Michael Carrick joined Manchester United on 31st July 2006, in a £18.6m deal from Tottenham, since joining he has had an up & down career at United. His first two seasons at Old Trafford were excellent and he played a key role in United winning the Champions League and also 2 Premier League titles. He became a key member of United’s midfield as United dominated the Premiership.
But the last two seasons have been very mediocre and forgettable for him; he failed to make much of an impact last season. His lack of presence in key games was glaringly visible, as he failed to step up during key games over the entire season. Eventually this led to Sir Alex dropping Carrick from the starting lineup with Gibson moving ahead of him in the pecking order at United by the end of the season. Surprisingly Carrick was also selected in the 25 man England squad that flew to South Africa for the World Cup but unfortunately for him, he didn’t get a game as England crashed out of the World Cup.
Carrick is clearly one of the best passers in England, with his vision and great range thus he is a very potent opponent for any team to handle especially as a deep lying midfielder where he usually gets sufficient time and space to make pick his passes and make them seem pretty easy. Having people like Rooney and now Hernandez, making runs off the last defender should make his talents an essential but Carrick also lacks the authority to dominate the midfield in key games, and this sometimes results in him fading away as a game progresses.
The current season is key to Carrick’s future at the club, Currently behind Scholes and Fletcher in the preferred XI and also with the likes of Anderson, Gibson, Cleverley, Eikrem and Matt James all emerging from the youth ranks, the pressure is on Michael to prove his worth to both the fans and the manager. With Scholes nearing the end of his career, Carrick needs to rise to the occasion whenever given a chance and prove that he can be depended upon to perform when needed the most especially as Scholes is performing so well in the deep lying midfielder role.
His performance against Chelsea in the Community Shield was very promising, and if he can build on that, he is sure to have a pretty good season. Carrick’s future is in the balance right now, another bad season might not see him wearing the Red of United come next season!
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Just odd with Carrick, whose performance gets worse when they’re entering their prime? Especially in his position where more “brain” is invovled, you’d think he’d be more focused rather than losing it.
He certainly has done a lot for us before and deserves a chance, but he has no hope in hell of remaining with the team if he plays again like last season. But I’m still not on the “get rid of Carrick” bandwagon yet and lets hope he does what he’s certainly capable of.
Yea, Micheal is stil gud 2 b a red soldier.