Half asleep today.
Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?
- Thread starter Carl
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He did some sloppy stuff but he's also played rvp in twice, and done some good work defensively. Everyone needs to wake up a little.
He's also having to play two central midfield positions and right back. To give the ball away two or three times isn't as horrific as some are making out all things considered.
Not his best day.He doesn't like been closed down, that's for sure
He's missing Scholes.
Yeah a lot of over reaction, think some people have just decided he can't play quick football. Gotto remember he's started the season in defence and unlike clev hasn't been playing competitive football in the build up to the season. Like i said he has been a bit sloppy but so has kagawa. Think clev needs to hold back a little, he's pushing on too quick and leaving carrick with too much to do.
A comment in the matchday thread really nailed it about him. His passing is there, but it's the movement that he often tends to lack in, and he likes to take his time on the ball too.
A player like Cleverley can't do what Scholes does beside him, which is take the ball off him and spray passes all over the field, not having to return it instantly to Carrick.
It is an adjustment for him to make though, after his spell in the defence.
A player like Cleverley can't do what Scholes does beside him, which is take the ball off him and spray passes all over the field, not having to return it instantly to Carrick.
It is an adjustment for him to make though, after his spell in the defence.
He just didn't look interested today. went the entire game at half pace.
After having been played out of position so far maybe he should be given a bit of time to get back on his game.
A match to forget about him but let's give him the benefit of the doubt, he did start two matches at the back and two poor ones.It's bound to feck you up psychologically
I agree that he'll improve given some time to adjust again. Still though, the fact that he's more comfortable beside Scholes and not so comfortable beside the likes of Cleverley showed today. He'll get better though.
Carrick can look to move more fair enough but cleverley was by far the bigger problem today. Scholes range wasn't the only thing that really helped, he actually played alongside carrick. Cleverley kept pushing forward, way to quickly, and left big gaps in the middle. When he actually stayed a bit deeper and we looked to build up the attack more patiently we looked much better. When he kept pushing up it just made it harder to pass out and so players were forced to do much more riskier passes. Something he'll hopefully learn from.
I remember one moment in the game when the score was still 1-2, where Carrick was receiving a pass from Rafael.
But instead of moving to the ball which was coming in pretty slowly, he waited as it glacially rolled towards him and passed it nonchalantly towards Vidic.
But instead of moving to the ball which was coming in pretty slowly, he waited as it glacially rolled towards him and passed it nonchalantly towards Vidic.
Rubbish performance, he was 5 seconds behind everything. Obvious he's not played in midfield for a while.
I love Carrick and what he does for us. But the abuse he received today was out of order, even if we had lost. He just isn't a world class midfielder, and sometimes I feel people are expecting too much of him, including SAF perhaps.
Zombie slug
He practically walked the entire game.
But we shouldn't start with singling him out again as our scape goat.
The entire team looked for large portions of the game as if they weren't interested at all.
The space Southampton had over long portions of the game to pass the ball around at will was embarrassing to watch at times.
Carrick wasn't great today but so was pretty much the entire rest of our midfield and defense.
I agree that Cleverley was a major problem today and that he was the poorest of the two. But, what it showed is that when you take Scholes out of the team and put someone else in beside Carrick, he's nowhere near as comfortable as he usually is. Playing Cleverley quite deep shouldn't be done though. In a midfield three, he's the one who should be the most advanced of the trio in my opinion.
Good point Ash.I think Cleverley is still too naive from a positional point of view, he's too quick to make those forward runs and hasn't synchronized himself with Carrick yet.
It's one thing to watch Iniesta and try to copy his game around him and his movement but we're Man United, a different team with different needs
There is no way that match was Carrick's level of performance, I don't know if its just because he was out of position and needs to feel his way back in or what.
I really do wish however that he grew a pair now and again, towards the end there he didn't attack the ball when it was there to be headed and it let Southhampton in.
I really do wish however that he grew a pair now and again, towards the end there he didn't attack the ball when it was there to be headed and it let Southhampton in.
Didnt think he was that bad tbh. Wasn't "good" by any means, but was far from our worst player.
Worst I've seen him play in a long time today. What's the point in sitting off and playing from deep if you're just going to let everyone run off you and not pick out the people in front of you until they've already been closed down?
Ultimate zombie performance. He dragged the whole team down until Scholes came on and sorted everything out.
Ultimate zombie performance. He dragged the whole team down until Scholes came on and sorted everything out.
I think he looked good.
In the first five minutes.
In the first five minutes.
His worst performance in months.
Be careful. On this website, you are not allowed to criticise the golden boy Cleverley. Carrick is always to blame, even if we win.
He only looks good when Scholes is there to defer to besides a partner that needs and expects him to take more responsibility he looks awful especially under pressure.
He gave the ball away needlessly in the first ten minutes of the game. He plays poorly and looks like he loses his nerves when the opposition floods the midfield and puts him under pressure.
See I don't agree with it being something carrick isn't comfortable is. I can't think of a team where you have one midfielder deep and everyone else pushin up. Against some teams it's fine but in tough games you can't play like that. You're asking way too much. Nothing to do with carricks lack of comfort in that situation imo, much more about clevs nativity in the middle. Also when I say deep I don't mean like a dm or anything but he should be behind kagawa most the time. I suppose that was another issue. Kagawa did try and drop when clev pushed on but he showed that he wasnt comfortable in that role and was being asked to do it too much.
Yeah agree, esp where he should be playing more like xavi than iniesta.
Or maybe when your midfield partner keeps disappearing as soon as we win the ball, it's hard to build anything without Gavin to do something risky and much harder to defend when you're having to cover multiple players cause your paten is too high up the pitch. Carrick created more than clev when they were both on the pitch anyway.
Too sloppy today. And, defensively, not good enough which is usually his strength
Shite. Just awful.
The poster #07 is very strange. I believe he is closely related to Tom Cleverley. His obsession with him is unhealthy, and he hypes him to disturbing levels, often by putting down his more proven and more important teammates.
I like Carrick and he has all the ability to run a game like Scholes but seeing both of them together today was like chalk and cheese - I guess it's not his game but I can't help thinking that he's a pair of bollocks from greatness.
People will point to our defense which was dire but the truth is a great midfield alleviates pressure off the back four by controlling the game and maintain possession and initiating attacks. Our midfield simply doesn't do that on a regular basis. Carrick was dreadful today but the truth is any team which presses him will find he simply won't be able to cope with that pressure...add Cleverley to the mix and it's even worse because his movement was non existent and the entire attacking patterns consisted of passing the ball forward 15 yards and immediately getting it back because nobody was moving into good positions.
One thing is clear in the first few games of this season...our midfield is soft, and it's going to get exposed time and again unless SAF does something about it.
One thing is clear in the first few games of this season...our midfield is soft, and it's going to get exposed time and again unless SAF does something about it.
I wonder what game people watch at times. Laughable that the Carrick thread is so active when the source of our horrible midfield performance seems to be going unmentioned. You can't play midfield on your own.
Yeah I know, there are some rely odd thoughts on what midfielders should be able to do. By the sounds of it all other midfielders are able to play on their own in the middle, protect the defence on their own, create and somehow play a one two in the middle with a partner who's run about twenty yards away te second we win the ball in any part of the pitch.
He's played superbly alongside the likes of Anderson, Giggsy and even Jones before. I don't think it's something he isn't capable of.
He just didn't look fit. He never seemed to be central enough, was shockingly slow on the ball and kept turning up on the scene about two seconds later than he usually does.
It was the class of Scholes that bailed things out rather than Carrick being more suited along side him. When Scholes comes on and plays with that level of class and intelligence, anyone's going to look more suited along side him.
And this is further proof of the folly of not strengthening the midfield. We are truly compromised if/when Carrick is played out of position like the first two games or has a shocker like today. How SAF has not seen this or refuses to accept this I will never know.
My reading of the midfield today was Ando should start ahead of Cleverley (assuming Scholes is in a supersub until retirement role).
Carrick was OK, but he was left to do all by himself.
Carrick was OK, but he was left to do all by himself.