If we need a player beyond Carrick who can function as an actual holder of the sort that will allow Pogba, especially, to operate more freely (as he should) - then there are options beyond this fecker.
I think we do, personally.
I think we should line up - as per default - with Herrera and Pogba in a midfield trio, with a holder of some description further back.
That’s ideal for both Herrera (not that important, granted) and for Pogba (could be very important, as he’s our best player, ideally - I think he could be, at least).
Carrick is too lacking in a purely defensive sense for that role on a permanent basis. He’s nowhere near dynamic enough. He’s never been Pirlo either, in spite of what some people on here seem to think, so you can’t defend fielding him on account of him being a DPL genius. He simply isn’t. He’s Carrick - he plays the Carrick role, the one he’s played for United for several years now: He’s a very good footballer and better than some give him credit for, but he isn’t good enough to have a script written for him. As the last midfielder, with Herrera and Pogba ahead of him, he’ll do well against accommodating opposition - just like Scholes did well against accommodating opposition as an OAP alongside a younger Carrick. It’s not something you want to rely on when the bullets start flying.
For my money we need a top class defensive midfielder. I think Mourinho feels that way too. Matic is potentially a top class defensive midfielder if the system as such works. But this is the thing, as mentioned in another thread: If he really needs a DM, he better bloody well get one. Matic might be a player he knows and feels would fit his scheme - all well and good. But if Matic isn’t a viable option (we shouldn’t pay shitloads for players of his ilk, we can’t keep doing that so the line has to be drawn somewhere), then he better broaden his horizons.
Like I said in another thread - if we don’t end up with a DM, the only reasonable conclusion is that Mourinho doesn’t need one: He’ll make do with whatever he already has (play Carrick and for backup Herrera, Andreas, play Blind or whoknowswhat, TFM). As a mere fan, I consider that risky - but fair enough. But the point is (and it could’ve been made in the Dier thread equally well, of course) that if he actually needs a DM, he can buy one. United are loaded and there’s a huge number of footballers out there who can play that role - including numerous players who’d be worth a punt, even as a punt, if the alternative is to go into the season without addressing the issue at all.
