Date: 19th November 2011 at 10:21pm
Written by:
Michael Carrick

Carrick: A breath of fresh air

Manchester United scored only the second goal that Swansea City have conceded at home to scrape a win at the Liberty Stadium. United, unfortunately this has to be said too often, lacked flair and creativity in Swansea’s half however can still be pleased to have taken a win in a fixture which is proving difficult for many teams.

United went ahead early on when Angel Rangel sloppily gave the ball to Ryan Giggs who was able to break into the Swansea area and find Hernandez, who did what he does best and took his chance beating Vorm in the Swansea net.

United were not able to build on their goal and failed to pressurise the Swansea defence too much. Rather it was the other way round, as unexpected as that might be. Swansea played without fear as they ran at the United defence, fighting at every scrap of ball they could. The United defence had to stay strong to hold off the advancing Swansea. Despite a couple of scares the back line held firm to take the three points.

Whilst no player particularly outshone it was pleasing to see a solid performance from Michael Carrick. The out of favour midfielder made a rare start in a side missing players to injury. Carrick has endured a torrid time at United over the past couple of seasons, he went from Mr consistency to the team’s scapegoat. As a player who could break down attacks and link the areas of the team together with his clever passing he was a key member of the starting United line up. However Carrick’s career at United turned sour as he became sloppy in his role allowing him to be the blame for many mistakes within the team.

Carrick sat in front of the pressurised defence against Swansea. This role allowed him to help in closing down the attackers and breaking up the attacks, a very helpful quality at times when the battle between Swansea’s attack and the United defence became scruffy.

Whilst the United midfield has struggled to start attacks the inclusion of Carrick did help the side win the ball and build from the back. Whenever Carrick was on the ball his passing was generally tidy and accurate.

Having Carrick sat in front of the backline gave support for the defence to offload the ball immediately and have Carrick distribute the ball out. It was unfortunate that the flair was lacking from the United attack and so Carrick’s on-form passing was often wasted.

At a time when many are calling out for a new face in the centre of Manchester United’s midfield and the inspirational Tom Cleverley is missing it was a breath of fresh air to see Michael Carrick step up and settle back into his old role.

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3 responses to “MAN OF THE MATCH: MANCHESTER UNITED VS SWANSEA”

  1. Sapir says:

    I think Carrick did great yesterday. He should keep playing in the defensive midfielder role, but not alongside Fletcher. Maybe Anderson can finally shine alongside him, in the attacking role.

    We still need a new midfielder, though. Fletcher is horrible. And of course we can’t rely on Cleverley, who’ll be out of action until Christmas and is quite injury prone.

    Park wasn’t good yesterday and he shouldn’t be considered as an option in the central midfield role either, because he simply can’t play there. Though, the left wing/midfielder role does suit him when he plays better.

  2. Gorse Hill Red says:

    For me it was Vidic that was man of the match. No accident that when he plays we keep clean sheets.

    As for Carrick he had a competent game nothing more.

  3. Matthew says:

    Hi all,

    I just want to share a clip with all of you. We need Carrick. I think the problem we are having is our midfielder not mobile enough so it is hard to create spaces and chances for our forward. That is why Cleverley makes such a differences when he is playing. I love Fletcher and Giggs but they are not Cleverley because they are not mobile enough. Giggs is 38 and we cannot request him to run up and down the field like he used to. Fletcher’s mind set is still breaking up the play not linking up the play. I think our midfield will be better if Cleverley and Carrick. because we need Carrick to sit deep to break up the play and let Cleverley do to the link up play. Here is a clip shows what Carrick does best and it can help our team be more fluid.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az-ly_hqLWE