Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?

How does a player become the most consistently picked player (apart from Evra and VDS) in one of our most successful teams, which was full of world class players, when he spends vast swathes of his season apparently 'being average'?

Y'all must think SAF was completely stupid for not noticing how average he was and playing him pretty much every game he could. What the hell does he know, eh?
 
Scrumpet said:
What idea? I don't think anyone believes that.
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Maybe not on here, but I know a lot of United fans at work that actually believe that last season was his first good season with us. It's madness I know, but they are out there.
 
I think from about 2008 to 2011 or so, Carrick wasn't a nailed on starter, and despite being generally excellent there were two or three times when he had a short spell where he was a bit shit. There were definitely some big games where he was left on the bench. Fletcher outshone him for a season or two, and we had a variety of other options available at the time.

Thank feck Carrick was so reliable last season. We could have been royally screwed if he had gone through another short blip or got injured.
 
Scrumpet said:
What idea? I don't think anyone believes that.
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A lot of people are acting as though last year was a zenith, his stand out season. Personally didn't think he was much better than in 08/09 when we was also brilliant. It was a lot easier for Carrick to stand out in last season's team than the one in 08/09 though.
 
Rowem said:
I think from about 2008 to 2011 or so, Carrick wasn't a nailed on starter, and despite being generally excellent there were two or three times when he had a short spell where he was a bit shit. There were definitely some big games where he was left on the bench. Fletcher outshone him for a season or two, and we had a variety of other options available at the time.

Thank feck Carrick was so reliable last season. We could have been royally screwed if he had gone through another short blip or got injured.
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He was: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/feb/02/manchester-united-everton-premier-league
 
Rowem said:
What?
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You said he wasn't a nailed on starter between 2008 and 2011. I posted an article from January 2009 that waxes lyrical about his form. He was excellent that season and people forget that because of the CL final.

I'll happily admit he was stuck in a funk during 2009/10 and half of 2010/11. though he was pretty much always a dead cert in our team.
 
Feed Me said:
I'll happily admit he was stuck in a funk during 2009/10 and half of 2010/11. though he was pretty much always a dead cert in our team.
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Agreed. Those were his only period of poor-ish form. That aside he's usually been very good
 
Feed Me said:
You said he wasn't a nailed on starter between 2008 and 2011. I posted an article from January 2009 that waxes lyrical about his form. He was excellent that season and people forget that because of the CL final.

I'll happily admit he was stuck in a funk during 2009/10 and half of 2010/11. though he was pretty much always a dead cert in our team.
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Yeah, I didn't mean all of 2008-2011. He was indeed in great for most of 08/09 in particular. From memory he had a slow start to the season though, unless I'm thinking of 09/10. Even in that season he wasn't selected for some big games. Notably a couple games against Chelsea when Fletcher and Giggs were preferred in midfield. And in some games, Scholes/Anderson/Hargreaves were picked ahead of him too.
 
Rowem said:
Yeah, I didn't mean all of 2008-2011. He was indeed in great for most of 08/09 in particular. From memory he had a slow start to the season though, unless I'm thinking of 09/10. Even in that season he wasn't selected for some big games. Notably a couple games against Chelsea when Fletcher and Giggs were preferred in midfield. And in some games, Scholes/Anderson/Hargreaves were picked ahead of him too.
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My recollection may be hazy, but IIRC, Carrick was a mainstay of the 07/08 team - yes, we had good depth that season, but the likes of Hargreaves ended up playing out of position to get games.

He was really below par in 09/10, probably because his confidence was shattered after the CL final, and he continued like this for around half of the following season. His form perked up in the second half of 10/11 and then he has been pretty great for the last two seasons, culminating in an outstanding season last time out.
 
Brightonian said:
Yep, that sounds about right. Although I do think last season was a step above anything he's ever produced for us.
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I would go with that as well. He was more authoritative in games last year and at times provided the Keane like thrust to our attack.
 
akash02 said:
I would go with that as well. He was more authoritative in games last year and at times provided the Keane like thrust to our attack.
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In addition, there were no major bonehead moments from him last season; when he was in his "poor" form he occasionally panicked and gave away an extremely stupid ball to an opponent, leading to a major chance, and sometimes a goal (last one I can recall was the one leading to the City goal in the FA Cup semi-final). Thankfully in recent times his composure has really shone through.
 
Carrick is an excellent reader of the game of football and obviously underrated by many. I am expecting him to have a big season in the midfield.
 


I wouldn't worry too much about his eye. A course of antibiotics should do the trick.
 
I did notice 1 of his eyes in the photo from the community shield was slightly closed - looked a little odd.

I feel its more an excuse so he does not have to play, keep him fresh for Swansea!.
 
I know it was Wigan, but if he is going to knock the ball around like he did on Sunday with an eye infection I think we should be squeezing every bit of bacteria possible in that left eye for the rest of the season.
 
DanNistelrooy said:
Was wondering what was going on in this pic http://www.whosay.com/michaelcarrick/photos/395561
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:lol: Bloody hell. He's just had time to grab a towel and some Champers after he's knobbed the fecking shield hasn't he.

Andrew~ said:


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They are pretty good video's but it's done in such a tight space. I'd have loved to have seen these drills done on a 30x30 field. Not that tiny little warehouse, you just don't really get the full scope of his ability. His control and ball movement in general is pretty awful when under pressure. When he has a first time pass or a bit of touch control (like he is describing) he's a lot more composed. His descriptions on how he utilizes space off the ball is brilliant. It is described perfectly.

Also when did copious amounts of shitty dubstep creep into nearly every fooball drill video on the planet? Horrible excuse for music.
 
Eye infection. I guess he saw too much of man love between Rooney-Cole-Stevie Me during England training.
 
I'm reading he's a doubt for tomorrow, along with Nani, Evans, Young. feck me, injuries started early again.
 
He should start. Surely you can play with an eye infection? And, not even joking here, but we'd be better off with him playing even with only one and a half eyes.
 
I'm pretty sure he'll play. Eye infections clear up pretty quickly, can't see that it would take more than a couple of days.
 
We will feel the effects severely if he doesn't start. Anderson and Cleverley in the middle away to Swansea.....hardly encouraging. Jones will have to step in at the back.
 
Comsmit said:
We will feel the effects severely if he doesn't start. Anderson and Cleverley in the middle away to Swansea.....hardly encouraging. Jones will have to step in at the back.
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Honestly can't believe we've got almost another summer without getting a Carrick understudy. Fair enough not the big name signing, but a carrick alternative has been needed since Fletchers illness was fully understood. Really thought the club would have lined someone up especially if they do view Jones as a CB long term. Hopefully will get someone in, but I'd have thought this sort of player would have been easier to get, it doesn't have to be a star player or anything, just someone who can do a job or a young player who can be the understudy.
 
Ash_G said:
Honestly can't believe we've got almost another summer without getting a Carrick understudy. Fair enough not the big name signing, but a carrick alternative has been needed since Fletchers illness was fully understood. Really thought the club would have lined someone up especially if they do view Jones as a CB long term. Hopefully will get someone in, but I'd have thought this sort of player would have been easier to get, it doesn't have to be a star player or anything, just someone who can do a job or a young player who can be the understudy.
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Feel the same Ash, it's actually bordering on neglect. I have a shitty feeling that our luck is going to run out this year as regards central midfield. Could be that bad injury to Carrick that never happens, waiting until the worst time to reveal itself.
 
Comsmit said:
Feel the same Ash, it's actually bordering on neglect. I have a shitty feeling that our luck is going to run out this year as regards central midfield. Could be that bad injury to Carrick that never happens, waiting until the worst time to reveal itself.
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Yeah I can easily see him picking up an injury particularly if he actually plays in the competitive England games, at the very least he'll need a break at times, when you look at how many attackers we currently have, probably too many at this moment in time, it's crazy that we have only one proper central midfielder and only one who can actually defend in it.
 
Ash_G said:
Yeah I can easily see him picking up an injury particularly if he actually plays in the competitive England games, at the very least he'll need a break at times, when you look at how many attackers we currently have, probably too many at this moment in time, it's crazy that we have only one proper central midfielder and only one who can actually defend in it.
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That's what you lose with Carrick, he is so many things at the same time.....playmaker, interceptor, destroyer. No-one can replicate that out of the remaining options. Bonkers.

I'm sure Moyes is sweating, he knows the score. Time left to bring in the right signing, doesn't need to be a star.
 
Comsmit said:
That's what you lose with Carrick, he is so many things at the same time.....playmaker, interceptor, destroyer. No-one can replicate that out of the remaining options. Bonkers.
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To be fair we don't need anyone to replicate what Carrick can do. We need someone decent to be his back-up, and ideally someone better to play next to him. The back-up might well spend a lot of time on the bench, so they don't have to be a world-beater. Just defensively-capable.
 
Yeah I mean ideally it would be a young player in the jones/smalling mould, not ready to start every week but fully capable of coming in and doing a good job and ultimately the future there or at least a contender, but failing that someone who can just be a squad player would be great, I really don't know what we're looking for, fabregas would have solved the offensive side of things but the carrick alternative is still an issue and its not like we've seen a change in the way ando/clev have been playing that night suggest one of them is being lined up for that role. I don't want to hit the panic button or anything as I'm sure we're working on signings but as I've said before I just can't believe that given it been a fair few seasons that we've needed a player of this type that we've not been able to identity one we could sign.
 
Brightonian said:
To be fair we don't need anyone to replicate what Carrick can do. We need someone decentto be his back-up, and ideally someone better to play next to him. The back-up might well spend a lot of time on the bench, so they don't have to be a world-beater. Just defensively-capable.
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I don't think there is anyone to replicate what he does, certainly not available anyway. I agree someone defensively minded and positionally disciplined is a must.
 
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