Again, he was poor. Our team selection didn't help but you'd think he was older than Scholes the way he plays sometimes.
Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?
- Thread starter Carl
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I love Carrick and I think he is very important to our play.
What's wrong with you?
IL, calm your cock. My opinion of Carrick has gone up a lot in the last year. But he was brutal yesterday. Was hiding for large sections of the game, refusing to show for the ball when we were in possession. Giggs was much worse than him, but Carrick has to take his share if the blame. I can't understand how he can get away with how he is off the ball when we are in possession when he's in poor form. He just never showed for the ball yesterday and after years playing with Scholes you would think he would realise how important that is.
How we don't manage to get the guy to play on top of his game when the season starts is beyond me. It's an issue we've had with him over many years now and still we can't deal with it.
It's so horribly frustrating watching him at the start of a season, only to see him come really good in Dez/January
It's so horribly frustrating watching him at the start of a season, only to see him come really good in Dez/January
He's going to have to pull the thumb out a bit quicker this season and get going. IMO he's been the most frustrating footballer we've had in my time as a United fan.
He's got all the talent, but starts the season with what seems such a deficit of confidence every year. Can pass a ball as accurately as most, but refuses to shoot even when a pass into the goal would do. Hides from the ball even though ha can be great in possession. If Carrick was consistent then the praise he gets would be accurate, but games like yesterday set him miles back.
He's got all the talent, but starts the season with what seems such a deficit of confidence every year. Can pass a ball as accurately as most, but refuses to shoot even when a pass into the goal would do. Hides from the ball even though ha can be great in possession. If Carrick was consistent then the praise he gets would be accurate, but games like yesterday set him miles back.
I think what we see is what we get. He is a good player nothing more than that. But annoyingly he is a tad inconsistent so when off form he really is a liability.
We should have a better player than Carrick as our 1st choice midfielder
We should have a better player than Carrick as our 1st choice midfielder
I didn't think he was that bad. Defensively he did what he could he can't cover the whole midfield with the set up we have. Offensively he's limited because we can't leave Scholes to cover for him. He could take on more responsibility but in general the team was badly set up in the first half that there was little he could do. Second half he improved with the other players. Again he couldn't go to far forward as Spurs had showed they could counter dangerously and with Scholes playing so deep we were limited to what sort of attacks we could mount.
Carrick didnt have a very good game against Tottenham. Still its really annoying to see that the old ridiculous cliche criticisms of him, that I thought were put to bed, seem to be coming back in full force.
"He doesnt do anything on his own" "Its always his partner that has a good game, not him" "He only passes sideways" "Sell Carrick, buy [insert random midfielder who is more of a 'tackler']". All read on here in various threads about the midfield in only the last 5 minutes spent reading here..
"He doesnt do anything on his own" "Its always his partner that has a good game, not him" "He only passes sideways" "Sell Carrick, buy [insert random midfielder who is more of a 'tackler']". All read on here in various threads about the midfield in only the last 5 minutes spent reading here..
Someone needs to put a rocket under him and get him moving again. 5 years ago I said someone tie a ball to his feet in the off season and tell him not to go anywhere without it.
He's having his usual "I won't start playing until three months of the season has gone"-trick.
I thought he had a fine match in the second half, but like Scholes, he was simply overrun in the first half.
I maintain that he should be our first choice midfielder though, his defensive abilities is a rarity amongst our midfielders. He's the only one who can do the job he does.
I thought he had a fine match in the second half, but like Scholes, he was simply overrun in the first half.
I maintain that he should be our first choice midfielder though, his defensive abilities is a rarity amongst our midfielders. He's the only one who can do the job he does.
I love Carrick and am one of his biggest fans and defend his corner often. However, he had a shocker in the 1st half on Saturday. Poor reading of the game and poor tracking. I'm sure he will come good again though, and no, he's not been half as poor this season as some make it out to be. He was just horrid defensively on Saturday.
Rio and Carrick has been terrific this season, so slating both of them after one poor performance tells me you people need to reassess how you value players. Sure, Carrick was poor against Tottenham, but that was one match. He was arguably top three midfielder last season in the PL, and this season he has started well above how he usually starts a season. So what about accepting that people can have an off day and get on with it?
Btw, Carrick is far from slow, but he is a bit slow acceleration wise - top speed is actually good.
Carrick has been well below par... Well below. Starting the season as a CB has not helped. But his pluses just don't attribute to being a good enough stop-gap for a CB.
You have to be on a windup, surely.
He didn't have his best game against Liverpool too.
Had a good start to the season only to be overrun completely in the last 2 league games but that also comes from tactics and player selection which were way way off.
I'm one of Carrick's biggest fans but he was shit against Spurs. Even when we were dominating in the second half he was sloppy with his touch and passing and didn't really create anything.
If Cleverley and Anderson play well tomorrow then they deserve to start against Newcastle.
I'm one of Carrick's biggest fans but he was shit against Spurs. Even when we were dominating in the second half he was sloppy with his touch and passing and didn't really create anything.
If Cleverley and Anderson play well tomorrow then they deserve to start against Newcastle.
Doing the defensive work of two midfielders and a couple of full backs has probably caused Carrick to look worse than he is at times.
Especially when he is not known for his direct ground and pound style of defending the midfield zone. Standing off one midfielder is at least a viable option when you can shepherd play but when two players just pass it through you like butter I think alarm bells need to be going off somewhere in the backroom.
I still think that Fletcher showed exactly what our midfield needs when he played against Newcastle.
That is just not true.
He is our most overrated and underrated player.
Was superb today. His positioning and distribution was exceptional. Cleverley will get all the plaudits as usual but Carrick gave a midfield masterclass. Cannot remember a pass going astray and most of his play was directed forward.
Our best midfielder all day long.
Our best midfielder all day long.
This is true.
The most simple answer is. Carrick is a pretty good player.
He had a very good game today.
Yeah I thought he was great and really put shame to people who say he can't play a more fluid game. If the players and system is there he can do that just fine.
Did very well today.
Totally agreed. I have no idea why most people are ignoring Carrick in the MotM thread. Cleverley also had a good game, but it was Carrick pulling the strings and controlling the tempo.
Showed everyone that its bullshit that he cant play against high pressure as well. Newcastle pressed very high for the first 20 minutes where we absolutely dominated them, and Cabaye and Tiote couldnt get the ball off him.
If Carrick has the right compliment of midfielders around him to do the things he can't do well he can be a very useful player for us.
He was very good for us today because he kept things simple and protected the back four well.
I'm not sure you are doing him justice. Every top midfielder requires the right players around him to play his game. Cleverley was much improved today because he had the class of Carrick behind or alongside him.
I would say it's Carrick who provides the platform for the others to play their game. His passing game is sensational at times.
Exactly. I've never understood this constant criticism. His composure and experience are so important to United's engine room. There was one moment when Evans went on a fecking burn for about 60 yards and Carrick just stepped back into defence to cover...intelligence and mastery of his responsibilities. He provides a platform for the more advanced players to play their game. That first 30 minutes were a joy to watch culminating in Tiote's little hissy fit!
It's because people don't factor in the system when they criticise our ability or certain players ability to play against pressing teams. Said before but look at all the great possession teams atm, they play narrow formations where their players play close together, that facilitates being able to deal with strong pressing. Generally with carrick we usually play a wide 442/4411 system which inherently makes it tough to deal with that sort of pressure as there simply aren't enough options close by. Throw in midfielders like scholes who have to play deep as well then that forces te midfield deeper, allowing the other team to press even more, making the problem even worse.
I think he is the player who enjoys this system(diamond), or classic 433, where he is protecting the defence with two central midfielders in front of him. Very good today, but he did play more "attractive" tbf, I would like to see more of this.
He struggled with "high pressure" because there was nobody in the team to give him options in front before, everyone struggles when that happens.
The Barca type diamond suits him down to the ground.
Still don't think he's played badly in previous games.
Hopefully Carrick will kick on from here and get the type of consistent form he had last year for a prolonged period. We really need it!
He really could step up his game sometimes in the game, he often looks just like his job is to defend and do apsolutely nothing else, our defenders quite often look more offensive then him. His defensive side of the game isn't best this season also, I don't think he protected our defence good enough at all, considering his game is just about defending. I was first to praise him in last few seasons, but I don't think he deserves to be our every game first choice with this style of play.
He was poor today and that's coming from a big Carrick fan. When we were under pressure towards the end of the 1st half he gave possession back on a couple of occasions and his main asset normally is to eliviate this sort of pressure by playing some simple balls.
Far too careless today. Given his technical ability he should be performing better than that.
I thought he was near faultless and on his way to a top game. But lost his way towards the end of the 1st half
He kept dropping off and dropping off, and yet somehow still getting caught out positionally. Could easily have cost us all 3 points in a game we had completely in our control.
He's been playing worse this season than he was when everyone was giving him loads of stick a couple of years back. One decent half against Wigan Athletic and that's about it. He's been a passenger or has stifled us in most other games.
He's been playing worse this season than he was when everyone was giving him loads of stick a couple of years back. One decent half against Wigan Athletic and that's about it. He's been a passenger or has stifled us in most other games.