Michael Carrick is a really interesting case.
He went from being underrated and overlooked by United supporters up until the 2012/2013 season, to being quite possibly the most overrated player in history by the same set of fans.
He was a very very good player at his best, great passing range, positionally exceptional, read the game great, however there are 3 things that are going against him, imo:
- His forgettable England career, which is nothing like Scholes’ case really, Paul Scholes was one of the first names on the team sheet for Hoddle, Paul Scholes was very good for England, although not as good as he was for United, for obvious reasons.
Carrick never really played well for England, but you could say the same about many others, so fair enough.
- No one outside of Manchester United supports would consider him world class, you won’t struggle to find even some hardcore Liverpool fans who will admit that Paul Scholes, Rooney, Ferdinand and the likes were world class at their best.
Its really nice that Pep said he’s great, Pep also said that Antonio Valencia was the best winger in the world prior to the CL 2011 final.
I’m sure Pep rates Carrick but I’m also sure he knows he’s not even remotely as good as his holding midfielder at the time was, or currently is.
Which is fine, both Rodri and Busquets are all time greats with Busquets being the best ever in his position.
- The biggest reason for me personally and why I actually believe Carrick would’ve been rated significantly lower if he played in today’s game:
He was poor under press, he played at a time where only the very best teams pressed, nowadays almost every team in the PL does.
Forget the Barcelona matches, I remember Poch’s Southampton coming to Old Trafford and playing us off the park with intense pressing, we managed to win that game but we were thoroughly outplayed and Carrick was poor in that match.
So in my opinion, although having played a big part in United’s success he was not a world class midfielder.
United of 06-13 wasn’t a team that needed to have the best midfield in the world to dominate the premier league, and reach 3 CL finals, we had a world class defense and world class attackers, we didn’t play good teams off the park away from home or even at home like Pep’s City and midfield oriented teams, we went to be solid and hit them on the break, and we did it exceptionally well.
So to me, he had too many flaws and several aspect of his career going against him to be in that discussion imo, the lack of physicality, lack of agility and occasional softness that cost us at times.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t very very good, and a fantastic signing because he clearly was.
