Man-Utd-Michael-Carrick

Following United’s epic victory over noisy neighbours City on Wednesday, Wayne Rooney’s brilliance was once again hailed by all and rightly so. Rooney though, your ever-typical humble scouser was quick to divert the attention to ‘Super’  Darren Fletcher, exclaiming, rather romantically that he wouldn’t swap him for anyone in the world.  While that sentiment may not be entirely true there’s no doubt that Fletcher has become something of a hero at Old Trafford of late, a big game player who’s willingness to get stuck in and cover every blade of grass has seen his stock rise meteorically.

However when the cheering has died down and the dust settled on a rare vintage United performance, one of very few this season, one man could be forgiven for feeling a little hurt by Wazza’s words.  Michael Carrick’s performance on Wednesday was yet another example of just how good a player he actually is. His passing was, as usual, sublime and not only did he chip in with a goal, admittedly something of a rarity, but he was also busy getting involved in breaking up City attacks.

Carrick is one of the few players at Old Trafford who could claim with a degree of truth that he’s rarely been given the credit he deserves. Fletchers popularity this season has merely underlined just how Carrick can often go unnoticed even when he does exactly the job that’s asked of him. The Chelsea game was a case in point. Despite the defeat much was made of the fact that for long periods of the game, United bossed the midfield with Fletcher again receiving most of the accolades. Yet Carrick was just as impressive as his Scottish colleague, putting in some important challenges while once again spraying some perfect passes about the pitch.

It seems that ever since Carrick arrived at United he’s been fighting to prove that he’s truly good enough to be there. This is all the more remarkable when you look at his record since he’s arrived. Three league titles, a champions league winners’ medal, and a runners up one is hardly the rewards of an underachiever. From the start though Carrick seems to have always had his detractors, quick to praise his midfield partners rather than the man himself.

Fletcher, Hargreaves and even Anderson have all enjoyed hearing their names sung around Old Trafford a lot more than Carrick. It appears he may have suffered with comparisons to some of his more physical teammates. Hargreaves, before his injuries obviously, was one of the most fearless players to don a United shirt since Roy Keane left, his energy also seemed to galvanise the team. Anderson’s faults were excused by his youth, and his efforts received some would argue, slightly more praise than they’ve really warranted. Fletcher is now United’s midfield golden boy after years of uncertainty as to whether he was good enough.  All three players possess a certain aggressive ‘get stuck in’ nature that fans warm to more than the controlled creator that Carrick embodies.

Carrick has been criticised for everything from not being an England regular- never seemed to bother Steve Bruce- to not scoring enough goals-a criticism even Beckham used to receive at one point- to going missing when the team is struggling- although surely he’s not alone if the ‘team’ are struggling.  It seems many can forget or simply ignore the fact that Carrick is one of the best passers of the ball not only at Old Trafford but anywhere in the Premiership and can often dictate the pace of a game, which comes in particularly useful when your defending a narrow lead against an aggressive team and need someone to take the sting out of it.

While Carrick has at times been quiet this season, so have all of United’s players at some points, even Wayne Rooney has made, dare I say, the odd less influential appearance on occasion. Carrick may just have to fill the role of fall guy for some at United, the player who’s blameless if United win but the one to blame when they lose. I have a sneaky feeling that one day he may get the recognition he deserves of being a pretty good midfielder who happened to win quite a few trophies.

Read more of Justin Mottershead writings at his blog ‘Name on the Trophy