack mobility in the slightest

He plays to the level of the team... if he has movement & energy around him he'll find the right passes. He doesn't drag a side to a win, he complements those around him. Having someone like van Persie ahead of you helps create space, as does the energy & intelligent movement of Cleverley next to him, the fact we have finally have 2 full backs both in form & bombing on also helps. Lots of movement, plenty of energy & he can pick the passes. Get him pressed & no one moving & he'll shit his pants. Praising Carrick for playing well is to ignore the way he's played for 6 years... he's always played well when we have played well, & equally been insipid when we have been off the boil.

So he struggles when he's got no movement ahead of him, no movement around him, no-one to bounce a pass off, and is being pressed...

The movement ahead of him and around him right now is more - much more - than just some fat bloke with a wig on coming short for a ball into feet that he doesn't know what to do with. United managed to mount a title challenge last season despite being as predictable as you like, though ultimately they missed out and were shit in europe. This season things have changed a fair bit...

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

So he struggles when he's got no movement ahead of him, no movement around him, no-one to bounce a pass off, and is being pressed...

The movement ahead of him and around him right now is more - much more - than just some fat bloke with a wig on coming short for a ball into feet that he doesn't know what to do with. United managed to mount a title challenge last season despite being as predictable as you like, though ultimately they missed out and were shit in europe. This season things have changed a fair bit...

Read in to it what you like, fact is Carrick wont drag a side through a game when others are playing shit around him.

Originally Posted by Baron_van_Marlon

Read in to it what you like, fact is Carrick wont drag a side through a game when others are playing shit around him.

You can't things like this about him though. It was the same when Berbatov scored five against Wigan.

Originally Posted by Baron_van_Marlon

Read in to it what you like, fact is Carrick wont drag a side through a game when others are playing shit around him.

so basically, he isn't ronaldo?

sell the @#%&! to wigan maybe we can get 4 million for him

Throb with some MJ Bait there, but Van Persie is a major help for Carrick, comfortable in receiving passes under pressure, able to hold the ball up with back to goal, and also has excellent movement to find space behind defences, a lot more subtle in the way he plays that role than Rooney. Carrick has always had a superb passing range but too often the team movement has not allowed him to fully exploit it, pairing him with a static Scholes and Rooney dropping so deep leads to a lot of passive play.

He regularly covers the most ground in matches, he may not have the quickness over 5 yards that some of his finest peers have but his 2 footedness makes up for that to a large extent.

"Bloody good player Carrick"

"ah but he doesn't run around getting the best out of everyone else"

"Nope, I suppose that's why he isn't captain and has never been asked to do that job"

"Yeah but that's what I want him to do"

"ferie doesn't"

"Yeah but I do and because of that it means he's shit"

"even if he is good at what he been asked to do and one of the most vital players in the team"

"Yep"

"You're an idiot"

Originally Posted by thenorthwillriseagain

so basically, he isn't ronaldo?

sell the @#%&! to wigan maybe we can get 4 million for him

One extreme to the other as always. What baron is saying that, yes he's playing well but it comes with the team playing well as opposed to Carrick making the team tick. It's pretty common with most of our squad at the minute.

I look forward to the Beckenbauer comparisons when we hit our bad patch.

Originally Posted by Luffy

Reason he is underrated is he can still have games or long spells in a game where our midfield gets swamped and can't seem to string 3 passes together.

Granted not all on him, but that's where his lack of mobility comes into play. It's not too difficult to out-run or out-muscle him, although he's doing well to not succumb to these flaws too often right now.

But more often than not the quality of our team does shine through and when it's working carrick is a vital cog in the machine.

I don't agree with that at all. He's extremely difficult to outrun and outmuscle. He reads the game well enough to largely avoid being in one on one situations, but when he does (usually when tucking in to cover a fullback), he gets his body in the way and most players who try to run him will fail.

He had a bad 18 months around 2009-11 but before that and since then, he's been fantastic. He's been one of our most important players since 2006 and is hardly ever injured. He's a brilliant player for us. Not a patch on Scott Parker though.

Originally Posted by Harri Jaffa

"Bloody good player Carrick"

"ah but he doesn't run around getting the best out of everyone else"

"Nope, I suppose that's why he isn't captain and has never been asked to do that job"

"Yeah but that's what I want him to do"

"ferie doesn't"

"Yeah but I do and because of that it means he's shit"

"even if he is good at what he been asked to do and one of the most vital players in the team"

"Yep"

"You're an idiot"

with gifs

Originally Posted by believe

You can't things like this about him though. It was the same when Berbatov scored five against Wigan.

Not dissimilar... doesn't detract from his abilities, just his mentality.

Originally Posted by thenorthwillriseagain

so basically, he isn't ronaldo?

sell the @#%&! to wigan maybe we can get 4 million for him

When you're in the heart of the side, you need to play through adversity. Carrick hides too much when we're playing shit. He's a different player to Scholes, Keane, Ince, Robbo etc of course but he's not up for a fight when you're up against it. Be that sticking his foot in or raising his game to control the tempo etc - see just about every game at Anfield in the last few seasons for an example, outplayed & out battled when that is what is required. & he'll revert to those floaty Giggs-esque passes to the midriff as opposed to the crisp passing to feet when he's playing well. I have no idea why he does that.

Originally Posted by believe

One extreme to the other as always. What baron is saying that, yes he's playing well but it comes with the team playing well as opposed to Carrick making the team tick. It's pretty common with most of our squad at the minute.

I look forward to the Beckenbauer comparisons when we hit our bad patch.

You're making him sound like scotty parker ffs, or even worse mikel. Any crank can see that Carrick is absolutely integral to the team. The guy has been paired with, at various times over the last 5-6 years:

A crocked canadian
2 near 40 year olds
A shit the bed
A brand

and an inconsistent, overweight brazilian


Considering that, I think he's done pretty well tbh and this is underlined by the success we've had. And his consistency has been key to it, we'd be absolutely £#%&!ed if he was a sicknote, but because he is always on the pitch it's taken for granted

Originally Posted by Baron_van_Marlon

Not dissimilar... doesn't detract from his abilities, just his mentality.



When you're in the heart of the side, you need to play through adversity. Carrick hides too much when we're playing shit. He's a different player to Scholes, Keane, Ince, Robbo etc of course but he's not up for a fight when you're up against it. Be that sticking his foot in or raising his game to control the tempo etc - see just about every game at Anfield in the last few seasons for an example, outplayed & out battled when that is what is required. & he'll revert to those floaty Giggs-esque passes to the midriff as opposed to the crisp passing to feet when he's playing well. I have no idea why he does that.

Ferguson has regularly got his tactics wrong at Anfiled in recent seasons though, going 4-4-2 or even with 3 strikers in an effort to try and play the game in their half to avoid the attritional battles we usually prefer there... Carrick's record there is still something like won 3 lost 3 including the FA Cup game where United basically controlled the game in midfiled and got done with a long punt up the pitch late on. The other game in his time at Utd was the 1-1 draw (Suarez racist) when Carrick didn't play and United's midfield lined up Park, Young, Jones, Fletcher & Giggs - with Welbeck up front

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqdf6J32ebQ&sns=em

carrick's ability