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Almost everybody says this, we say it to the extent that it becomes a self defeating statement. He can't be underrated anymore if everybody knows he's underrated.
To be fair, we have pumped about £170m into the middle since 2013 and struggled to be functional without him.
We could spend another £500 million but if we keep buying DM's who can't pass or in fact aren't a DM at all, he'll still be needed. That says more about our transfer targets than anything.
I think a lot of people don't realise, just having that third man in midfield is important to ANY midfielder in ANY team playing in ANY league today. Carrick's quality is not the sole reason why Herrera and Pogba are playing well, imo it's just simply having an extra man there. I'm not underrating Carrick because at the same time, this is a criticism to Herrera and Pogba too that the reason why they are able to function so well together, aside from all all technically gifted and having high game intelligence, it's having that extra body congesting the centre.
You had a point, but then said his role is that of an intelligent reader.
Fellani has shown he can more than hold his own when he plays at the deepest midfielder (in a midfield three). The problem stems from when we need creativity and more incision from him individually i.e he fails when as a no.10/higher up the pitch. I think as a midfielder, he has the basic skill set required, decent touch, can keep it under pressure and can release it to a good standard. I expect the onus of dictating play, recycling effective possession and creativity to come from Herrera and Pogba. Yes we'll lose Carrick's composure but I think we gain in pitch coverage and more physicality (which might result in more transitions of plays/counter attacking opportunities).
I think I fundamentally disagree with all of this. The absolutely crucial element of having a sitting midfielder behind a more adventurous front 2 is to be able to quickly and accurately move the call forward to those players before the opposition can react. Fellaini and Schneiderlin are utterly incapable of that, they don't have the technique, vision or passing range to pull it off. You put either of those two behind Pogba and Herrera and the whole thing breaks down because we can't get the ball to them quickly enough to really hurt teams.
Just no. We saw a midfield 3 without Carrick and it didn't work out too well. Carrick is the player that enables Pogba more freedom to do what he does best. Carrick' IQ and positioning is the single biggest reason Pogba can drift and search for the ball in certain spaces - there is no other reason - full stop.
Good grief. Unbelievable
Where did I claim to be a scout?
Impressive but also a tad scary. How many games can he be counted on to play at his age?
100% spot on, you can't just plug some destroyer in and expect it to function the same.
Whatever I'm going say next is pretty much a moot point, since I don't think we're ever gonna see those players take that deep lying role in place/instead of Carrick but I won't say it's as clear cut to say they can't. Schneiderlin's time here has been a massive failure but you can't say he doesn't have the ability. He played in a Poch and Koeman team that looked to dominate possession by controlling games on the ball and via pressing; he was a big part of that.
Carrick's mere presense or rather another body being in the midfield is the single biggest reason why we are playing more consistently imo. Carrick has undeniably contributed to that but it was obvious Pogba's iffy form was more down to having to play in a double pivot; it was asking more defensive responsibility from him whilst further away from positions where he's at his best (centre to third half of the opposition half). That's not even to mention that it was often Rooney or Mata in front of him, who are never going to help control the midfield in a traditional sense.
Apologies for quoting you out of context but this is more to reinforce my points above. The function will of course not be the same but a destroyer brings other qualities, which I think will benefit our team more in a different way.
I think you've gone too far, but essentially I do agree with the basic point that Carrick's presence as a sitting midfielder just adds a lot to this team and that any person sitting in that position would give the team something it didn't have before hand.
The position he is playing in and the role he is playing mean he could play more games than many think.
He didn't play as the anchor there though, he played a more advanced role ahead of Wanyama.
The game were he played in a double pivot with Herrera and we couldn't keep the ball (35% possession and 75% passing accuracy) and failed to get out attack involved in the game at all?
Completely agree with this.
Never said easily replaceable just think we have and should look to other options/try different dynamics because we're still not functioning as well as we should be. Again that's not entirely on Carrick. For all the possession we try to hold onto, as soon as the other team has the ball, it's down to players like Herrera, Valencia and occassionally Pogba, who are trying to actually affect the ball in that first phase; we're not doing enough as a team to shut down those moments enough and Carrick's position is a cupable reason.
Not going to look into the statistics but pretty sure in the Schneiderlin thread, it's been proved he was as deep as Wanyama and out-does him in passes, tackles, interceptions etc.
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I was about to post that as well LOL
LOL. Knew this would happen when I saw the team news.Time to test your theory today then.
I'm not confident.
Not even trusted at the base of the 3. Telling that he's gone for the better passer.
Was coming to quote myself but you did first.
