Michael Carrick is a player sure to divide opinions of all Manchester United fans. A player raring with potential and the ability to pick a pass in any situation. In the eyes of many a Man United fan he’s failed to unleash the potential he has. After a £18 million+ and taking the number 16 jersey made famous by Roy Keane, Michael had a lot to live up to.
As Michael tries to re-discover his 06-09 form, Sir Alex may have found the perfect partner to accompany Carrick in Anderson. In Scholes’ absence due to injury, Anderson has been getting an extended run in his favoured central midfield position, a rare opportunity for the young Brazilian. With Anderson’s energetic approach and forward running ability, he seems the ideal partner for the slightly lazy approach taken by Carrick. In recent weeks this partnership has been central to United’s current good run of form and long may it continue.
At 29 years old Carrick realistically would hope to be a first team regular this year as Scholes has been blighted with injury. Carrick has of course quite a few honours to his name, as would be expected of any Manchester United player. Carrick boasts a repertoire of 3 premier leagues, a carling cup and a Champions league, nothing to be sneezed at no matter what the team you play for. Carrick isn’t a well known goal-scoring machine with just 12 goals from 130 league games but his numerous assists and defence splitting passes more than make up for his lack of goals.
Michael Carrick has got a lot of bad press, especially from the Manchester United fans, which seems unjust at times. When United do badly, all eyes stare at Carrick. In the unique role Carrick takes he is ought to be subject to critics. With what seems a lazy player, quietly placing himself in the middle of the field but he still has the ability to unlock the opposition in the blink of an eye. Michael Carrick has the ability to pick a pass, cause frustration and definitely split an opin
Can’t agree. He was one of the poorest players on the pitch against Arsenal.He made a lot of unsuccessful passes and most of his successful ones were backwards and sideways.If he still does possess that eye for a killer pass,why can’t he do it anymore?At times it is true that he is made the scapegoat unfairly but most of the times,the criticism is justified.For me,he slows down the tempo of the game.There are far better players than him in his position.I hope I won’t have to see him next season.
Fair enough, I feel there has been many times when Carrick gets unfair treatment from the fans.Dont get me wrong I’m not a huge Carrick fan myself, just giving my opinion on him and some of the unfair critiscm he recieves. Apart from Arsenal hes been playing quite well this season and his partnership with Anderson seems to be working a treat while Scholes is injured and Fletchers stays in the current slump he’s been in.
Nice piece.
Agree – it’s not all about goals. Carrick is a midfielder – he creates goals rather than score.
Can’t help but disagree with Mr Abir who seems to have watched a different game on Monday night? Had a bad game for precisely what? Fair and constructive comment but I’ll attempt to reason why.
The notion that passing backwards and sidewards is a bad thing is redundant – the passing midfielder’s job is to pass and keep the game flowing; by passing backwards and sidewards the opposition team is forced to attack the ball and thus out of of position while, the team with the ball, United in this case, retain their shape throughout and can buid
Also, one look at Carrick’s chalkboard would suggest that he about a third of his passes were into the final third. No bad thing, if you ask me.
His partnership with Anderson looks good so far; keep up the GOOD work Carrick (and KevinMUFC!).
First can I just say say it’s a great article, secondly I agree that our number 16 gets a lot of stick from us united fans but can I just say the point you make about the partnership between carrick and the reborn energetic Ando may be spot on, yes I agree that at times Carrick can frustrate with his inability to find a simple pass but his interceptions and long range passing from a deep role are invaluable to the club.
I’ve never been Carricks biggest fan. He is not worth anywhere near £18m in my opinion. He can pick a pass but very rarely. For that money I’d expect a greater return. He’s not consistent enough and can be lazy and very sloppy with his passing at times. Doesn’t score enough goals either. If you take into account the player who’s number he now wears it really does show a gulf in class that Carrick will never bridge. In my opinion we could’ve got a much better player for that money.
I agree with most of the comments, that have been made. I think that, an inform, Carrick, is like an NFL quarterback, spraying the ball to all corners of the pitch. Unfortunately, teams have sussed him out. His first touch is abysmal, usually, bouncing off him, up into the air. which allows the opposition to close him down, then his affectiveness is nil, as he isn’t strong enough to hold off some of the stronger or more combative midfielders. If he hasn’t learned how to control a ball, with one touch, from Scholesy, by now, then he shouldn’t be at Utd.
Carrick doesn’t have that eye for a killer pass anymore. Even after his horrible mistake against Valencia,he gave the ball away a few times against Arsenal.15 unsuccessful passes out of his attempted 52 passes.That’s almost one-third of his passes going astray.I agree with Lee. There are far better players than him around.We should sell Carrick and get one of them next summer. The bottom line is Carrick is not of United class.
Bottom line is that Carrick is not good enough for United. He has never been. I made my mind up on Carrick the year we won the CL. We played Barca and won 1-0 with Scholesy scoring. Carrick did not want the ball in that game and it has been evident ever since. He does not have the confidence to play for Man U. He may succeed somewhere else (mid tier club most likely) but not Man U. The fact we are even having this conversation (belatedly on my part I must admit) puts it all in perspective. I wish him all the best but for himself and United he must leave. Fergie has got this wrong.