[Rake]

Carrick at CB next to Smalling anyone? I think we should at least give it a try

 

[darioterios]

and those starting in front at United

who?

 

[darioterios]

Carrick at CB next to Smalling anyone? I think we should at least give it a try

the last person you want to maintain a high line is Michael Carrick

 

[The Purist]

He's 34, was always going to happen. Will still play plenty of games and rotate with bastian, but he's not first choice anymore. Great squad option to have though, considering he's a better player then any other midfielder bar fabregas and matic in the league (and those starting in front at United).

I'll have whatever you're on mate.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Louie loves Carrick. I'd imagine he'll play a lot of games if he stays fit. He just won't be automatically first choice anymore. Nor should he be at 34 years of age.

 

[krazyrobus]

Major flaw in Carrick that doesn't put him in top tier is that he didn't stand up and be counted when the going is getting tough. He's just not a big enough personality to put his stamp on a final the way the best of the best did. So I rank him tier 3.

Tier 1 being absolute maestros Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo
Tier 2 being your Scholes Gerrard and Lampards

 

[RedRonaldo]

Coming towards the end of his career now so how would people rank him amongst the all time Premier League midfielders... Just in the tier below the likes of Keane, Scholes, Vieira etc ?

I'd probably have Schole, Keane and Vieira as the absolutely top top tier...
Then Yaya, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Fabregas just behind...
Then follow closely by Carrick, Alonso, Matic, Essien etc

 

[darioterios]

Major flaw in Carrick that doesn't put him in top tier is that he didn't stand up and be counted when the going is getting tough. He's just not a big enough personality to put his stamp on a final the way the best of the best did. So I rank him tier 3.

Tier 1 being absolute maestros Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo
Tier 2 being your Scholes Gerrard and Lampards

you can say that, but I don't think his job is for those moments. like you don't expect to have Busquets to do that urging in the team. the whole respected Juventus midfield (all of Pogba, Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio mind you) could not do much in the last UCL final against Barca, let along a much inferior United midfield against Barca's midfield in their prime

actually when things got tough, he was the only remaining stable midfielder, he confidently responded to SAF's appeal. That's enough for me

 

[krazyrobus]

you can say that, but I don't think his job is for those moments. like you don't expect to have Busquets to do that urging in the team. the whole respected Juventus midfield (all of Pogba, Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio mind you) could not do much in the last UCL final against Barca, let along a much inferior United midfield against Barca's midfield in their prime

actually when things got tough, he was the only remaining stable midfielder, he confidently responded to SAF's appeal. That's enough for me

I don't expect a blustering Roy Keane Turin 99 performance and i'm not even looking at the Barca finals because he was playing against two tier 1 midfielders(and another to probably cement his place there as well) in their prime. I just felt his game suffered when we came under pressure in particular against Liverpool and Chelsea. We would start well, maybe grab a lead and then there would be inevitable pressure and instead of being a quietly influential platform he would be wasteful in possession like the rest of the team.

 

[11101]

Coming towards the end of his career now so how would people rank him amongst the all time Premier League midfielders... Just in the tier below the likes of Keane, Scholes, Vieira etc ?

Second tier with the likes of Gerrard.

Top tier being Scholes, Keane, Viera, Zidane etc. and Xavi being out on his own in front of the lot.

He was never quite capable of exerting himself against the very best, probably down to his personality/mentality more than his ability. He will also never be mentioned in these comparisons in 10 years time because of that.

 

[iBoss]

I really want all of our CM's playing at once

Will be difficult to leave players out.

 

[darioterios]

I don't expect a blustering Roy Keane Turin 99 performance and i'm not even looking at the Barca finals because he was playing against two tier 1 midfielders(and another to probably cement his place there as well) in their prime. I just felt his game suffered when we came under pressure in particular against Liverpool and Chelsea. We would start well, maybe grab a lead and then there would be inevitable pressure and instead of being a quietly influential platform he would be wasteful in possession like the rest of the team.

I think he played well against Chelsea most of the time. against Liverpool with everything thrown out of the window, with the end to end football we played then, wouldn't be a surprise. heck even Vidic would lose almost all of his cool there

 

[bosnian_red]

who?

Herrera, Schweinsteiger and now schneiderlin? Though I don't even think schneiderlin is better then him, but he has a different skill set. We definitely have the best crop of midfielders in the league though, and none of city's or arsenals and definitely not Liverpools apart from cazorla from arse would get much of a look in.

 

[darioterios]

Herrera, Schweinsteiger and now schneiderlin? Though I don't even think schneiderlin is better then him, but he has a different skill set. We definitely have the best crop of midfielders in the league though, and none of city's or arsenals and definitely not Liverpools apart from cazorla from arse would get much of a look in.

will give you Schweini, definitely not the others

 

[Bwuk]

Still of the opinion despite our new signings he's our best midfielder.

Having genuine rotation options should help Carrick as well, since we won't completely rely on him.

 

[RedOldBoy]

Would love to see a midfield trio of Carrick-Schweini-Herrera with Bastian helping to create space for the other two to operate in, but obviously Carrick is 33-34 and he is most likely to begin in the very important fixtures rather than be a standard choice week in week out. Then comes Schneiderlin, still only 24 and bound to improve especially under lVG's guidance.

 

[Pexbo]

Still of the opinion despite our new signings he's our best midfielder.

Having genuine rotation options should help Carrick as well, since we won't completely rely on him.

I'm with you on that one. Obviously only because of question marks about what Schweinsteiger we are getting but as things stand he's the first player on the team sheet for me when fit.

 

[Dobba]

He'll be looking around the plane at Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Herrera and thinking "Finally".

 

[darioterios]

still the leading Devils, no question. No matter what