Replacing Carrick this summer is critical

Replacing Carrick is like replacing Keane, almost impossible.

Very hard to find a player with the exact attributes as Carrick at the moment. We need someone to play the position once Carrick retires (be it Blind or a new signing) for sure. But expecting that player to be a carbon copy of Carrick is unrealistic.

The biggest aspect that Carrick has brought to our team this year is his leadership. We are a young team with plenty new players and when Carrick is not playing no-one seems to be able to steady the ship. That's why I don't rate Rooney as a captain, but that's a different discussion.

No 26 year old import will bring Carrick's leadership or experience to the field, so even if we manage to find someone who mirrors Carricks footballing ability, the team will still suffer a dip when Carrick is off the field.
 
Don't know why people are writing off Blind, the lad is 25. At his age Carrick was regarded by many as average too.
 
Blind could potentially be as good as Carrick, like somebody mentioned before me, Carrick wasn't all that at the age of 25. Blind has had a good debut season here in the premier league, he will only get better.
 
Looking back, it's amazing that Ferguson had the vision and conviction to replace Keane's place with Carrick. I remember well the abused Fergie gets from the media and from some of the fans in redcafe.
Besides his skill set, I think Carrick benefit tremendously from having Scholes at his side when he comes into the side.
 
DomesticTadpole said:
I think that is what he means, just worded it badly. Michael can still do a vital job, but we need someone to cover and as you say be of the quality to replace him. Trouble is would a world class player want to do that or do we need to find a top quality younger player?
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Next year, we'll be playing more games and Carrick will be a year older. There'll be plenty of minutes for the new_carrick alright, so I don't think there'll be issues for a 'world-class player'. I also don't think that there is a new_carrick out there, who will walk into our team and do everything that Carrick does, though.

Locka said:
I'm not saying we shouldn't get another player in, but I don't agree with the notion that Blind's PTG ratio is definitive proof that he isn't/couldn't be the man.

I may aswel copy this that I posted in the Blind thread. Apologies for it's length, I fecking hate long posts too.
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Great post up there. I agree with almost everything.

Cheesy said:
I'm not really sure it's about physicality, though. Scholes wasn't a particularly big guy, but it didn't matter because he was a superb footballer. Passing is more important for a creative-type player.
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Agreed. Blind is more 'physical' than people give him credit for, though his passing and footballing intelligence more than make up for it.

adexkola said:
It'll be easier shaping the team to account for Carrick's pending departure/demise, than finding an exact Carrick clone. After all, he didn't exactly replace Keane.
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Well, it's not as if our team is built around Carrick, the 4-3-3 helps our attacking midfielders, rather. It's just that he is a brilliant player himself in his position for us, and his absence is felt everytime someone else (mostly Blind) plays in that position. He shields the defence, yes - would we really miss it if we a world-class CB marshalling the defence? He is calm, composed and assured - so is Blind, it's just that he would need more minutes to feel at home at CDM, and leadership will follow. It's not as if Blind is a poor passer eihter, he's got a good range, and eye for the runner, as he has shown multiple time in the season. I think Blind deserves more time in Carrick's shoes before we let someone else take the CDM, converting Blind into a squad player.
 
Even at 25, Carrick was streets ahead of Blind. Blind is a very consistent player but I don't feel he has another level to reach, he will always produce 5/6/7 type performances and won't ever let the side down and I'm not slagging him off because he's a good player to have and adds to the squad but even back in the day, Carrick had a passing range that was one of the best, but he was quite inconsistent and needed a run of games to get anywhere near his best which he didn't get at times. He could dictate a game one week and be MOM but produce average performances over the next few months. He added great consistency into his game over the last 2-3 years.
 
Red_Beans said:
Replacing Carrick is like replacing Keane, almost impossible.

Very hard to find a player with the exact attributes as Carrick at the moment. We need someone to play the position once Carrick retires (be it Blind or a new signing) for sure. But expecting that player to be a carbon copy of Carrick is unrealistic.

The biggest aspect that Carrick has brought to our team this year is his leadership. We are a young team with plenty new players and when Carrick is not playing no-one seems to be able to steady the ship. That's why I don't rate Rooney as a captain, but that's a different discussion.

No 26 year old import will bring Carrick's leadership or experience to the field, so even if we manage to find someone who mirrors Carricks footballing ability, the team will still suffer a dip when Carrick is off the field.
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Oh my, he will be replaced easily, we just need to get in the market and finally buy a player for that position. I find it critical to replace him but I don't find him irreplaceable at all. The biggest mistake was not thinking for the future and let him age till 34, of course there was Fletcher and some false hopes for Clevz and Ando to step up but it didn't turn out in the end. Since Hargreaves we haven't bought player who could play defensive midfielder/playmaker. We haven't bought too many midfielders for the CM role. Herrera is the player who could play there but we find it hard without him as b2b, we simply lack another midfielder. Carrick will be replaced that's for sure as Van Gaal doesn't really hesitate to act, no matter what type of palyer we buy he will be replaced.

Yes, he's been great player, almost legend and longest serving player at United right now but he's really overrated here. These godlike comparisons, give me a break..
 
SambaBoy said:
Even at 25, Carrick was streets ahead of Blind. Blind is a very consistent player but I don't feel he has another level to reach, he will always produce 5/6/7 type performances and won't ever let the side down and I'm not slagging him off because he's a good player to have and adds to the squad but even back in the day, Carrick had a passing range that was one of the best, but he was quite inconsistent and needed a run of games to get anywhere near his best which he didn't get at times. He could dictate a game one week and be MOM but produce average performances over the next few months. He added great consistency into his game over the last 2-3 years.
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I just don't like Blind in midfield, maybe he will improve but for me I prefer him at left back and as 'if there's nothing left' cover for the DM role. He'll be torn to shreds against top opposition in the CL.

Carrick is like a fine wine that is improving with age, but he will start going over the other side of the hill soon, and his injuries are getting more regular so for me other than the CB this is the most important transfer for the summer.
 
Bastian Schweinsteiger's situation in Munich might be worth monitoring. Now he's not at the ideal age to form a long time bedrock, and he has suffered a couple of niggling injuries. But him and Xabi Alonso are probably the closest matches to Carrick in terms of experience and playing style. He has a good relationship with Van Gaal, magnificent passing range which allows him to dictate the game from central areas, very cerebral player who's always cognizant of his spacial positioning, and positive as a defensive player - as a combination all of that probably lends itself to a deep lying midfield role in the medium term.

Dunno if there's truth to the rumors of him leaving Bayern - but if they envision someone like Xhaka as Schweinsteiger's replacement, we should definitely try to engineer a transfer for the latter. He still has a few good years of football left in him, and would bring a lot of experience and a degree of guile to our midfield. Something that goes missing without Carrick.

@JPRouve - IMO Blind shouldn't be a permanent fixture in the starting XI at any position. Might sound harsh, and I actually like him a lot - but even before we were due to sign him from Ajax last summer - he gave the impression of someone who can operate in multiple positions but none of them at a consistently world class level.

He can be a very useful cookie-cutter kind of squad utility player, and to be fair those kind of footballers are a dying breed these days with more emphasis on specialists. But if we have higher ambitions as a club (maybe aspirations of a European Cup in the near future), we need more quality all over the pitch - especially in midfield where most matches are decided. If your starters are injured, plug Blind in and he'll do a good job (7/10 median) because of his tactical intelligence and versatility. But that's probably his ceiling.
 
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@Invictus I wanted Xabi Alonso last summer, but yeah Schweinsteiger should be a target.

I don't think that we can replace Carrick with one player, unless we can sign someone like Busquets, Xabi is too old.
For me we need to create the same balance within the trio, it won't be popular but I think that Kondogbia is our men. Because he has the defensive presence while being a very good passer and very potent going forward.

Kondogbia--Herrera
--------Blind-------

In this trio we have two players who can control the flow of the game, three players who defend well, with one player with a very big physical presence and Herrera as the creative midfielder.
Blind has sometimes the tendancy to bomb forward or sometime lacks some aggression and Kondogbia can easily cover him.
 
Amazing how we have crumbled without him.

There is so much improving we need to do on our roster. I hope the Glazers are ready to get their chequebook out. There is still such a long way to go before we even challenge for the title. We basically have to buy a Striker, Winger, Midfielder, Fullback and Defender. There is no position in which we are not lacking at this moment.
 
you know this talk of no man being bigger than the club. its got to a point where we are completely inept without him.
 
This isn't Ronaldo for crying out loud. Bad, how our team just goes to shit without him. Carrick is a great player, but the way we been without him you'd think we been missing Ronaldo.
 
It is a huge priority but his absence is not the only reason we lost today. We were absolutely pathetic.
 
If he comes back and we continue to be shite cutting open the opposition in the final third, I'll be very upset :( He's the only obvious reason for our recent struggles.
 
We should test PSG's resolve for Verratti, they want Di Maria and they seem keen to land Pogba, something has to give given their FFP restrictions.
 
Depends on the balance of the rest of our midfield really. We might need someone who can be creative and pull the strings or maybe we'll need a physical, defensively strong player who keeps it simple. Either way, someone has to bring more structure to our midfield.
 
This is clear, more than ever. Not necessarily the same type of player but a world class CM.
 
I think I'm going to vote for him as Player of the Year based on the last three games...
 
sullydnl said:
Depends on the balance of the rest of our midfield really. We might need someone who can be creative and pull the strings or maybe we'll need a physical, defensively strong player who keeps it simple. Either way, someone has to bring more structure to our midfield.
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we need a ball winning midfielder...simple. A Roy Keane type....him and Herrera will be enough steel in there.

That is the key imo.
 
Carrick does two functions for us, he stabilises us defensively and can playmake. It's not possible to replace him with one player, we need someone who will shield our back 4 like Schneiderlin and someone that can dictate the game like Gundogan. Buying two midfielders is even more urgent for us than buying a CB IMO.
 
No matter how much we miss him now, it's only when we spend money on a world class CM to replace him that we will truly realize how good he was. We'll probably end up buying 2 or 3 big name CM players over the next 5 years as the previous one fails to replace Carrick adequately. Before we spend big on them they'll already have reputations beyond Carrick built on the world stage. He'll be harder to replace than many Utd legends who are thought of in much higher esteem than him.
 
The injury at CB and LB made it too many players being moved around. It is too disruptive, with too many players in positions they are not confident in. Herrera is not a DM, Rooney is not a midfielder(especially a badly out of form Rooney).
 
Sparky Rhiwabon said:
This is clear, more than ever. Not necessarily the same type of player but a world class CM.
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redmeister said:
No matter how much we miss him now, it's only when we spend money on a world class CM to replace him that we will truly realize how good he was. We'll probably end up buying 2 or 3 big name CM players over the next 5 years as the previous one fails to replace Carrick adequately. Before we spend big on them they'll already have reputations beyond Carrick built on the world stage. He'll be harder to replace than many Utd legends who are thought of in much higher esteem than him.
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I think you fellas have something to say to each other...
 
Red_Beans said:
Replacing Carrick is like replacing Keane, almost impossible.

Very hard to find a player with the exact attributes as Carrick at the moment. We need someone to play the position once Carrick retires (be it Blind or a new signing) for sure. But expecting that player to be a carbon copy of Carrick is unrealistic.

The biggest aspect that Carrick has brought to our team this year is his leadership. We are a young team with plenty new players and when Carrick is not playing no-one seems to be able to steady the ship. That's why I don't rate Rooney as a captain, but that's a different discussion.

No 26 year old import will bring Carrick's leadership or experience to the field, so even if we manage to find someone who mirrors Carricks footballing ability, the team will still suffer a dip when Carrick is off the field.
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I wouldn't go that far.

Carrick has been great this season, but I think he is replaceable. Where as you'd find it tougher to replace Roy Keane.

The problem we have is that when Carrick is injured, we have to move four players out of position.
 
Carrick is the kind of player who could play on for a long time. At 33 he's barely a baby. There's nothing he can do today that will change in 3 years time so there's no reason to worry. He's always been a very static midfielder holding the midfielder who covers an awful lot of space and is almost impossible to just pass eventhough he looks like an easy player to round. That's why he's got to play as a defender at times.

I think a lot of us were expecting him to score more goals in his career when he showed glimses of screamers at times. He's probably not even programmed in that way at all. The crowd almost have to do the shooting for him whenever he's in a position to take a shot. Probably the player with the best shot to have scored the fewest goals.
 
Bojan11 said:
This isn't Ronaldo for crying out loud. Bad, how our team just goes to shit without him. Carrick is a great player, but the way we been without him you'd think we been missing Ronaldo.
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:lol:

Ronaldo's a guaranteed goalscorer, and yes, he can carry teams, but he doesn't make the whole team better the way players like Carrick do.

Central midfielders are in with a shout for being the most important players to a team, speaking in general.

Incidentally, this is something Fergie certainly seemed to agree with. Even when Ronaldo was vying for Balon d'Or, he'd refer to Scholes as his best player.
 
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