Carrick's Last Game?

Adebesi said:
Most people would agree one of the big problems weve had this season is our squad has been exposed as too thin. Obviously this is something we need to resolve by buying more players. But I dont think letting one of our most experienced - and still one of our best - midfielders go at the same time is going to help with that problem. We need to be adding names, not clearing more people out. He will only be used sparingly but when he is called on will be worth his salary. This isnt about setting an example to the kids or inspiration or teaching incoming players what it means to play for United or any of that intangible stuff, its about the fact he is still a quality player.
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Ye I agree with that - I think last summer when the Schmidfield came in most expected that Carrick would play only a bit part this season and then probably move on, but in the end he has been our best performing midfielder yet again.

In fact England are crazy not to take him to the Euros but then he has been under utilised at national level all his career.
 
Adebesi said:
Carrick has been arguably our best midfielder this season, as he has many seasons. Obviously that is a problem. But the solution to it isnt to get rid of him. Obviously it would be different if Schweinsteiger had more to offer, but he doesnt. I think Schneiderlin will be better next season as well, which will probably mean Carrick is less important, but he is still a good insurance policy to have, Id definitely give him an extension.

At the end of the day I trust Mourinho in this (assuming of course he comes in), if Mourinho doesnt see the need to keep him Id be fine with that, my expectation would be he'll want to have him around.
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Keeping him around while Schweini is also lumbering in and out is going to clutter things if we are buying a CM and persevering with Schneiderlin, Blind and Herrera as well as trying to blood Fosu-Mensah. That is 6 CM's for 2 spots and that is of course assuming we finally flog Fellaini. If Schweini fancy's heading off the the MLS then I'd keep Carrick, but not both of them.
 
Clutter is the least of my worries. But basically, if that is an issue, our best and most experienced (in this league) performer is not the place to start spring cleaning, even if he is old.
 
Adebesi said:
Clutter is the least of my worries. But basically, if that is an issue, our best and most experienced (in this league) performer is not the place to start spring cleaning, even if he is old.
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No, ideally we'd start with Schweinsteiger but unless he wants to go I think that is unlikely. The problem is that Carrick can only function in a proper 3 man midfield where he has two others to run for him as he's practically a statue now and gets exposed in the double pivot.
 
I think if Van Gaal had been told he was staying then a 1 year extension would have happened by now. Maybe the club is seeing what the next manager wants to do regarding Carrick?
 
Bizzare to see people try and claim that Carrick has been one of our better players this season. He's been awful.

5.4 average rating atm, that's as bad as Rooney and worse than Rojo.

The time is clearly right to get rid.
 
Begging for Carrick to stay is just a big indicator of how standards have fallen and fans have accepted this happening.

We should be signing the best midfielders in the world in their prime and making space for them in our squad. Not keeping oldies around the squad who are clearly past their sell by date.
 
I hope it will be his last game for us and he can go out with an FA Cup medal, good servant over the 10 years but clearly not good enough anymore and I'd rather someone else take his place on the bench next season.
 
Raees said:
Begging for Carrick to stay is just a big indicator of how standards have fallen and fans have accepted this happening.

We should be signing the best midfielders in the world in their prime and making space for them in our squad. Not keeping oldies around the squad who are clearly past their sell by date.
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Don't think anyone is suggesting that we keep Carrick and make him play 45 full matches next season because he is the best we have got.
People are talking more on the lines of, he is a useful asset and still is playing ok ish and can be useful when used sparingly and so 1 yr deal is no big thing for us, if he is fine with a reduced role at the club.

There is a difference between, "It is ok if he signs an extension for 1 yr" and "This is the midfielder we all want in team so badly"
 
Keep Carrick, he will be good for 25 games or so. Jettison Schweinsteiger, he's past it, totally injury prone and only came for a huge last pay packet. I've been hugely disappointed in his contribution.
 
Are you sure that he hasn't retired yet?
 
togg said:
Keep Carrick, he will be good for 25 games or so. Jettison Schweinsteiger, he's past it, totally injury prone and only came for a huge last pay packet. I've been hugely disappointed in his contribution.
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Yep. It was always a risk, this one didn't pay off, not last season and would be very surprised if it's any different next. Shame, but no regrets for the price, would have great if it'd worked out.
 
Is he getting a testamonial? Been here 10 years this summer.
 
hopefully we won't extend him his contract, teams getting rid off Lampard/gerrard/Terry we should do the same, no time for sentiment, time for youth to catch up hopefully rooney's next.. TFM, Pereira + BFS,Schneiderlin, Herrera, it's their time, and we have a place for another world class midfielder to come in, wouldnt even mind someone potentially brilliant, martial-esque.. Bazoer, Tielemans or someone more proven like Andre Gomes / Xhaka. Carrick should definitely go, he's no Scholes.. and even scholes / giggs could have finished earlier..
 
Fine player for us over the past decade or so but those pictures of him on the bus last week have left a real sour taste for me. I'd expect it from the youngsters and never really expected too much of Rooney, Valencia and Young to be honest. But I thought he was a proper leader and to see him right in the middle of that shambles was really disappointing.

I know it isn't fair to make comparisons to great players/characters like Keane, Robson, Schmeichel, Ronaldo, Scholes, Vidic and the many more who we've seen in recent times, but Carrick played with a lot of those names and should have been taking charge in that situation, both on the bus and in the changing room before kick off.
 
diarm said:
Fine player for us over the past decade or so but those pictures of him on the bus last week have left a real sour taste for me. I'd expect it from the youngsters and never really expected too much of Rooney, Valencia and Young to be honest. But I thought he was a proper leader and to see him right in the middle of that shambles was really disappointing.

I know it isn't fair to make comparisons to great players/characters like Keane, Robson, Schmeichel, Ronaldo, Scholes, Vidic and the many more who we've seen in recent times, but Carrick played with a lot of those names and should have been taking charge in that situation, both on the bus and in the changing room before kick off.
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Why what was he doing on the bus?
 
Not adverse to seeing him go but would much prefer to have additions/replacements in place before allowing him to leave. We're scraping the barrel as it is in squad depth/size - especially when considering our injuries.
 
Bestie07 said:
He must have been hoping to play for Newcastle when he leaves us, bad for him they got relegated.
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If he wanted to he still could presumably, Im sure they would still pay him pretty decent money, not as good as if he was in the PL but presumably he has enough financial comfort at his age to take a pay cut to play for a team he loves, and if they get him on a free they would have leeway to make a decent offer.

I always like the idea of players going back to the teams they loved as kids but never played for. Like people always said Scholes would with Oldham.
 
Can't see him leaving, especially with Schweinsteiger currently fighting with his knee.

We could even sign Kroos with Mario and I think, I would still want to have Carrick in the team, just in case.
 
It's so annoying to see such an amazing talent lack ordinary football skills that could have taken him so much higher. I mean, the guy is pretty tall and should be able to score some headers from time to time. Did he ever do that during his career??? A bit more aggressive - get stuck in - and accelerate towards goal and take a shot once in a while. This rarely happened.

I would have liked to see his ability overview presented in one of those spider web stats. Very unbalanced midfielder. No wonder he was deployed as a defender at times.

I really appreciate Carrick for what he's done and he should be mentioned in a top 10 list of passers during the past 15 years. I don't think we found a matching partner for him since Scholes left.
 
Adebesi said:
If he wanted to he still could presumably, Im sure they would still pay him pretty decent money, not as good as if he was in the PL but presumably he has enough financial comfort at his age to take a pay cut to play for a team he loves, and if they get him on a free they would have leeway to make a decent offer.

I always like the idea of players going back to the teams they loved as kids but never played for. Like people always said Scholes would with Oldham.
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Would definitely like to see Rooney going to Everton :lol:. (Although he has already played for them).
 
Carrick is still top drawer but any player would struggle the aimless way we play. I'd agree there must be younger versions out there but they - and their agents - would take some convincing that this club can rise again.
 
Raees said:
Begging for Carrick to stay is just a big indicator of how standards have fallen and fans have accepted this happening.

We should be signing the best midfielders in the world in their prime and making space for them in our squad. Not keeping oldies around the squad who are clearly past their sell by date.
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I don't think it's impossible to have both. Carrick has been dependable as always this season and should be given an extension - his role will be in the squad but not a starting CM.

You can also look to bring in the world's best CMs to be starters. A lot in the papers about Kroos which I would like to see. Carrick is a nice sub to come on for 70+ mins and keep ball and can deputize at CB in emergencies.

Schweinsteiger can do one.
 
If we have a new manager comes next season and Carrick would not be in his plan, then I can understand. However, if LVG stays and Carrick being let go, this is a disaster. Carrick's still evidently a very good squad player to have and has been saving grace for LVG this last 2 seasons.
 
Carrick has been by far and away our best midfielder under LVG. So if LVG stays and Carrick goes it will go down as one of his most baffling transfer decisions, and that's saying something.
 
hobbers said:
Carrick has been by far and away our best midfielder under LVG. So if LVG stays and Carrick goes it will go down as one of his most baffling transfer decisions, and that's saying something.
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Nah, I disagree. Last season Herrera and Fellaini were much better than Carrick, and although both have been a lot worse this season, Carrick hasn't done enough this season either to overtake Herrera/Fellaini from last season.
 
Adebesi said:
Why what was he doing on the bus?
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He was right in the middle of that mess of youngsters, giggling and squealing on the floor between the seats while the bottles were being thrown at the windows. There are selfies and videos on here or a simple google search away. Borthwich-Jackson looked the only one of them who looked to have an ounce of common sense and professionalism. You'd expect a bit of nonsense from the younger lads but it pissed me off to see Carrick in there instead of standing up as a leader and keeping the youngsters focused.
 
LennonNL said:
Nah, I disagree. Last season Herrera and Fellaini were much better than Carrick, and although both have been a lot worse this season, Carrick hasn't done enough this season either to overtake Herrera/Fellaini from last season.
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Disagree. Our best games last season was with Carrick in the pivot role. Herrera and Fellaini might have few awesome games, but the Carrick was much more influential.

This season Carrick declined even more, still he offered calmness and composure into our midfield with Bastian regular injuries. Problem is LVG used the 2 midfield formation which Carrick is known bad for. Carrick's preferred position is deep pivot, with players around do the dirty job for him to pick the right moment for ball interception. Asking him to be more mobile and physically combative was not good idea back then and worst idea now that he aged and his legs are gone. Can't solely blame Carrick for LVG's mismanagement.
 
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@LennonNL How you can compare the likes of Herrera and Fellaini to Carrick is beyond me. Not only do they play in different positions in the midfield, but both Herrera and Fellaini have had way too many weak performances this season. Carrick has yet another season shown his important to us and that he's still quality. We can't get rid of him without getting a worthy replacement.
 
LennonNL said:
Nah, I disagree. Last season Herrera and Fellaini were much better than Carrick, and although both have been a lot worse this season, Carrick hasn't done enough this season either to overtake Herrera/Fellaini from last season.
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Carrick pretty much defines the LVG approach to football. Fellaini and Herrera were influential in the spells last season when we actually played some good attacking football, but this season they've been dreadful on the whole.

Carrick has also had a shit season, in terms of individual performance, but our results have been much better with him in the side than without. Can't say the same for Fellaini and Herrera.
 
I'm surprised that Jose wouldn't want Carrick tbh
 
Mr.Kaya said:
@LennonNL How you can compare the likes of Herrera and Fellaini to Carrick is beyond me. Not only do they play in different positions in the midfield, but both Herrera and Fellaini have had way too many weak performances this season. Carrick has yet another season shown his important to us and that he's still quality. We can't get rid of him without getting a worthy replacement.
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Well for starters, I'm not directly comparing the three players. He said Carrick has been our best midfielder with LVG, I disagreed and said that would be Herrera or Fellani, who are still midfielders aren't they?

Herrera and Fellaini were immense last season. Carrick had an alright season too, but they were with out a doubt our best outfield players. This season, all three have been poor and frustrating, therefore by the laws of averages Herrera/Fellaini have been the best midfielders under LVG.
 
charlenefan said:
I'm surprised that Jose wouldn't want Carrick tbh
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Mou also favors double pivot system. Mou also prefers high energized, physical combative midfielders. If Mou gets the job, it's understandable he wouldn't want to be stuck in a situation where he has to find playing time for Carrick even as a squad players.

If this is LVG's decision though, feck logic.
 
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