Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?

Carrick attempted and completed lots of long passes when Scholes wasn't in the team. He let Scholes get on with it when he came back, and cut down on them a bit. Scholes is poor defensively, and his best attribute is his passing range. If you've got someone with the talent of Scholes in passing, you'll obviously delegate the harder passes for him. Why bother attempting them yourselves too often when you've got the guy who perfected them next to you! Why else would Scholes be in the team, other than to maintain the tempo?

Scholes is a better passer; let him do the harder passes unless you are supremely confident. Carrick can play the 1-2's with him incredibly well, and makes the long passes most times he attempts them. But Scholes makes them every time.
 
buckooo1978 said:
his passing came be very incisive if not spectacular

not as good as alonso but not a kick on the ass off him based on last season's form

the main issue with carrick is that he lacks Alonso's confidence - he doesnt always try the difficult pass/shot when he really should

carrick isnt aware of how good he actually is/can be in my view
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I see this written a lot, They guy has been either one of or our main Midfielder for 6 years at the biggest club in the world having a huge amount of success in that time he is probably aware of the fact that he is a outstanding footballer.
 
Reading Rio's interview/column in The Sun this morning it appears we finally have some clarity on the Carrick situation, it would've just needed a call from Hodgson and he'd have been there... what a fool.

Rio is also bang on about United using tactics to stop Pirlo and England being so stupidly ridgid. He makes a good point regarding Jones > Henderson too, especially considering Henderson was just a stand-by.
 
I posted the following in another thread but thought it'd be better off here....

I think this Carrick stat is one that everyone should remember when they debate his stance with England:

Carrick has played just FIVE competitive games in a 10 year England career.

That's 16 less than Shaun Wright-Phillips, 12 less than Stewart Downing.

He allowed himself to be fecked around for a decade, fair doos to him I say.
 
I'm always right said:
I posted the following in another thread but thought it'd be better off here....

I think this Carrick stat is one that everyone should remember when they debate his stance with England:

Carrick has played just FIVE competitive games in a 10 year England career.

That's 16 less than Shaun Wright-Phillips, 12 less than Stewart Downing.

He allowed himself to be fecked around for a decade, fair doos to him I say.
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Extraordinary stat. And couldnt agree more that he was well within his rights to sack it off.
 
Perhaps the successive England managers simply do not rate him.
 
I'm always right said:
I posted the following in another thread but thought it'd be better off here....

I think this Carrick stat is one that everyone should remember when they debate his stance with England:

Carrick has played just FIVE competitive games in a 10 year England career.

That's 16 less than Shaun Wright-Phillips, 12 less than Stewart Downing.

He allowed himself to be fecked around for a decade, fair doos to him I say.
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To be fair... (devil advocate hat on)...

It's not like he's been putting in awesome performances for club and country consistently through that period.
 
adexkola said:
To be fair... (devil advocate hat on)...

It's not like he's been putting in awesome performances for club and country consistently through that period.
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To be fair, I've just proven he got zero chance for country.

As for club, well, he was West Ham's best player when he was fit (twice WHU POTY), he was then Spurs' best player, he then joined United and won the lot. A couple of ups and downs at United, but in general he's been an absolutely superb player for us.

Now if the likes of Parker and Barry have been consistently putting in awesome performances for club and country, someone needs to shot me now, cause I need to be put down.
 
adexkola said:
To be fair... (devil advocate hat on)...

It's not like he's been putting in awesome performances for club and country consistently through that period.
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At the heart of the midfield of a team that has won 4 Titles in 6 years, been to 3 UCL Finals and won 1 and won 2 League cups.

Whether you appreciate what he does or are severely myopic you have to recognise that it is no coincidence Ferguson has had him as a mainstay in that midfield.
 
adexkola said:
To be fair... (devil advocate hat on)...

It's not like he's been putting in awesome performances for club and country consistently through that period.
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also to be fair, he's still BY FAR the best option you guys have there in midfield.
 
Pexbo said:
At the heart of the midfield of a team that has won 4 Titles in 6 years, been to 3 UCL Finals and won 1 and won 2 League cups.

Whether you appreciate what he does or are severely myopic you have to recognise that it is no coincidence Ferguson has had him as a mainstay in that midfield.
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You're barking up the wrong tree.

Even at his worst, Carrick's ability to shield the defense remains outstanding, so I don't understand why for years he's been shafted while manager after manager tried to shunt Gerrard and Lampard (excellent midfielders in their own right that need a more stable body next to them) into the same 2 man midfield. He's a great pairing for either midfielder, but I think they realized, albeit too late, that shoving too many stars into the same side doesn't work. So that's the fault of Sven, McClaren, Capello, etc.. Carrick should have been in the squad selected to qualify for Euro 2008, based on his form from 2005 onward, for Spurs and us, but Gerrard and Lampard were having excellent seasons as well, so he got overlooked then. England don't qualify.

I think around the time England started the process of qualifying for the World cup, Carrick just lost form (it was after that cursed Barcelona game). In that same season, the big 2 maintained their performances, and Barry and Parker started to get called up. There was something about Capello calling him up, and Carrick reported having a knock, only to play in the Community Shield a few days later. That couldn't have helped. Between the Barcelona game in Rome and the beginning of last season, his form has been erratic. Couple that with Barry doing well for City, Parker winning POTY that year, both doing well helping England qualify for Euro 2012, and the presence of the big 2, and he's been fecked.

So yeah, it's more complicated than it looks. The annoying part is that if he had swallowed his pride and reached out to Hodgson (who isn't blameless by the way), he would have played a few games, steadied the ship, and cemented a spot in the first 11 going forward.
 
Simon Adebesi said:
Do you think so? That is an interesting question, to which we will never know the answer.
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It's just conjecture on my part. Even at his worst he would add discipline to that midfield. Most of the complaints about him around his rough period were, "Why does he pass the ball sideways all the time?".. which in hindsight, was what we needed...
 
You talk as if Lampard, Gerrard, Parker and Barry have been consistent in the last 6 years, of course Carrick has had his ups and downs but over a 6 year period he's been much much better than Barry or Parker. Even when Lampard and Gerrard hit their lows and had injury troubles he was ignored.

He had one competitive chance in 5 years and got MOTM with the media fawning over his positioning and possession play and what was his reward? Benched for Gerrard who was carrying an injury.

England seem to constantly overlook him for blood and thunder players who put in big tackles everywhere. What they don't realise is that the more you have of the ball, the less tackles you need to make. Tackles don't win games despite what the Hansen, Lawrenson and Shearer would like you to think.
 
Pexbo said:
You talk as if Lampard, Gerrard, Parker and Barry have been consistent in the last 6 years, of course Carrick has had his ups and downs but over a 6 year period he's been much much better than Barry or Parker. Even when Lampard and Gerrard hit their lows and had injury troubles he was ignored.

He had one competitive chance in 5 years and got MOTM with the media fawning over his positioning and possession play and what was his reward? Benched for Gerrard who was carrying an injury.

England seem to constantly overlook him for blood and thunder players who put in big tackles everywhere. What they don't realise is that the more you have of the ball, the less tackles you need to make. Tackles don't win games despite what the Hansen, Lawrenson and Shearer would like you to think.
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Yeah, over that 6 year period he's been better, but his lows coincided with Barry and Parker's highs (roughly), and his highs, well.. England had spastics in charge who thought Gerrard and Lampard were untouchable.
 
adexkola said:
Yeah, over that 6 year period he's been better, but his lows coincided with Barry and Parker's highs (roughly), and his highs, well.. England had spastics in charge who thought Gerrard and Lampard were untouchable.
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So your reasons for Carrick, rightly, not being in the squad is that the managers were spastics. In that case we are in full agreement.
 
The FA are only interested in players that are 'desperate' to play for the shirt, or at the very least be willing to claim that they are in public.

Carrick didn't want to travel all over the shop to watch a game from the bench. Coming from a professional sportsman and a parent, you have to respect his decision.

Its a shame though, he would certainly have played a significant part at the Euro's if he'd simply kept quiet, but only in the circumstances that occured. If all players were fit, he would probably have been cut from the final 23.

No one will ever convince me that Scott Parker is in the same class as Carrick.
 
It is funny but...

.......................Welbeck..................
Young...............Rooney..........XXXXX
...........Scholes............Carrick..........


Looks pretty English to me and has worked occasionally ;). Now pretty sure Scholes was not going no matter what but could of tried this...

.......................Rooney..................
Young...............Gerrard........Walcott
...........Parker..............Carrick..........

I would have liked to see this... :).
 
Exactly as I said all along in this thread. Carrick retired from Capello, not England, and he'd have even played for him given the chance.

But asked if he would consider returning to the Three Lions under new boss Roy Hodgson, he said: “Yeah, I would consider it, definitely.”

For the first time Carrick has revealed the frustration he suffered during Fabio Capello’s England reign.

He said: “I haven’t said this before but at the 2010 World Cup I never featured and I was never really close to playing.

“I hadn’t played for two years so it was getting to that stage where I wasn’t really playing.

“I didn’t kick the door down and say ‘You’ve got to play me or I’ll leave’.

“It was more a case of if I wasn’t going to play, then I’d rather not go with England.

“If you’re not playing at my age, especially under Capello, then it’s not worth it. That was my decision.”
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FIVE competitive games in a 10 year England career, no wonder he was fed up.

Roy was a fecking idiot for not picking the phone up and seeing if Carrick was ready to start fresh with a new gaffer.
 
I'm always right said:
Exactly as I said all along in this thread. Carrick retired from Capello, not England, and he'd have even played for him given the chance.



FIVE competitive games in a 10 year England career, no wonder he was fed up.

Roy was a fecking idiot for not picking the phone up and seeing if Carrick was ready to start fresh with a new gaffer.
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So...if he wanted to play, why didn't he reach out?

Obviously playing devils advocate but it goes both ways. Complaining about it a month later seems lame. If I'm a player who has quit the team because of a coach, I make sure everyone knows I'm up for it when a new coach takes over.

Personally, I'm happy he didn't play. Wouldn't have made a difference. England advanced as far as they were going to and now he's fresh for next season.
 
AlwaysRedwood said:
So...if he wanted to play, why didn't he reach out?

Obviously playing devils advocate but it goes both ways. Complaining about it a month later seems lame. If I'm a player who has quit the team because of a coach, I make sure everyone knows I'm up for it when a new coach takes over.
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His doesn't complain about not being in Roy's squad, why have you just made that up? :confused:

It works both ways of course, but Roy is the boss, Carrick didn't want to put himself back in a shit position if Roy didn't want him, and as Roy said he had "4 midfielders he preferred to Carrick". Once they started dropping like flies it was up to him to reach out, not the player he'd already made it obvious wasn't one of his first choice or even top 4 midfielders.
 
Many managers wont agree with Carrick and his stance.

Roy is obviously one of them.

It is meant to be an honour to be selected for the squad, after all.
 
I'm always right said:
Honour my arse, he plays for a much better team already.
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And if he shares the same attitude he will never play for them again.

Nothing to do with which is a better side, obviously Utd is. But an honour in representing your country has to count for something?
 
It does, but playing 5 competitive games in a 10 year career for a much lesser team than the one you actually win trophies with, whilst the likes of Stewart Downing and SWP rack up the caps is enough to make anyone think...


THE feck WITH THIS SHIT! :)
 
I imagine half Spain's national team would rather represent Catalonia at an international level. So should they all be dropped in favour of bigger Spanish patriots? Does anyone suspect they try any less? Of course not. Footballers at this level want to win games because they are competitive in their natures, regardless of who they are playing for. This whole "love your country" thing is complete bollocks.
 
Will go down as an intensely classy midfielder and a semi United Legend. He's started 3 Champions League finals.

And yet won't reach 25 caps for England.
 
FICTIONAL: Before anyone gets the shits thinking he was injured. :lol:

Scenario; Michael Carrick's season has just been ended by a bad injury in pre-season. With Fletcher still not 100% and won't feature this season.

Who is our ideal replacement to step up for him?
Who would people sign to replace his role (not anchor man DM)?

It got me thinking in that Cleverley thread that Carrick (imo) will work really well with Tom as he compliments Carrick's game with his good mobility and his neat short passing and good positional discipline which is one reason why I dread when Carrick plays along side Anderson.

If Fergie isn't going to sign a genuine anchor man/limited ball winning DM as he's stated he doesn't think they are viable who would replace the great man should be be injured?

Also it just popped up on my Facebook that he turned 31. Happy Birthday Michael, hope you've been enjoying your rest and been kicking a ball around wherever you go.
 
In that situation, we'll play Cleverley and Anderson in the start of the season, until one or both implodes for four months. Probably both. Then we'll alternatie between playing Scholes, Giggs, Jones, Rafael, Kagawa and Rooney in CM, and miracelously still be in with a shot of winning the PL title, before losing out to City.
 
marjen said:
In that situation, we'll play Cleverley and Anderson in the start of the season, until one or both implodes for four months. Probably both. Then we'll alternatie between playing Scholes, Giggs, Jones, Rafael, Kagawa and Rooney in CM, and miracelously still be in with a shot of winning the PL title, before losing out to City.
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Jokes aside, if we lost Carrick early in the season I dont think we would stay in touch with City. Though I think we would still comfortably make the top 4.
 
Simon Adebesi said:
Jokes aside, if we lost Carrick early in the season I dont think we would stay in touch with City. Though I think we would still comfortably make the top 4.
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I call it the "If conoundrum": If Cleverley and Anderson stays fit, and realizes their potential, while Phil Jones simultaneously grows into a fine box-to-box midfielder, and Nick Powell impresses in CM, then coupled with Scholes our midfield will be fine.

That's a whole fecking lot of if's, though, and Ferguson should be wary of relying on those if's. Most likely, signing Shaun Derry would improve our midfield in the case of a season ending Carrick-injury.
 
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