United POTY Series: Contender #4 – Michael Carrick

Michael Carrick has divided opinion, many have said he wasn’t ‘United quality’ as well as criticising the direction of his passing. However as the career of Paul Scholes comes to to an end for the second time, Michael Carrick has certainly shown his quality and composure on the ball to become one of the first names on the team sheet.

Carrick isn’t a defender, isn’t a box to box midfielder, he isn’t a goal scoring midfielder like Lampard or Gerrard, or indeed Scholes in his day. Michael isn’t the quickest of player and for this reason, it is easy to over look his qualities and contributions.

But what he does bring is that composure on the ball, a defensive quality and an unselfishness that allows players around him, such as Scholes, Cleverley, Kagawa, and more recently Wayne Rooney to express themselves and add flair to the game.

Along with this composure, he has superb vision and quality to pick a pass, whether it be a cheeky 5 yard pass into space, or a 50 yard ball over the top behind the defenders, and here lies his quality.

It has been said for over 10 years that Gerrard and Lampard can’t play together but due to their personalities and characters, England manager after England manager has selected them. This year however, as Carrick has started to get the praise he is due, so has his place in the England squad. Not that this really matters a great deal to me, however it is an indication of the level of performance that Carrick has put in.


It’s taken him 7 years to get the credit that he is due, and not to mention one of the most catchy chants to be belted from the terraces for a while. Sung by the fans, Rio, Danny Welbeck, Sir Alex, and strangely, City’s Micah Richards. But it really is “hard to believe its not Scholes, it’s Carrick”

Best Moment: As the season drew to a close and a potential tough game away to Stoke posed as a potential stumbling block, Carrick opened the scoring in the 4th minute to set United on their way to a 2-0 victory and one step closer to the final.

About Ben 128 Articles
27 year old football writer from South Yorkshire. United fan and Season Ticket holder in the Sir Alex Ferguson stand.

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