Alas poor Carrick...WTF has happened?

Carl

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As my mate just said to me: "He's the new Zoran Tosic."

What is going on? Once again, I think we're missing Carrick. Obviously it must be partly down to Scholes because he's been exceptional (including so far today) but Fletcher's start to the season hasn't been great and, once again, we're missing Carrick imo.

We've not been very good today, in fact i'd say we've been poor against a shit team. Our tempo has been slow, we've relied on Scholes to find any forward passes and we've looked leaky in midfield.

Bring back Michael Carrick.

CW1984 > That Scottish manager of ours ;)
 

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We need to be building momentum at this stage of the season which is why consistant team selection especially in CM is a must. I'd rather see him used only as a late sub or in place of an injury to Fletch or Scholes at this point.
 

CJ300

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let me get this straight, you're saying Carrick is the new Tosic?????????

What have you been smoking today may I ask?
 

Carl

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let me get this straight, you're saying Carrick is the new Tosic?????????

What have you been smoking today may I ask?
:lol: That's obviously not a serious point. Just making fun at the fact he's always left out.
 

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:lol: That's obviously not a serious point. Just making fun at the fact he's always left out.
He obviously isn't impressing enough to even get a run so far. If we score another goal in this match, I'm sure he'll get some time.
 

Stack

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As my mate just said to me: "He's the new Zoran Tosic."

What is going on? Once again, I think we're missing Carrick. Obviously it must be partly down to Scholes because he's been exceptional (including so far today) but Fletcher's start to the season hasn't been great and, once again, we're missing Carrick imo.

We've not been very good today, in fact i'd say we've been poor against a shit team. Our tempo has been slow, we've relied on Scholes to find any forward passes and we've looked leaky in midfield.

Bring back Michael Carrick.

CW1984 > That Scottish manager of ours ;)
What a great big pile of steaming shite
 

Shimo

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15 minutes to try and show he can run a game when we have pretty much shut down is hardly reason to suggest when he plays instead of Scholes.

I thought he showed a decent amount of bite there - great block and put himself about. One sloppy pass. Not sure why Giggs didn't pass to him when he was set at the top of the box in position to take a shot on goal.

Hope he starts against Everton - it will be a tough game and we'll need the work of Fletcher/Carrick in there I think - Scholes won't get much time on the ball against them.
 

Brwned

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Fletcher's the one who provides the legs in midfield so Scholes doesn't have to over-exert himself. It's why he starts ahead of Carrick because that's just not his game and unless we over-compensate in other areas - e.g. playing Park as almost a third midfielder from the wing, thus exposing our left wing somewhat but strengthening our centre - they find it hard to have the space to impose themselves.

He gets in the team ahead of Carrick because we play two in midfield despite the current trend of playing three, so it's necessary to have someone who can do the work of two men. Added to that, with Scholes coming back into form he needs that even more as has been said by many, and as he provides invaluable cover for that right flank which is becoming increasingly important with our problems at right back. That's just not really Carrick's game. There's a couple of other problems that (I'm hoping) look to have been solved this season, in that we've not had a player who will threaten in behind regularly and stretch the defence constantly (see Saha, Ronaldo) for the last couple of years and he thrives off the space and options they provide, and Carrick's had a few problems with his individual form and mentality that are irrelevant to outside factors, but as I said I hope/think those problems will be sorted by the looks of things(with Carrick coming back with hunger, and Hernandez being someone who stretches the defence).

Saying that Fletcher's just not played very well so far IMO, and he's a worse player than Carrick, so I do miss Carrick a bit.
 

SFraser

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Saying that Fletcher's just not played very well so far IMO, and he's a worse player than Carrick, so I do miss Carrick a bit.
A worse player than Carrick? Not sure about that one.

Carrick on-form adds another dimension to the team so yes he is missed, but it is hard to miss what he currently brings to the side.

I'm concerned for Carrick. Ferguson seems to be rapidly losing faith in him and there seems to a be a pretty quiet but still present underlying tone that his career at United is on the ropes.
 

Devilton

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A worse player than Carrick? Not sure about that one.

Carrick on-form adds another dimension to the team so yes he is missed, but it is hard to miss what he currently brings to the side.

I'm concerned for Carrick. Ferguson seems to be rapidly losing faith in him and there seems to a be a pretty quiet but still present underlying tone that his career at United is on the ropes.
This is the impression I've got as well. Something's gone terribly wrong for Carrick in the last 12 months. The player we know he can be is replaced with a very tentative replacement who looks a shadow of his former self. He's gone into a shell, and refuses to come out again. I honestly can't remember the last game he fully expressed himself as the midfielder that brought him to the club and we all saw in that first season.

The worrying thing is he's not horrendous. It's not like he comes in and looks like shite. It almost like he doesn't dare to believe he was ever that good. The confidence has just been sapped out of him, and SAF not starting him just points to that being true even on the training field.

Fergie has always had patience with players, but given his age I do worry about Carricks long term future if we come up short this season. Surely Fergie has to address the midfield next year ( how long can we keep on relying on Scholes and Giggs???)
 

OneUnited24

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A worse player than Carrick? Not sure about that one.

Carrick on-form adds another dimension to the team so yes he is missed, but it is hard to miss what he currently brings to the side.

I'm concerned for Carrick. Ferguson seems to be rapidly losing faith in him and there seems to a be a pretty quiet but still present underlying tone that his career at United is on the ropes.
Sums it up for me. Maybe its just a confidence thing, he wasnt too bad vs Chelsea in the CS... but in his cameo today he didnt really seem like a player with a point to prove which does concern me
 

VoetbalWizard

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he has the quality to still be an addition to united but i really wonder if he has nightmares everynight of xavi and iniesta everynight.

carrick is still united squad quality but he's no where near the first team right now and especially with the form scholes is in, he won't be getting league games.
 

Shimo

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I'm a bit worried about how massive a difference it made to our performance when Scholes went off.
That was more to do with the team in general than Scholes coming off and Carrick taking his place - we just went into cruise mode and Carrick did a fair job.

Got into a nice shooting position and motioned for Giggs to pass to him but, for some reason Sir Ryan decided to do a bit on his own.

I don't think if Scholes was on the field it would have made that much of a difference to how we went down a couple gears.
 

SFraser

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The team looked very ragged after the triple sub. It was Vidic against the world for a while, and Vidic won.

Having said that, the last genuinely impressive performance from Carrick, for me, was at Anfield last season and that was an anomoly in an otherwise dodgy vein of form. Despite losing the match, and frankly being dominated, Carrick was just about the only player that seemed capable of playing football under such pressure.

The guy has immense talent, but he consistently puts in shocking performances. We have waited a year to see Carrick pull out of his slump and he hasn't, that is extemely bad news.
 

sglowrider

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Fergie always said that he takes a while to get into his stride. Hopefully he will be ready by march when it counts.
 

Devilton

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I think he'll get his chance against Everton next week as we'll probably play 4-3-3.
Everton is going to be a tough game for us. I would not put Carrick in that game unless we are comfortably leading. They aren't in red hot form, but for whatever reason they tend to lift their game against us. Also a bit worried of which Rooney will turn up. Last few seasons he tends to have poor games against them (and it's not like he's in form as is).

Scholes has to start. Without him it'll end up being a very tight game.
 

Devil may care

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Everton is going to be a tough game for us. I would not put Carrick in that game unless we are comfortably leading. They aren't in red hot form, but for whatever reason they tend to lift their game against us. Also a bit worried of which Rooney will turn up. Last few seasons he tends to have poor games against them (and it's not like he's in form as is).

Scholes has to start. Without him it'll end up being a very tight game.
I'm sure Scholes will start but I think we'll play a 3 man midfield with Scholes, Fletcher and Carrick, as I don't see Gibson or Anderson getting the nod and Park will be coming back from Iran just a couple of days before the game.
 

Ole's_toe_poke

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He's been not first choice since the Bayern defeats. Mainly due to Scholes' form. I'm surprised he hasn't been in the team yet. But we've played teams so far where a 3 man midfield hasn't been needed. Fletcher will always be first pick as the defensive option and with Scholes' form thus far there hasn't been any need to drop him. He'll return when we revert to 4-3-3 again I'm sure.
 

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The problem for Carrick is that Scholes is running the show at the moment. Fletcher, even when not playing up to his usual standard, covers most of the ground leaving Scholes to do whatever he likes. And it's working for Scholes. That is not really Carrick's game. For Carrick to get in, he may have to start playing exceptionally better than Fletcher, which obviously he is not, or Scholes have a dip in form so he can take his place. The older Scholes' legs get, the less chance there is of Carrick being the player who plays with him. Anyway, when the CL starts and there are more frequent games, Carrick will be playing because I doubt Scholes will play two games a week.
 

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I'm a bit worried about how massive a difference it made to our performance when Scholes went off.
Same as. With Fletcher doing ok but not close to his best, and Carrick playing similarly, we looked weak enough even though the game was over.
 

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Would have probably started Carrick yeserday, thought he done well against Chelsea and thought fletcher was nowhere near his best against Fulham thought the west ham match would have been ideal time to give Carrick some match time.
 

MThomas

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The problem for Carrick isn't that Scholes is performing at a very high level, nor is it that Fletcher has struck a great partnership next to him.

Carricks problem is himself, the fact that he hasn't been able to perform consistently at a high enough level for ages. Apart from a few excellent performances last season, it was the same frustrating Carrick, shying away from responsibility and looking miles off the pace.

I thought he had a very good charity shield match against Chelsea, so i was surprised to see him on the bench for the following game against Newcastle. Seeing how he performed for the reserves, i should've been more surprised about him performing well in the charity shield.
 

Москва2008

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Browsing through RedCafe I'm amazed that there's a 50,000+ post thread on Carrick dating back to April (during which time we've had 4 or 5 fixtures)

He's third choice centre-midfield. Big deal.
 

Stavros

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The problem for Carrick isn't that Scholes is performing at a very high level, nor is it that Fletcher has struck a great partnership next to him.
What great partnership? Scholes has been exemplary & fletcher is just covering up for him by running headless. Definitely not upto Fletcher's standards. He was far better last season. Carrick should definitely start ahead, IMO.