Carrick really has done anything since he left Spurs
MW
Fergie has converted Carrick into a holding player - which he never was at Spurs (more a deep-laying attacking mid)
Carrick really has done anything since he left Spurs
MW
not really. he was always more of a holding midfielder for us, i only remember him scoring one goal for us aswell
I don't understand why he's an absolute shadow of what he once was. Why has everything gone so wrong since his move?
I don't think Carrick has gone from amazing to awful, I do think that Man Utd's midfield as a whole has gone from good to average though, and Carrick is the man who links the defence to midfield, if the rest of the midfield are doing nothing with the ball it means Carrick looks as bad as they do. He was never that good, he always kept the ball moving well and has good passing technique and a good first touch, which I think he still has to a decent level
Fletcher is much, much worse, but he can run a lot and 'get stuck in' so gets let off as we're in England and running is more important than anything to many fans
I don't think Carrick has gone from amazing to awful, I do think that Man Utd's midfield as a whole has gone from good to average though, and Carrick is the man who links the defence to midfield, if the rest of the midfield are doing nothing with the ball it means Carrick looks as bad as they do. He was never that good, he always kept the ball moving well and has good passing technique and a good first touch, which I think he still has to a decent level
Fletcher is much, much worse, but he can run a lot and 'get stuck in' so gets let off as we're in England and running is more important than anything to many fans
Nearly as absurd as the ol' 'if Fletcher played against Barca it'd have been a different game'
Oh gawd yeah fully agreed, Fletcher will not be winning anything for his passing but much like G Neville, whilst not being the most gifted of footballers, they're pure never say die attitude cannot be bought.
The United fans that constantly **** off Carrick and Fletcher and always want them replaced with 'flavour of the month' would soon realise what they do if they wasn't there.
But as you say, a team like Arsenal probably need a player like Fletcher more than one like Carrick. But Fletcher wasn't the missing link against Birmingham, that's absurd! Nearly as absurd as the ol' 'if Fletcher played against Barca it'd have been a different game'
I dunno, I didn't think the problem in the game was Birmingham's ball retention or chance creation, they raised their game a bit that day but weren't exactly a constant threat on Arsenal's goal, the problem was more Arsenal's creativity imo, which wasn't at it's best.
I think the main reason you're noticing it on that day is Song literally had arguably his worst game of the season and so our DM that day was missing entirely as he was miles below his average. But that is a one off, he's one of the most consistent performers usually.
Possibly, but let's face it, Wenger is unlikely to employ a player with Fletcher's technical limitations in the first team, his priorities are miles in the other direction. Although I do agree that a mad runner would be lovely to have, just so long as he's a decent technician too