da marjack bet： When did sideways passes that retain possession and bring others into the game become such a despicable thing?
da cassino： Isn’t it better to play the ball sideways to a team mate than hoof it forward and hope it finds somebody?
Isn’t it better to win the ball through good positioning and solid tactical play than to launch yourself into last ditch tackles because you were caught out in the first place? Because from what I can tell most of the justification for the “Carrick isn’t good enough for United” chat that seems to have started doing the rounds is based upon Carrick not making bone crunching tackles that risk a red card, and he’s not pinging and endless stream of passes up field. Well boo hoo.
Carrick has been given a far more defensive role by SAF this year, something that seems to be lost on fans when they laud the contribution of the defence in our quest for trophies whilst at the same time slating Carrick. His shielding has been a massive, massive part of the success enjoyed so far this season and you only have to look at how much more fragile we look when he isn’t playing to realise that what Carrick does is quietly, and unspectacularly mop up anything that looks like it might threaten one of the most precious commodities in football – the clean sheet.
Carrick’s entire game is based around positioning, placing himself where the ball is going to go. Anticipating attacks and making sure that they don’t come to fruition, tracking the runners that need tracking, cutting out passes that could find their man, closing down angles, forcing the opposition to play the ball where United want them to play it, and not where they want to be putting it. Frankly, if Carrick was flying into sliding tackles it would give you a fair indication that he wasn’t doing his job properly. Claude Makelele is one of the more recently lauded exponents of this style of play and he didn’t need to be a blood and thunder player, he just did what he did exceptionally well and, do you know something, I don’t really remember him having half the passing range that Carrick possesses.
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Now, I’m not suggesting that Carrick is on the same level as Claude, or that he is the answer to all of United fan’s hopes and prayers. I still think that we need another player in the Hargreaves mould, a tenacious, energetic destroyer. But considering United signed two £18m English midfielders within a year of each other, and one has been involved in 143 of the 181 Premier League games since his signing – resulting in 3 titles in 4 years and a very good shot at 4 in 5, whilst the other has played 27 games in their 3 and a half years, it’s a little surprising that it’s Owen Hargreaves who has the fans adoration, whilst Carrick is berated for every minor error. The kind of error that Darren Fletcher is easily forgiven.
I’ve tried to watch as much of Carrick as I can since the abuse started raining down on him, and I just can’t figure out what is causing most of it. He’s unspectacular I’ll admit. But so is bread. Nobody really mentions bread when they’re making a sandwich, they talk about what meat they’re going to have, what mustard or relish, and that’s fine, but you need the bread to make the sandwich work, just sitting there, unspectacularly doing its job. Now, that’s not the best analogy I’ll ever make, but if Michael Carrick was a food, I can safely say he’d be wholemeal bread. Not everyone likes him, but your team/diet is a lot healthier with him in it.
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The problem that Carrick faces is that functional isn’t exciting. It seems that nowadays it’s better to lose possession and then chase like a dog to get it back than it is to win possession with a classy interception and then pass it SIDEWAYS to an on rushing full back who’s looking to spring a counter attack. But then I guess when you’re top of the league and have booked a place in the semi final of the FA Cup and quarter final of the Champions League it’s pretty important to identify the root cause of all your problems and immediately flush them out. After all, why else would there be such a need for the kind of scapegoat finding that I would normally associate with England fans.
The way some United fans have gone after players this season is exactly the kind of thing we always hate fans of other clubs doing to our players after another England exit. Many a United player has been stood by through thick and thin after World Cup induced national hatred, it makes us love them more almost. Everybody hates you, so we love you more. So why are people slating Gibson and Carrick so much this season?
It seems to have crept in more and more recently and I think what fans need to start appreciating is that United can’t spend the way they used to, and they certainly can’t spend the way that Chelsea and Man City are. Unless the Qatar deal becomes a reality or another set of owners finds a way to make the Glazers sell and wipe the debt then I don’t really see any reason why United should start spending crazy sums of money either. The base of the team is there to build on. Yes Giggs and Scholes are legends who can’t go on forever. Yes VDS is retiring. But if Carrick can act as the defensive shield for another 4 years then I’ll be a happy man. The kind of composure he shows on the ball might not match that of Paul Scholes, but I can’t think of anyone who can match him.
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Carrick may not be the best of his kind, but I can safely say that if you asked players from every back four in the country, they’d all love to have Carrick in front of them. He’s better than Mikel, he’s better than Song, he’s better than Lucas, I personally think he’s better than Barry and that my friends is where his main opposition comes from.
So he’s not Xabi Alonso, so he’s not in the top 10 players in the World, the success of Manchester United down the years has been to make a group of very good players into a World class team. Carrick fits that bill because he is a very good player, and he cares infinitely more about the team than he does about personal glory. You don’t see Carrick tearing round like a headless chicken, dragging team mates out of position to help fulfil his own personal quest for hero worship.
I hope that Carrick can continue doing what he does, helping the defence to hold firm during another spell of squeaky bum time. I hope that when we get our wide players back they give more options for the long passes that Carrick can majestically produce at times. I hope that United win their 19th title, and I hope more than anything that this trend of blaming our own players stops with that achievement, because I’ve always been proud of the way United fans support their own, even in the face of overwhelming criticism from others, we have enough haters in the World, without helping them by slating one of our own.
Read more of Hayden’s articles at the excellent Red Flag Flying High
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