He is a very underrated player, he is crucial to our team and has looked very good recently. He always makes crucial interceptions and it is good news he has signed a new deal. He has the winning mentality in him as well. Fletcher signing and Anderson signing is also good news. The sad thing is, is that scholes will likely retire . He is a great player and I wish he could stay. But his likely departure explains our 2 or 3 signings. I have a feeling there will be a couple of others leaving. Possibly Brown sadly and Gibson. Owen likely will also be leaving to. Still we have a great squad and a great group of players. It is best to keep their mentality and spirit together for many years to come. Ferguson is again building another great side which will include Nani, Valencia, Hernandez, Rooney, Rafael, Fabio, Smalling, Anderson, Evans, Welbeck, Cleverly possibly Pogba and Morrison as the core of the club. We have a very good young team with great experienced heads to steady them. The future is bright, the future is United .
Yes, Carrick's form has really picked up of late, and most importantly, it seems he can produce his best form in the big games. Up until recently he was a peripheral figure against the best midfields, but his performances in the Chelsea tie have been excellent. I'll admit I was starting to lose faith in him around the turn of the year despite being a fervent Carrick-defender in the past. I'm glad he's proving people wrong, and I hope it continues.
I'm hoping that this is proving my suspicions right about Carrick and Scholes not being able to play together in the centre of a 442 now Scholes has dropped deeper. From 07-09 Carrick seemed to thrive on the extra space he had when Scholes was playing in an attacking role. But now when the two of them play together, Scholesy is often even deeper than Carrick, so when Carrick gets the ball he's facing both opposition midfielders at once. I lost count of the times Carrick received the ball against Liverpool and was immediately closed down by Lucas and Gerrard, and our attack broke down. The same thing happened against the Chavs in the league after they packed the midfield. But against Chelsea in the last couple of games we've had Giggs and Rooney occupying the midfield giving Carrick more time on the ball to pick the right pass and make a contribution. It's getting to the point where we might not even miss Scholesy if he retires at the end of this season as long as Giggs keeps going strong in big games. Scholesy's passing and vision is still unmatched, but he doesn't get forward often enough now, and we're never a team that has looked very comfortable relying on a deep lying playmaker, particularly without a top class attacking midfielder.
I've always admired Carrick's link up play with our strikers and the way he's capable of supplying those long balls to our front men. A great example will be the thrashing against Roma, he completely dominated the center of the park. If SAF decides to bring in another midfielder then both Fletcher and Carrick will be needing to fight it out for a place in the starting line up. Scholes is likely to hang up his boots at the end of the season, but Scholes and Giggs have both symbolised everything about United.
I remember when we beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates last season, we really started to dominate when Carrick and Scholes switched. At first, Carrick was playing a more advanced role, and Scholes was deeper, and we struggled to impose ourselves. But when the two swapped roles, we passed them off the park. I think Carrick is better suited to a deeper role, because his defensive work is better than Scholes's. His interceptions and ability to track midfield runners was crucial last night.
Definitely agree. I can only think that Scholes is moving deeper cos he's no longer quick enough to handle how quickly he gets closed down in the attacking playmaker role. Probably why we he didn't play at all against Chelsea's packed midfield in either leg.
I still believe we need another midfielder to freshen things up. I don't buy this rubbish that we don't have money because we do and even have had a 20m bid for De Gea accepted. It is just the right midfielder we need to find and that is not sneidjer.
