Such a massive difference for him when he has clev and the wingers moving in to different areas both short and long, just gives him so many more options and with that them pressing has much less of an effect. Always said that imo a huge part of him being exposed under huge pressure was due to the way we set up with options being way too far away.
Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?
- Thread starter Carl
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Agreed, it's so refreshing to see this again. I remember a Bolton game in particular in 06/07 when he was constantly hitting these with perfection and he's started doing it again with more regularity this season.
That 'blind' cross-field pass he does so exquisitely and nonchalantly is his trademark now.
Marvellous to watch.
Marvellous to watch.
I think there's 2 reasons which are helping Carrick to his current level of performance a) having Cleverley as a partner (that mobile nimble partner we've been crying out for) .. Cleverley is mostly in a good position to receive if Carrick is caught in a difficult situation - furthermore he's young enough to acknowledge Carrick as the senior partner, so Carrick plays with a touch more authority than say if he's partnered with Scholes. B) Robin Van Persie.. and the likes of Hernandez/Welbeck, are forward players who like to stretch the play as well as operate a tad deeper, helps widen the pitch and their first touches are very good back to goal, so again it widens Carricks passing options and ensures he can hit a long attacking pass whether it be on the ground or lofted and he knows the player recieivng will shield it. When Rooney plays up top alone, he comes deep quite often and congests the play, Carrick arguably struggles in that situation.. when the game is slightly stretched and he has alot of options on the ball, Carrick looks more comfortable imo.
Type of player who needs the right sort of players around him to bring out the best in him.
Type of player who needs the right sort of players around him to bring out the best in him.
England can feck off, he's ours.
Long live the Gerrard-Lampard England midfield partnership.
Majestic first half, under pressure second half, not quite as composed. Bodes well, though.
Sublime first half.
Imperious
For me he was man of the match today, excellent on the ball and even better positionally as he snuffed out Liverpool moves time after time.
The fecking bend he puts on his ball over the top is amazing, it hits the ground but it doesn't go too far from the target, the first bounce kills a lot its pace.
Got so much praise on Twitter today from actual footballers in particular, even Piers Morgan gave him credit.
As usual, he's back, and in full flow, post christmas 
Technically, tactically and positionally brilliant yet again.
Oozes class. He literally looked like a spanish midfielder for Barca today.
Where's Carrick? Cooly pissing on midfielders since 2006.
If he isn't a fixture in England now, he must have slept with someone's wife.
Oozes class. He literally looked like a spanish midfielder for Barca today.
Where's Carrick? Cooly pissing on midfielders since 2006.
If he isn't a fixture in England now, he must have slept with someone's wife.
Priceless to see Sturridge shoot on sight and Suarez being frustrated with him. Going to see a lot more of that this season
Fantastic game from him. Absolutely ran the show.
Best centre mid in the league this season.
Just don't know how to praise this guy. What a player!
On a serious note. How much more does he have to perform to be classed as world class?
On a serious note. How much more does he have to perform to be classed as world class?
Needs to do it in the business end of the Champions League this year. Real will be a good start.
Every year he starts off slow and then around this time he turns it on. Hopefully can keep it up till the end of the season. We rely on him so much.
Neck and neck with Van Persie for our player of the season to this point.
I love watching Carrick play like he did today. It's so effortless, what a player he is for us.
Felt some of the weighting off his passing in the second half was illogical at times, but the first 45 was great to witness. Defensively solid, and showed his range of passing.
Dealt better with a midfield three than he did with Liverpool at 4-4-2, didn't anticipate that.
Definitely showing his importance though, great partnership developing with Cleverley.
Dealt better with a midfield three than he did with Liverpool at 4-4-2, didn't anticipate that.
Definitely showing his importance though, great partnership developing with Cleverley.
His passing the last few games has been incredible.
I think he has many years left. He can be like the English Pirlo.
I think he has many years left. He can be like the English Pirlo.
No chance. Carrick was terrible for a while at the start of the season. Van Persie > Rafael > Carrick so far.
Yeah Rafael has been a beast this year. I just want to give him a big hug and rub his head.
I think he and cleverley shut out there midfield no problem, we are very tight as a unit in that sense, but it was when suarez was allowed to drop deep and the defence had to keep a line instead of following him in the hole like we did first half, that we got the problem.
Suarez was able to pick the ball up behind our midfield and turn and run - the lack of pace between vidic and ferdinand was the main issue.
Carrick was amazing today but he's not on par with RvP as our player of the season.
Today though, his passing and vision was marvelous. He kept us ticking and found the forward pass with ease.
Long may it continue.
His form over the past few months has been sensational, this is as well as he's ever played in my opinion. His passing is fecking immaculate.
I love that, it's like an iron shot onto a soft green
Ronaldinho has been the best I've ever seen with those passes.It requires some fecking precision
He is when you think how important he is....
-Scholesy having a poor season
-Fletch still trying to find his way back
-Anderson showed glimpses of his best form, but then struck down by injury again
-Cleverley, still trying to cement his place at United
You take away the influence, the steady head and calm that Michael Carrick provides and we'd be in serious trouble.
RvP has been outstanding, and rightly has grabbed all the headlines(21 goals halfway through the season will do that!), but Carrick is rightly being compared to him in terms of his importance to the team.
Midfield mainstay...whenever we think of a lineup, in midfield we say, Carrick and one other. He is the common denominator in just about every single lineup and permutation.
He hit three or four absolute gem passes in the first half that broke the double and triple press from Liverpool. I personally think that aspect had a lot to do with how effective we were in the first half.
However in the second he was very conservative and while still hit a fair few solid passes a couple of times he gathered the ball sloppily and played hospital passes and direct other players down blind alleys with pointless touch passing.
All in all I thought he actually physically defended fantastic. Not jizzworthy as there were a couple of sloppy moments but definitely worth praising in that performance.
However in the second he was very conservative and while still hit a fair few solid passes a couple of times he gathered the ball sloppily and played hospital passes and direct other players down blind alleys with pointless touch passing.
All in all I thought he actually physically defended fantastic. Not jizzworthy as there were a couple of sloppy moments but definitely worth praising in that performance.
Carrick
What a player.
What a player.
Pulled the strings easily in the first half. Though lost control of the match after the second goal in the end. Still played very well though
His quick one touch passing was just too much to handle for Liverpool
Quite surprise at the amount of praise that he finally got. Not that he didn't deserve it, but more how come they only see it now.
A quick search on twitter:
Imagine the scousers when they read Hamman quote there
A quick search on twitter:
Imagine the scousers when they read Hamman quote there
He lost control when Cleverley got knackered, I think he definitely needs someone like him alongside him to get the best out of him. He's finally the main man in the midfield now and reveling in it.
Saw this in the comments section of the Gaudian. Not my posting so sorry to the person who wrote this but I thought it was a pretty good comment
"Kasperasky
When Carrick was asked a while back about people not singing his name, he had said, "I think nothing rhymes, maybe that's why. I've tried to come up with a few on my own, but it never rhymes." [sic]
A few people on twitter were laughing their socks off when the moniker "Pirlo of EPL" was given to him by United fans. Few of them were United fans, too. And that sums of his United career.
He will be gone someday. He won't be remembered for those driving runs that he barely ever did, or the Keane like presence of covering each blade of grass on a football field. He won't and can't dribble like many other midfielders can. He will be beaten by many on pace. He won't pull the trigger like so many others do nor would he be remembered for glorious football celebrations and antics - on or off the field.
But he will be gone someday and then we would realize, like we did the past season and this, of what he means to us. Of what he can do and what he can't. He won't give away silly fouls like Scholes does, or get carded. He won't go down easily nor take the opponent down. Intercept, one touch, look up, pass. How simple is that? And how many Englishmen can do that? Not many. Not that I know of.
People will remember his pass that Hernandez scored against New Castle, but how many of us remember that pass that Van Persie missed? He is probably the only one in United team that understands Van Persie. In fact, if it was Balotelli and not Van Persie, he would still understand him. Balotelli will still get those passes, overhead or through someone's legs. That's Carrick. That's the advantage of being simple.
We United fans are a spoiled lot. We never move on. We look for the next Keane, next Best, next Scholes, next Ronaldo and so forth. We hardly ever realize what's the worth of a player till he doesn't play because of injury or gets subbed off.
I'm happy that Carrick is getting all the praise now. There will be many Carricks in the future playing for United, simple and humble. Let's not be this late to praise them."
"Kasperasky
When Carrick was asked a while back about people not singing his name, he had said, "I think nothing rhymes, maybe that's why. I've tried to come up with a few on my own, but it never rhymes." [sic]
A few people on twitter were laughing their socks off when the moniker "Pirlo of EPL" was given to him by United fans. Few of them were United fans, too. And that sums of his United career.
He will be gone someday. He won't be remembered for those driving runs that he barely ever did, or the Keane like presence of covering each blade of grass on a football field. He won't and can't dribble like many other midfielders can. He will be beaten by many on pace. He won't pull the trigger like so many others do nor would he be remembered for glorious football celebrations and antics - on or off the field.
But he will be gone someday and then we would realize, like we did the past season and this, of what he means to us. Of what he can do and what he can't. He won't give away silly fouls like Scholes does, or get carded. He won't go down easily nor take the opponent down. Intercept, one touch, look up, pass. How simple is that? And how many Englishmen can do that? Not many. Not that I know of.
People will remember his pass that Hernandez scored against New Castle, but how many of us remember that pass that Van Persie missed? He is probably the only one in United team that understands Van Persie. In fact, if it was Balotelli and not Van Persie, he would still understand him. Balotelli will still get those passes, overhead or through someone's legs. That's Carrick. That's the advantage of being simple.
We United fans are a spoiled lot. We never move on. We look for the next Keane, next Best, next Scholes, next Ronaldo and so forth. We hardly ever realize what's the worth of a player till he doesn't play because of injury or gets subbed off.
I'm happy that Carrick is getting all the praise now. There will be many Carricks in the future playing for United, simple and humble. Let's not be this late to praise them."
Aye, he's had a few peaches against Bolton. Last year there was this:
Pretty sure it was this game that we're both thinking of as well, what a first-time pass for Rooney's first.