Was poor today IMO. I can forgive a few misplaced passes but there were several times where he just got caught for pace against ramires/hazard/mata etc. Just very flatfooted when shielding our back four and seems to have regressed in the defensive side of the game compared to when he first joined us.
Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?
- Thread starter Carl
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Our central midfield was up against it today with how packed Chelsea are through the middle. Him and Clev needed to be at their absolute best to cope, so I'm tempted to cut him a bit of slack.
There are lot of things he makes people don't like him for. There was one situation where Chelsea's defence at the end of the game was positoned really high on the pitch and Carrick somehow end up in great position to make the run without the ball and could have easily be in one on one situation with Cech, it could have been really easy pass for van Persie to him, but Carrick never wanted to make that run. I was really frustrated after that, he showed once again he doesn't have any intentions to score a goal.
There was one point in the second half where Chelsea were running at him with the ball, and he didn't challenge, or pressure, or attempt to intercept...he just kept backing off and backing off, and yet somehow while he was backing off, he still let them run directly past him with the ball, so he ended up backing off the Chelsea players by running behind them! What's the fecking point in being on the pitch at all then, Michael?
It's a shame his performance went downhill. Usually when he starts well he has a very good game.
Not sure what happened.
Not sure what happened.
The whole team was careless in possession after we went 2 up.
Am I the only one or did Carrick look incredibly off the pace today? Looked sluggish for certain periods. Strange performance from him.
Pity we have no real competition for his place.
''Michael Carrick brings many things to his team: vision; composure and a range of passing that makes a full-sized playing surface look like a five-a-side pitch. On the downside, he offers the same protection against opposing midfielders as a paper napkin does against unexpected rain. His is a most curious form of defending. Instead of clattering around the pitch, kicking people up in the air and growling at their stricken bodies like a modern day Roy Keane, he ambles around like the concerned parent of an adventurous toddler. He gently positions himself in the way of marauders, always looking rather surprised when they hurtle past him without so much as a by-your-leave. It’s not quite the cover that Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans require. '' Iain Macintosh , soccernet
Perfect description of his performance today.
Perfect description of his performance today.
Was awful for me.
Lacked any sense of urgrancy when we clearly had the advantage on the break, especially down the wings.
Seemed to be caught in possession and lacking for pace several times.
I've said it time and time again, Carrick is a great player when he has time on the ball and can pick a pass, but when teams like Chelsea and Barca are playing a high press, it's nothing short of suicidal playing him.
There was one point in the game where his pass into Robin Van Persie led to us scoring the winner. You can't ask one player to be an entire midfield.
I think that was Evans.
It was when chelsea was down to 9 men, and it wasn't spectacular pass at all, it would be bigger surprise if he didn't see it.
3 or 4 quick steps during a game wouldnt hurt
He's never going to be regarded as one of the best MF's in his era. But still, he does a really good job for us.
However, he was rather poor in this match but hey, with 4-4-2 I'm pretty sure unless it was a Keane or Viera, most teams would get run down with the power Chelsea had in MF. I wouldn't personally blame him much, however I do wish we could get a player to actually compete for him in MF. Fletcher still is not the answer and isn't going to get better at 27-28, Tunnicliff doesn't look like he'll be getting the chances and from the sale of Pogba maybe opens the chance up for a young replacement.
However, he was rather poor in this match but hey, with 4-4-2 I'm pretty sure unless it was a Keane or Viera, most teams would get run down with the power Chelsea had in MF. I wouldn't personally blame him much, however I do wish we could get a player to actually compete for him in MF. Fletcher still is not the answer and isn't going to get better at 27-28, Tunnicliff doesn't look like he'll be getting the chances and from the sale of Pogba maybe opens the chance up for a young replacement.
He just doesn't have the pace or energy to play a 442 in the traditional united sense.
Carrick is best utilised as the Deep lying playmaker in a 4-5-1 system. When you ask him to play in a two man midfield with winger he simply does not have the pace, agility or energy to compete.
Look at Chelsea's and Cities two in midfield, maybe they don't have the passing ability of Carrick (debateable), but they have much more pace, agility and energy.
He simply cannot play in a midfield two in the way we set up and be effective.
I keep saying this around the boards mate. He's not someone who goes in and directs play while defending. He lets play unfold by trying to mark space, look for the interception and it's absolutely criminal. It's like having a fully decked mansion in Liverpool and leaving your windows open because you have a poodle in the front yard.
Personally, I think he's been the problem this season when others have been citing Scholes, Anderson and Cleverley being at fault in some games.
He's just not versatile enough. Far to Rolls Royce when he doesn't close players effectively.
That made me laugh.
Wouldn't mind him picking up a few more yellow cards throughout the season. Least it would show he cared.
You worry he doesn't care?
Sell Carrick Buy Cattermole
When he's bad, he's bad. Ponderous and sluggish today. He looked like the past today. And I'm a fan.
Not his best game today, it was frustrating watching some of the chelsea players running through the centre fairly easily. Felt both carrick and cleverley could have done a bit better on putting pressure on and stopping that from happening. Though have to give credit to chelsea midfield/attack they were very good for large periods and run all over us
I know will get a lot of stick for this but imo we need a better player than Carrick in his position.
what an absurd post.Getting yellow cards is a sign of caring.I thought he did a good job in stopping Carzola working his magic, well until the last minute anyway.
I dislike this thread title.
Fairly standard performance today. Nothing out of this world but hardly a poor game either at the same time.
He was very good today. Cleverley too.
His passing can be so shit at times
He played one really careless pass but defensively he did a good job, a few loose long passes but everyones passing was a little off.
I liked how he played today, except that poor pass he was good
Decent job from Carrick, still to hit the heights of last season though.
One really bad pass, apart from that he played well.
Nothing extraordinary, but he did what he was supposed to do in midfield and did it well.
Nothing extraordinary, but he did what he was supposed to do in midfield and did it well.
Thought his allround play was good, but his passing was not up to his usual standards. Much better than his standards this early in the season though - normally this is when he starts looking good, but he's been good for most of the season thus far.
I thought he was very good in challenge today, something that's not always there. Few wayward passes at the end but a solid performance.
Played well today.
Part of his job is to spread the play wide to the full backs and wingers, occasionally these passes are going to get caught out and he looks like a bit of a plonker.
Part of his job is to spread the play wide to the full backs and wingers, occasionally these passes are going to get caught out and he looks like a bit of a plonker.
Excellent performance. The way he breaks down the opposition just by his clever intelligent positioning and interceptions should not be underestimated. He nullified Cazorla completely and that was the biggest reason why Arsenal looked so insipid.
A solid performance from him today, did his job.
Did well despite some sloppy play in possession at times. There seems to be some sort of rule whereby he's not allowed to move with the ball if he's got it, but he did a good defensive job.