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2014-15 Performances

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6.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
20
Goals
1
Assists
2
Yellow cards
1
Status
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It's one of those games where I am sure the stats will show more of what Carrick did, things were moving so quickly and Herrera and Fellaini were so in charge in midfield that I didn't notice him much.
 
Was disappointed with him today. He was great in the first 30 minutes but I thought he was sloppy after that, became complacent and gave a goal away. Fellaini was more composed on the ball. The weak link in a very strong midfield today.
 
Had a good first half but became a bit complacent and sloppy after halftime. All ended well but could have been different. Still, I appreciate how much calmness he brings to the squad, not only in his play but also extended towards to the defenders and such.
 
First half was as good as any this season. Far too passive in the second but seems to have acknowledged that.
 
General play under par, doesn't do much defensively these days and not getting on the ball and making as many passes as he used to.
 
Agree with others here that I expected much more influence in the 2nd half and it was a stupid mistake to give the ball away for their goal.
 
Wasn't very good. Anyone see him in the post match interview? He sounded like he was sick or something, which wouldn't surprise me. Didn't look at his sharpest.
 
The position he plays at is the most occupied in terms of pressing when up against Liverpool, i don't think he was bad and his calmness is much needed in such games.
 
Didn't have a great game today. Almost put Smalling in a shitter as well in the first half with a bad pass and Sturridge on him. He did well to get out of it.
 
I just wish he wouldnt wait that long to release the ball. For the 2nd goal he made a very good forward pass to Herrera, which ended up later in the Mata wonder goal. But for the Liverpool goal, he just got pressed and dithered around, which cost us and not just this time, but every now and again.

Overall, i thought he was decent, bar 2-3 moments, where he just didnt pay enough attention what was happening around him.
 
First half he had as much to do with how ineffective Liverpool were as anyone else - he positioned himself in ways to make it impossible for Lallana and Coutinho into the game. Because it wasn't blood and thunder, it went unnoticed. Made the mistake for their goal but, the so called dithering, last week he was doing the same and got out of tight situations. Whole team dropped off in the second half, Carrick could have maybe demanded the ball more but, we were very sloppy and were not getting him involved.

He wasn't great but, he did a decent enough job today to blunt what is a pretty good attacking unit to nothing.
 
Another good game, for the most part. Faded a bit in the second half, and of course the dallying that gave Liverpool their equaliser was atrocious, but again he looked adventurous in his passing, was calm and relieved pressure with providing passing options and switching play around, and just generally was being Carrick. So important to us.

Had a pass in the first half to Rooney who was off-side, where he was facing completely the wrong way, and smashed the ball to bend it in around the defence for Rooney to run onto. The most stunning passing range in the EPL on his day.

Surprised with the amount of negativity he's earned on here after this match.
 
I think people are disappointed because they expected him to control the game more after the red card and show more leadership, especially with Rooney having an off day
 
Good piece from Michael Cox praising his first half performance:

Michael Cox said:
Intelligent Michael Carrick sets tone and tempo for Manchester United at Anfield

The midfielder had a difficult job in his holding role but performed a vital role with and without the ball as his side outplayed Liverpool before the break

An action-packed second half overshadowed what happened before the break –Manchester United started brilliantly, and thoroughly outplayed Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers’ switch to this 3-4-3 formation for the 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford in December proved the turning point in Liverpool’s campaign, but this was the second time this week that Liverpool struggled to impose themselves, following a poor display at Swansea. Again, they were overrun in midfield.

One of the star performers was Michael Carrick, who sat deep in midfield unchallenged by Liverpool players and helped to put United in control with quick, sharp passing. He also played intelligently without the ball – often sticking tight to Philippe Coutinho or Adam Lallana, but refusing to be dragged out of his natural position. He made timely interceptions and covered diligently whenever one of the centre-backs moved forward to track an opponent, showing exactly why Louis van Gaal awarded him a one-year contract extension this week.

Carrick was not entirely faultless – in fact, he was partly responsible for Manchester United’s concession in the second half. But considering the struggles of other holding midfielders against this Liverpool system – Mathieu Flamini’s display in a 2-2 draw at Anfield shortly before Christmas springs to mind – this was an important display in a difficult role.

The other interesting area was out wide. A three-man defence often appears more like a back five in a defensive approach. This, however, was a bolder strategy from Rodgers. He instructed Raheem Sterling and Alberto Moreno, two very quick, attack‑minded wing-backs, to push forward onto Daley Blind and Antonio Valencia whenever possible, leaving Coutinho and Lallana infield, and passing on responsibility for the opposition wingers to Liverpool’s centre-backs. This means players must make difficult decisions, however, and sometimes Liverpool got it wrong.

The obvious example was the opening goal, scored by Juan Mata after a fine passing move in an excellent spell of possession for the away side. Moreno was caught too high up the pitch, anticipating a crossfield ball to Valencia, and found his compatriot Mata charging in behind him. Moreno’s positioning was poor – and he was caught out later for Mata’s superb acrobatic second too – but part of Rodgers’ game plan was for the wingers to press high.

United’s buildup followed a similar pattern to last weekend’s 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. It was generally short and high-tempo, although when Liverpool pressed high up the pitch United were happy to bypass the midfield with long balls to Marouane Fellaini in the inside-left channel. He won his first header within the opening 10 seconds, although did not dominate as he had against Tottenham the previous weekend. Attempts to feed Wayne Rooney were generally unsuccessful, and the striker’s touch was poor when dropping into deep positions – United’s slick passing moves rarely involved their captain.

Rodgers had reshaped effectively at half-time against Swansea, and changes were inevitable this time around too. Steven Gerrard was introduced in place of Adam Lallana, probably for his leadership qualities as much as for tactical reasons, but his dismissal came so quickly that it was difficult to ascertain how Rodgers had changed things.

A frantic second reorganisation was therefore necessary and Liverpool coped reasonably well with 10 men in a rough 4-3-1-1 system featuring Sterling behind Daniel Sturridge. Even when Mata doubled United’s lead, Rodgers was determined to turn the game around, and his second substitution was an extremely attacking move at 2-0 down, bringing on Mario Balotelli for the struggling Moreno and playing him alongside Sturridge with Coutinho just behind.

Liverpool ended up with Raheem Sterling and Emre Can pushing forward aggressively from full-back, helping to contribute in midfield. In fact, Liverpool were probably better with 10 men than 11, which only demonstrates how they had been thoroughly outplayed in the first half.
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Not a great game for him but very interesting article in the Guardian. He seems to be pretty important for our team...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/mar/23/premier-league-10-talking-points-weekend


1) Carrick revels in mastery of the understated
Even as low key, understated midfield janitorial performances go, it was a low key understated showing from Michael Carrick at Anfield. Carrick rarely broke into a run, made no tackles, blocked no shots, completed a routinely excellent 86% of his passes and was robbed by a hard-pressing Liverpool midfield in the buildup to Daniel Sturridge’s goal. And yet Carrick was still a crucial part of United’s win against a quicker, younger fluidLiverpoolteam that played with great spirt but found itself picked off by opponents who won the big points and who had, in Carrick, still the most effective deep-lying English playmaker of his generation and a slow-burn craftsman who simply makes his teams work.
It is unsurprising given his own love of the conductor-midfielder type that Carrick has been a feature of Louis van Gaal’s more settled teams of late. He has been a low-fi favourite of each of all three of his United managers and a finely-grooved component of all the best teams of his time at the club. Plus, Carrick is of course a distinctly Van Gaal-ish kind of player: an expert, unhurried manipulator of the ball, whose brain has always ticked over at a higher rate of revs than his legs. United have now lost seven times this season, only one of those when Carrick has started. With him in the team they average 2.3 points per game; without him that falls to 1.6. His role is simple: pass and move (slowly) take the ball in tight areas and keep it moving, and cover diligently in defence. The only real issue with Carrick is whether he can keep moving (just) long enough to play through that one-yearcontract extensionand help the process trainer bed in his rhythms and methods. Sixteen years, 13 major honours and 31 England caps (fewer than Shaun Wright-Phillips) on from his debut for West Ham, Carrick remains a significant low-fi force.Barney Ronay
 
Does anyone really think it's a coincidence that Carrick coming back into the side before our last cluster of games against "top four" opponents was the first time we looked like a quality team under Van Gaal and we're looking good all over again since he got back into the starting XI this time round?

Lost track of the amount of times he nipped in ahead of Liverpool players trying to get a break going and snuffed out their attack at source. Such an important player, defensively.
 
Speaking of stuff that isn't a coincidence, that's a good stat from Barney Ronay.
United have now lost seven times this season, only one of those when Carrick has started. With him in the team they average 2.3 points per game; without him that falls to 1.6.
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Wouldn't be surprised at all, if those games including Carrick were against harder opposition than those without him. Pretty sure he's played the majority of our toughest games this season.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Speaking of stuff that isn't a coincidence, that's a good stat from Barney Ronay.


Wouldn't be surprised at all, if those games including Carrick were against harder opposition than those without him. Pretty sure he's played the majority of our toughest games this season.
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I wonder if anyone will ever appreciate just how good he is and was.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Does anyone really think it's a coincidence that Carrick coming back into the side before our last cluster of games against "top four" opponents was the first time we looked like a quality team under Van Gaal and we're looking good all over again since he got back into the starting XI this time round? Lost track of the amount of times he nipped in ahead of Liverpool players trying to get a break going and snuffed out their attack at source. Such an important player, defensively.
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Certainly not. You could see how highly LVG rated Carrick the second he stepped into the club as our manager. Remember him talking him up big time during pre-season when he was out injured. It'll be interesting who Van Gaal now sees as his replacement, be it at the club, or a potential target. I reckon we'll get two or three more seasons out of him yet though.
 
Shark said:
Certainly not. You could see how highly LVG rated Carrick the second he stepped into the club as our manager. Remember him talking him up big time during pre-season when he was out injured. It'll be interesting who Van Gaal now sees as his replacement, be it at the club, or a potential target. I reckon we'll get two or three more seasons out of him yet though.
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I hope so. Although the recurrent injuries this season are a bit of a red flag.

Strootman seems like a similar player, though. So you can see why Van Gaal is interested.
 
We'd be challenging for the title this season if he stayed fit all year IMO. His influence on the team is huge. Knew he missed a lot but had no idea that he missed half of our season so far. Crazy really.

 
The influence he has on the defenders is there to be seen. I think most recently we've benefited from playing with one out and out forward and a 'proper' 4-3-3, but take nothing away from Carrick, he's obviously had an impact too.

Some of his passing is ridiculous. The one to Young yesterday was so standard for him, yet no one else on the pitch could hit that first time into a runner's stride.
 
bosnian_red said:
We'd be challenging for the title this season if he stayed fit all year IMO. His influence on the team is huge. Knew he missed a lot but had no idea that he missed half of our season so far. Crazy really.

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Wow if only he was available for our 1st 6 games
 
To add a bit more to the stats above - we have yet to lose an away game in which Carrick has started this season, and we have only won one away game when he has not started (that being the win against Newcastle).

He really is vital. It's hard to put my finger on what he does better than Blind, but he just seems to bring an added calmness and composure to the side. I'd hazard a guess it's to do with his leadership - van Gaal labelled him along the lines of a 'coach on the pitch' and he does seem to give more direction to our inexperienced back line, which is even more crucial when playing away from home.
 
I'm loving how highly Van Gaal seems to think of him. Think it's a big compliment to Carrick that Van Gaal sees him more as a 'trainer/coach'. Van Gaal doesn't strike me as the type to give out compliments willy nilly, so Carrick in his quiet way seems to have good leadership qualities. He's just not demonstrative. Keeps his head down and gets on with it.

He will have brain farts now and then, he's getting older - athletes in all sports tend to lose a bit of concentration as they get older. It unfortunately comes with the territory… sigh
 
He played his part rather well on Sunday. He protected the space in front of the defense and he was always there to assist the CBs deal with Sturridge, Liverpool couldn't find any space down the central channels. He also dropped deeper in the CB position whenever Jones was forced out of position to cover Blind and in the few occasions Smalling or Jones rushed into the midfield either to close down the first attackers and slow the down the attacking plays (something i'd like to see more often cause i think it could help us) or to get the ball out of the defense.

I believe he will be crucial next season, if he manages to stay healthy. It seems that we'll be playing with a three men midfield and that he will have the chance to play the holding midfielder role in the way it suits him best. If Herrera and Fellaini keep improving their defensive game and allow him to focus on protecting the CBs, we'll be absolutely rock solid at the back.

I believe he's still excellent at controlling the tempo and reading the opponent's game. And i simply love the way he spots a good run into space from a teammate and then calmly finds him with an accurate long ball. There was one towards Young on Sunday which was absolute class. Everyone does mistakes now and then but thankfully Carrick's mistake didn't cost us. And his mistakes are rare which is very important for his role on the pitch if you consider the pace and the intensity of the modern game. LvG trusts him and thinks he's vital and i can understand why.
 
As much as I like Blind, he's nowhere near Carrick. Everyone early on in the season went on about Blind now being better than Carrick.

Carrick, I wouldn't swap him for any midfielder in the league. Amazing player, and has been since he signed. The only constant in midfield in the most successful United period.
 
Bwuk said:
As much as I like Blind, he's nowhere near Carrick. Everyone early on in the season went on about Blind now being better than Carrick.

Carrick, I wouldn't swap him for any midfielder in the league. Amazing player, and has been since he signed. The only constant in midfield in the most successful United period.
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Scholes.
 
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