Michael Carrick Thread - Agrees New Deal

[MUMUFMUFCOK!]

Has been majestic for the past few months.

I've always been a big fan of his, but there were doubts in my mind whether he was a Manchester United player. Last season he was living in Scholes' shadow, and playing within himself. He doesn't strike me as a particularly confident bloke. But he's finally stepped up to the plate and taken some creative responsibility.

The pass for Nani's goal versus Arsenal was out of this world, and the driving run and through ball for Ronaldo yesterday was almost as good. He reads the game, attacking and defending, so so well.

Incredible that Fergie still seems to consider him as basically 4th choice midfielder.

As a holding midfielder, he pisses all over Hargreaves. OH is a better tackler, but MC relies on reading the game and intercepting the ball before there is any need for a last ditch tackle. And of course, teams can't score if they don't have the ball. There are few better players out there who retain posession as well as he does.
As a creative outlet, I have to say that presently he pisses all over Scholesy. Scholes is still not at full fitness but he's playing so deep recently he rarely contributes anything attack-wise. It seems to me he gets the ball from Ferdinand/Vidic and pops it straight back to them, instead of turning and trying to create something. Harsh perhaps, but he's been so disappointing recently compared to last season.

Ronaldo - Carrick - Anderson - Nani

That's my first choice midfield. But Scholes, Hargreaves, Giggs, Park and Fletcher have all still got a big role to play before the end of the season. Fantastic to have so many options considering our midfield situation a few years ago.

[Mr Brightside]

Originally Posted by MUMUFMUFCOK!

Has been majestic for the past few months.

I've always been a big fan of his, but there were doubts in my mind whether he was a Manchester United player. Last season he was living in Scholes' shadow, and playing within himself. He doesn't strike me as a particularly confident bloke. But he's finally stepped up to the plate and taken some creative responsibility.

The pass for Nani's goal versus Arsenal was out of this world, and the driving run and through ball for Ronaldo yesterday was almost as good. He reads the game, attacking and defending, so so well.

Incredible that Fergie still seems to consider him as basically 4th choice midfielder.

As a holding midfielder, he pisses all over Hargreaves. OH is a better tackler, but MC relies on reading the game and intercepting the ball before there is any need for a last ditch tackle. And of course, teams can't score if they don't have the ball. There are few better players out there who retain posession as well as he does.
As a creative outlet, I have to say that presently he pisses all over Scholesy. Scholes is still not at full fitness but he's playing so deep recently he rarely contributes anything attack-wise. It seems to me he gets the ball from Ferdinand/Vidic and pops it straight back to them, instead of turning and trying to create something. Harsh perhaps, but he's been so disappointing recently compared to last season.

Ronaldo - Carrick - Anderson - Nani

That's my first choice midfield. But Scholes, Hargreaves, Giggs, Park and Fletcher have all still got a big role to play before the end of the season. Fantastic to have so many options considering our midfield situation a few years ago.

Best thread I have seen in a long time by far.

That midfield ^^^^ is the best midfield Man Utd have at this present time.

Carrick and Anderson work better together than any other combination involving Scholesy, Hargreaves and Fletch.

Michael Carrick.

I totally agree with MUFCOK. He is quality. He played well with Scholesy last year to win the league. He then dropped in quality at the start of this season, but he has redeemed himself lately with some excellent performances.

I think Carrick and Anderson are a terrific combination, but each game nowadays commands different players.

[jlae11]

both posts are excellent thus far. i have ALWAYS supported MC in this forum, ive always been one of his biggest fans. there is NOT a better passer in football than MC. there is NO ONE that finds probing forward balls as well as MC (a la scholes during his prime)... and there is NO ONE that reads the game as well as him. he just needs a confidence boost, because i do agree that sometimes he looks unconfident.

as for my best midfield, i cant say that nani is involved... but i also dont think giggs is there tbh. carrick and anderson work brilliant together because both players are able to go forward AND defend intelligently and effectively. scholes is past it, but still phenomenal. hargreaves has been excellent this season, but his passing is nothing compared to carrick/anderson/scholes... to me, hargreaves should be used only for tactical changes (ie. man-marking and specialty defending). then, i dont know where that leaves fletch, but i REALLY think that he is a class player and i hope he remains at united.

honestly, i think anderson makes hargreaves expendable at the club... i just dont see a place for him.

here is how i would rank the midfielders currently: carrick, anderson, scholes, fletcher, hargreaves. i know that will cause some controversy, but i would honestly rather see fletcher develop further than play hargreaves.

[LAF]

Carrick has been good the past couple of months, he was below-par start of the season but is picking up. His passing is becoming more clinical, which was always a problem I had with him (I think playing with Scholes has taught his this).

Your Scholes point is abit silly imo. He's just keeping the ball, what's the point in lumping a long pass that will probably lead to the opposition retaining the ball (or in another term, play like Gerrard).

I honestly have yet to see the point of you signing Hargreaves. He's always injured and Fletcher is a similar player (high energy, in your face) but has a better nack of driving the United team forward (How good has Fletcher been past two games he's played? Goals and assists).

Why Barry is ahead of Carrick for England is beyond me.

[unitedfan]

I am and always have been, a big fan of Carrick. Last season I thought he was magnificent alongside Scholes, and having two new partnerships to forge slowed him down quite a bit early this season, but since the turn of the year, he's gotten back to his old self, and better.

It's absolutely incredible that we've got 5 players of such quality fighting for 2 spots. I mean look at them!

Anderson has been fantastic since about his 4th league game for us, his partnership with Hargreaves worked very well, and he's shown defensive qualities I don't think anyone was expecting to see, alongside his creative play. Hargreaves has played well for us whenever he's played, and he gives us steel in midfield, which we sometimes missed before he came in. Then there's Fletcher, who I've also always been a fan of. He's a real big gam player, who gives his all and anything else he can find, is very unassuming and in some situations he's been something of an unsung hero. Scholes is still the best central midfielder in the world when he's fit in my opinion. I wouldn't write him off as past it just yet, since it's fitness after his injury that he's struggling with.

I couldn't possibly call any of them expendable. Any of them can dominate games, and as has been mentioned, you often need a different type of partnership for different games. Look at the last week, against Newcastle we played two midfielders who didnt have to play any more than 12 minutes between then in the midweek game with Lyon. That kind of effective rotation is well worked by SAF, and with the quality we've got in that area, our fitness is safeguarded throughout the season.

Specific to Carrick, he's probably the most reliable of the bunch. He's defensively very good, creative to boot and is very consistent. He's like a Makelele who always got his head up, picking his perfect pass.

[jlae11]

i agree that scholes is still possibly the best midfielder in football when hes fit, i guess i didnt make that clear in my last post... i was just speaking about right NOW. also, i agree that hargreaves has played extremely well when called upon for united... i just think he is surplus right now.

[Olzy]

Carrick has been class since joining Man Utd. His passing is a joy to watch. Him and Scholesy have worked great last season and this season.

I think he more than capable of getting more goals too.

As mentioned in this topic your blessed with soo many options. I dont think you've seen the best of Hargreaves yet whenever Ive seen him play he looks like he has a heavy touch. Anderson looks class and as someone pointed out suprised he has a good defensive appetite.

Fletcher if he plays like he does against Arsenal he is a quality player too.

Carrick money well spent. If he has more pace and scored more goals he would be f'cking awesome but then against if though he isnt really quick his footballing brain is very sharp.

[kyan]

Carrick is so underrated, but he knows the United fans really appreciate him.

His performances over the last 2 months have been really improving and without him or Anderson in midfield we look flat atm.

It's a great dilemma to have having so many top quality CMs, especially when most of them are younger than 27.

As for Hargreaves, he's had some great games, but he is very injury prone, he's a good option but shouldn't be starting most games atm, maybe sometimes playing 3 across the middle with Rooney up front alone is a viable option though, like in the Arsenal game.

And welcome back MUCOK! and Brightside, hope to see u post more...

[dukeofdavinci]

to say majestic might be too far but he is not far from it either.

carrick i would say is the most improved player these last 1 1/2 months in our camp.his passing was back to his top level.though just like anderson i would like to se him take more shots

imo he had a fantastic 1st season compared this season.maybe due to his injuries earlier on that he was a bit late in reaching it this time.but none the less he made it up in time for the crucial stage of the season.

imo owen is still our best ball winner 2nd to scholes, and we can rest assured when he plays that the defensive side of the engine room is in good hands.the only prob is his injuries this season, but i think he will be fresh player come next season if he can stay clean till then.i mean he did arrive to us after a big injury. and takes time for him to adjust to new set up plus to the body also recuperating and still repairing it self back.

anderson for me is just great, he has been playing like he was here all along and erased the tag of "new player" instead as a seasoned united player

wth scholes still recovering his form, i would go for either anderson-carrick, or anderson-owen as both are as deadly,but i wont rule our fletch as he is as reliable as o'shea.

one thing we can agree is , i would say this season we have the best mid-field player in years to date.

scholes, owen, anderson, carrick, fletch,...so do we need more cm when we have these titans in our team??

i wouldnt swap any one else for the cm's we have.

[Ben_W]

I agree with that first choice midfield; Carrick is as good as passer of the ball as Scholes, and can hit better first time passes. Anderson should partner him; Ronaldo is a given and Nani has been more impressive than Giggs for ages, both going forward and tracking back. He can be frustrating at times but not as much as Giggs has been recently.

Giggs, Fletcher, Hargreaves, and Park isn't a bad second four and that's not even taking Scholes into account; we're healthier in midfield than we have been for years. I'd have no qualms about bringing any of them in at any point. Ronaldo's probably the only one of the 9 who has his place secure but that says more about the superb depth than the quality of Carrick, Anderson, Nani and Fletcher in recent weeks/months.

After the Sunderland game in September when we were playing Tevez alone (following the Tottenham game when we had to do the same due to Ronaldo's suspension and Rooney's injury) a friend commented that, at home, Carrick has now become redundant considering we don't need three central midfielders and Scholes and Hargreaves can execute the attacking and defensive elements of the game better than Carrick. I immediately disagreed, on the basis that Carrick was superb for the last 5 months of last season, and I liked to see him in the team, but on reflection reached the conclusion that he was probably right.
Now there seems to me no reason why either Hargreaves or Scholes would command a place ahead of Carrick and, to a lesser extent, Anderson.
There is a time when a ball winner of the quality of Hargreaves and Fletcher would be necessary - I think Arsenal last weekwas one example, and presuming they look half-interested in the match next time, it may be again - and I presume Ferguson will employ that approach in Europe, particularly away. Against the majority of team we play in the Premiership though the quality is not high enough for us to require a ball winner of that calibre, and considering the many attacking options we have elsewhere as well, we're better off with in-form central midfielders who can carve teams open with one ball. Having Anderson and Carrick in doesn't lose us much fight in the middle anyway, and even if it did it wouldn't matter against the multitude of the average opposing sides we play throughout the season.

[russe||]

I think one thing everyone can agree and it would have been crazy to suggest this at the start of the season but Anderson has to be in our first choice midfield. The kid has done amazingly well this season. Anyway back on topic.....

Carrick started the season badly, MUFCOK is bang on when he says Carrick tends to lack confidence, and I think the pressure of his second season plus our new signings effected him.

The last few months and the last few games especially we have seen the Carrick of last season - the confident player with great vision and ability to play killer passes and really open up defences.

Arsenal weren't at the races the other week but defensive errors or not Carrick's pass for Nani's goal was brilliant. His through ball for Ronaldo on Saturday was great too (even if it was against a woeful Newcastle defence).

At this moment it is hard to argue with the suggestion our first choice midfield pairing is Anderson and Carrick. Scholes has a lot more to offer but isn't properly fit at the moment but for the first time in years we have players to fill the void, who have the ability and the vision to play the balls that Scholes has been doing for years.

As MUFCOK says the strength in depth we have in midfield is amazing when you look back 2 years and see us fielding O'Shea and Giggs as a central midfield pairing.

[dukeofdavinci]

I think one thing everyone can agree and it would have been crazy to suggest this at the start of the season but Anderson has to be in our first choice midfield. The kid has done amazingly well this season. Anyway back on topic.....

there was poll in united.com and guess wch name came as a prominent candidate and the winner to???anderson.

almost all the other mid-filed was paired wth him.

[Sven]

He's good, that's his limit.

I think most can agree, he will never reach the type of level of Gerrard,Scholes and Lampard. He's in a great enough team to do so, but as I said limited.

[dukeofdavinci]

He's good, that's his limit.

I think most can agree, he will never reach the type of level of Gerrard,Scholes and Lampard. He's in a great enough team to do so, but as I said limited.

u mean anderson or carrick...got a bit confused here