Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me
It seems Manchester United’s very own ‘Marmite’ player Michael Carrick, may be set for another season of dividing opinion among Reds.
Yesterday’s Community Shield first half was not the finest display the midfielder has produced in a United shirt, but it was by no means the worst. Other than seven minutes of somewhat lackadaisical defending United dominated the first 45 and were desperately unlucky not to be going in on at least level terms.
The second half was a different story altogether as with Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Tom Cleverley replacing Rio Ferdinamd, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick.
United turned on the style in the second half with a simply awesome display with Cleverley, Nani and Rooney combining for a second goal that was quite simply breathtaking.
Cleverley had as good a 45 minutes as I’ve ever seen him play and has already been rewarded with an England call up.
Most of the criticism for United was aimed at David De Gea who was at fault for Edin Dzeko’s long range strike, although at 20 years old in his first big game in a Red shirt, a few jitters can be forgiven.
Some criticism was reserved for a certain former Spurs midfielder who despite carrying an injury which has now seen him sent home from the England camp, is still the preferred punching bag from many Reds looking at people to blame for yesterday’s anger inducing first half end.
“Shorn of the static Michael Carrick, United played their best football” “ponderous Carrick” “typically anonymous” “in one game we’ve seen why Cleverley and Ando should start ahead of Carrick” “Cleverley merely underlined Carrick’s impotence” “Cleverley >>>>>>>Carrick” “maybe SAF will finally realise Carrick is completely pointless to United”
Are just some of the tweets, blog posts and reviews I’ve seen over the past 24 hours describing Carrick. I realise that doesn’t mean he’s public enemy number Tevez but it’s certainly shows the low level of regard many Reds still have for a player who’s won four titles in five years.
If Anderson had had a quiet first half- a player many would argue has a lot more to prove than Carrick- would we have seen the interweb awash with such vitriol? I for one doubt it. I may be wrong but I believe we may see more Carrick bashing this season, as United’s unsung hero, finds himself being blamed for not doing things he’s not supposed to do anyway.
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What do you mean Ando didn’t have a good 1st 45?! Only Carrick didn’t mr.
even the writer has failed woefully in defending carrick. Other than he won 4 league titles…so what? Oshea won titles too but it doesnt make him worldclass. Carrick is static and too 1 dimensional. He would never have done what cleverly did for that 2nd goal. All the carrick apologists agree we need a sneidjer in midfield forgeting it is carricks failure that demands we sign a playmaker. And for all his so called passing ability. What a joke. He remains rubbish
Carrick simply put is “rubbish” this guy is slow as a snail, almost always passes to the other team, can’t dribble and is afraid to dribble when someone is near him(watch the next game and see this for yourself, someone is near him and he will try to pass it off…sissy). can’t score, can’t defend (cause he’s slooooooooow). He no longer fits the speed of the team.
JUST THROWING SOMETHING OUT THERE ABOUT RIO.
HAVE U GUYS NOTICED HE NO LONGER IS A GREAT DEFENDER? I REALLY WANT TO SEE JONES TAKE HIS SPOT THIS YEAR. RIO IS QUESTIONABLE WITH HIS SPEED AND JUDGEMENT (SEE HEADER BY LESCOTT). IN HIS PRIME HE WAS THE STAPLE OF DEFENSE, HE NO LONGER IS. A SHADOW OF HIS FORMER SELF (SAD TO SEE). BUT I THINK IT’S TIME TO LET THE YOUNG KIDS PLAY, LET THEM FLY.
THE YOUNGLINGS ARE HERE!!!
IT’S TIME FOR THE NEW KIDS TO GET THE EXPERIENCE AND START PLAYING TO THEIR POTENTIAL. YESTERDAY’S MATCH WAS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF OUR TEAM SPEED AND SOLID DEFENDING OVERALL (MINUS THE 2 RUBBISH GOALS).
JONES/SMALLING WAS FANTASTIC…EVAN’S NEEDS TO BE LOANED OR SOLD TO MLS SOON HE’S A NUTSACK.
THE DA SILVA TWING CAN BE GOOD, THO AFTER 4 YRS THEY REALLY HAVEN’T IMPROVED THEIR DEFENDING, CROSSING, AND PHYSICAL BEING (THEY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS HURT EVERY GAME…WEAK SISTERS).
GET RID OF BERBA TOO, HE’S A TEAM SPEED CANCER
i think he can still do a job at united
thxs patrick coz u realy understand…carrick should go back to bench
I am a huge Michael Carrick fan and some of the things people say about him are true, ever since that first Champions League final against Barcelona, it seemed that his confidence has been taken away from him and he doesn’t seem too confident on the ball anymore but the people who talk about how much better United we’re in the second half because they took Carrick off, well if you hadn’t noticed we also took off Vidic and Ferdinand, its just the fact that Carrick doesn’t go up the field very much which is a shame because if he was oozing with confidence then he could do the things that he has the potential to do, like for example, the first pre season game we had vs New England, he set up the first two goals and on both of those goals he was in a advanced position and I think he needs to do that more often, all he needs is more confidence, once he gets that then I think that he will start to prove all the doubters wrong and make all the United fans believe in him like I do.
Did anyone complain when Carrick made two stand-out performances against Chelsea in the CL last season??? In many of the games that Carrick play we see Man Utd winning control over the midfield, control the pace of the game, maybe not as Cleverley-Ando-lively as second half against City, but still. I find in Carrick a player that gives stability to a title winning team. Stability is needed, and Fergie knows this.
Well said. Couldnt have put it any better myself
Carrick is a type of a midfielder that needs a defensive midfielder as his partner in my opinion… He needs someone to do his defensive duty so he could concentrate on distributing the ball… Thus, I think he needs to be deployed further up the pitch with the other playing just behind him or play him in the current position and deploy the other further down the pitch… Not side by side like Sir Alex use to play them… But that means we just use the other player to be the water carrier and not use them to their fullest potential… That is the reason why Sir Alex never like the attacking midfielder… maybe he thinks every midfielder should be given a chance to be a complete midfielder…