Carrick signs until 2014... and it isn't with another club

Regarding Carrick only someone who knows absolutely nothing about football I.e. The artist formally known as Nick would dis-credit how much of a factor he was in our 3 titles wins on the bounce

Whilst there's no disputing his form as considerably dipped over the last 2 years I've no problem him signing on again

I still remain convinced that we'll sign at least one midfielder in the summer so if that means Carrick only then plays a back up role it's worth keeping him around. He does the ugly side of our game I.e. Sitting in front of the back four intercepting opposition passes and like most things that has to be explained to the half whits on this forum if Fergie wants him to stay then he's obviously doing that job better than they give him credit for
 
not really. he was always more of a holding midfielder for us, i only remember him scoring one goal for us aswell

Yes, he was always used as a holding midfielder at Spurs. In match day programme interviews, he kept repeating how his idol was Claude Makelele.

Used to love watching him play. I've got great memories of him waltzing into the Arsenal box, dribbling around 3 players and the goalie, only to narrowly miss.

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 understand why he's an absolute shadow of what he once was. Why has everything gone so wrong since his move?

Erm explain? Again since singing with United he's been fundamental in 3 title wins and the Champions League (remember his two goals against Roma for instance)

Seems so many people on this forum don't remember anything past 5 days :confused:
 
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

You should know more than anyone how important Fletcher is in the big games, when you need someone to do the dirty work and keep chasing for 90 minutes. To call him just a runner is daft.

Fletcher against Arsenal over the years has been invaluable, you could have done with a 'runner' against Birmingham.
 
Yeah, I'm not commenting on the value of a runner in our league, they are valuable, but as a footballer, Carrick is a hell of a lot better than Fletcher. The amount of really, really poor passes from Fletcher in most games is so much more than you expect from a pro. Some of his passing is inexplicably poor.

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'
 
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.
 
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'd say some of that is fair, this season Fletcher has been well off form also, your evaluation of him as a player though is highly underrating him though because he's been pivotal in 90% of the games we've beaten your lot in so if all it takes is a runner who gets stuck in to nulify your team then Arsenal have bigger problems than United

Carricks best games always seem to come when he's playing alongside Scholes, take Tuesday night for example he was very good in the first half but as Scholes tired Carrick himself dipped as well and seeing as the majority of this season he's been paired with an under performing Fletcher it's little wonder he and our midfield in general has struggled especially away from home when you're under more pressure

For United fans to be so overly critical of Carrick is a joke IMO when the likes of Anderson have contributed virtually nothing to United compared to Carrick

Like I said Fergie will sign a midfielder in the summer and that will either mean no more Carrick or Fletcher week in week out or a permanent switch to 4-3-3 with the new signing, Carrick and Fletcher in the midfield with Nani, Valencia and Rooney as the front 3. All it will take IMO is a top class midfielder coming into our team and we'll be a genuine force again and with a top class midfielder comes greater movement which will allow Carrick if he's in the team to display his passing game again like he did in his first 3 seasons
 
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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.

Spot on, and it's these fans that in the summer we saying we should have been signing James bloody Milner. Bet they wanted Stephen Ireland as well :p
 
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'

Hmmmm I didn't see that edit in my reply.

Against Birmingham they were keeping the ball from you in midfield for parts of the first half, yeah that's right Birmingham keeping the ball from your midfield. You needed someone chasing them down and doing the dirty stuff because you were losing ground to them.

So yes, you needed a Fletcher against Birmingham, it may well have been a different game against Barca, simply for the fact we didn't have anyone doing the donkey work so they passed it around a very static Scholes and Carrick.
 
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, and general lethargy across the whole team, which a guy like Fletcher may have upped a bit, but Arsenal are more than capable of having 1 lazy game in 5. (let's not forget B'hams winner was ridiculous and had it gone to ET, Arsenal probably had a bit more in the tank)

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.
 
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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.

That's exactly it, they raised their game because they knew they couldn't outplay you so they did the basics and it paid off, Arsenal were missing someone fighting to get the ball back and if you can't see how Fletcher would have helped do that you obviously don't watch Fletcher enough.
 
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

p.s. I'm not slagging Fletcher although it may seem so, he's a very valuable player for you lot but sometimes you just expect more when he gets the ball
 
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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

You had one, you let him go :p
 
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