Michael Carrick - The unsung hero of Manchester United

Its surprising that it took more than 6 years at United for the so called pundits and fans to understand the genius of Michael Carrick. I am of the opinion that he still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. We tend to go by statistics and facts, so its high time we realised they don’t reveal the right picture.

Many make the mistake of comparing him to Paul Scholes. But he has never been a like for like with the “Ginger Prince”. All through his years at West Ham and Spurs, he’s never been a goal scorer or one who makes the sort of runs to the box the way Scholsey does. His range of passing also is eclipsed by the pass master, but where Carrick comes out on top is in his closing down of play when the opposition has the ball and the way he sees and intercepts their passes. And everyone will agree with me that he’s way better at tackling than Scholes.

The role played by Carrick in front of our back four is very crucial, especially considering the way United play with wingers on either side plus the galloping runs made by our full backs. He does the tireless job of preventing the opposition from exploiting the space left behind by our men going forward and quite often he does that at the further end of the field by his exceptional reading of the game. More often than not, he intercepts their play and puts good pressure when they have the ball preventing them from making a quick attack.

His distribution of play is one of the best in the Premier League, switching the play from right to left at will and also at bringing all of our attacking players into the picture but by small subtle passes. He may not have the assists or goals, but the part he plays in the build up cannot be overlooked.

Carrick is susceptible to giving the ball away at crucial areas and cruelly for him, more often thats what remains in the memories of many of the fans like the goal by Olic which allowed Bayern Munich to come back into the game and ultimately knock us out of the 2009/10 Champions League or the FA Cup semi-final against City where Toure scored to end our challenge. Sadly, that went on to define his performance for the respective season in many people’s minds and played a major role in getting the recognition he deserves, get delayed. This season also there was the goal by Saints after Carrick’s mistimed back pass but quite commendably Carrick put his hand up and took blame for the goal. Better sense prevailed as United went on to win the match and Carrick was spared.

Carrick’s feats this season has been even more outstanding considering how Scholes and Fletcher have been missing in action. The two of them are the best in their respective areas of strength. But Carrick has a mix of both these attributes and its so wonderful to see the United faithful at Old Trafford coming in with that chant for Carrick and that’s where I would like to end my article hoping he continues his services for the Red Devils till the end of his career.