Cybereagles

Is it unfair to single out Carrick alone? He is a "quarterback" type of player (i.e. tactical and serene). He is more of a Pirlo, and is not a blood and thunder midfielder in the mold of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. Also, Carrick's midfield partners in the past 5 years have been: Cleverley, Anderson, an aged Scholes (after his legs "went"), Giggs (see Scholes), and someone who looks like Darren Fletcher but plays nothing like the 2007-2009 version of him following years of treatment on a debilitating bowel condition. Need I say more?

Can we blame a man trying to protect his defence alongside such midfield partners, while trying to restrain incessant assaults by gladiators like Messi, Ronaldo, Busquets, Toure, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Fernandinho, Matic, Fernando, Tiote, Cabaye, Khedira...etc?

well, you have a point there on most things,
but i always thought he as well as the others you mention are the reason we have been crying out for the club to get better midfielders
anyway i was looking forward to see him start together with Blind to check carefully

I would feel more secure seeing one of Blind and Carrick playing alongside Strootman (if he gets healthy) or Vidal...with Shawcross behind them in defence to take care of any opposition player foolish enough to make a run beyond Man Utd's midfield. Rojo looks more comfortable at LB than in CD.

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@the Mod who deleted my Fine Jersey FC crying thread...dis 1-2 pain you

Carrick was excellent yesterday. Even though RVP got MOM (because he scored two goals) Carrick was the one Man Utd player who looked composed, and did not keep giving the ball away.

That yesterday's match,

There should be another word for SMASH & GRAB

Another word for Luckiest

Another word for Phew

I don't know what we are playing again.. but we Grinding out these results esp. the 2-1 ones!

Hope we can sustain another 5 wins

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GaMe On

When Ferguson was in charge Man Utd used to play badly and grind out wins with last minute goals at places like Sunderland, Stoke, Derby, Charlton etc. No one called them "lucky" then. It was hailed as the "sign of a great team" and Ferguson was called a genius.

Is it a coincidence that Man Utd put together a winning streak and climbed up the table AFTER Carrick's return to the team?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... eturn.html

Manchester United are the best passers in the league after Michael Carrick's return
Michael Carrick returned to the Manchester United fold last month
His inclusion has coincided with five straight victories
Louis van Gaal's side are now the best passing team in the league


Michael Carrick is someone who refuses to waste, declines any sort of 50/50 and, ultimately, is the man to make Manchester United tick.

A midfielder whose influence has been overlooked time and again has proven since his return what Louis van Gaal had been missing. It is no coincidence that United have won all five of their Premier League games since the 33-year-old regained his fitness and place in the starting XI.

Because, when you look at the difficulties they previously endured, this is a season which threatened to peter out before it had even begun.

Player Carrick, Michael
Games Played 5
Minutes Played 450
Passes 375
Passing Accuracy 90.4
Passes, Successful Opp Half 168
Passing Accuracy in Opp Half 87.05
Tackles 9
Touches 421
Interceptions 7

Gone are the sights of United surrendering possession in the middle of the park, incapable of building any sort of momentum and failing to provide Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie with any sort of consistent service.
And while nowhere near their best at Southampton on Monday night, the Red Devils are a side reborn with Carrick beating the drum.

Since his first game of the season on November 5, United are on average:
The team to have completed the most passes per game – 580
The team to have retained possession the most – 60.5 per cent
The team to have completed the most accurate passes – 86.7 per cent

The influence of Carrick cannot be understated and is finally yielding the recognition it deserves.
‘It might look like a really simple thing but Michael Carrick is a very good passer of the ball forwards,’ Gary Neville said on Monday Night Football.

‘People probably didn’t like it a few weeks ago when I was a little critical of Daley Blind but United have missed this – the passes around the corner and the difference this makes in setting up an attack is incredible.’

that is where Fergie earned his money, these kinds of lucky wins, they became routine
in my opinion you make your luck, thats why after the Leicester injustice, LVG didnt bother talking about refs, but talked of the importance of closing down the match even with a slender lead, these things are no coincidence

now one person whos pissing me off is Gary Neville, his criticism is over the top, i never heard him utter such crap during Moyes' reign, he is going to eat his words

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he is becoming annoying

look, we were defending with Young and Valencia as fullbacks , and Koeman set Southampton to press us very very well, and it worked real good first half
Liverpool are going to do exactly the same, they wil press the defenders real hard from the get go and i suspect we will look awfull 1st half, my only hope is that they dont go ahead before half time.

At this moment i think it has little to do with training or physios or LVG methods - why - because even Ferguson used to have huge injury lists every season. Moyes came with his physios, same thing. Now LVG, same thing

My take is that Man Utd simple has loads of injury prone players.
People like Jones, Smalling, Rafael, Evans are simple crocks who have never ever played a full season, and lucky if they play half the season. Then the club also seems to like buying more crocks, Falcao - injury record, RVP - injury record, Rojo - injury record
not sure the injury record of people like Herrera, Blind, Felliani, but wont be surprised if they have bad injury records

On the other hand Chelsea seems to get rid of such players, thats why they sold Sturridge.
The one injry prone player they have Costa, he is the one who gets the injuries, nothing the physio department can do to stop him getting injured every now and again

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30404590

Manchester United: Van Gaal fitness changes queried by Phelan

Former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan says the new approach to fitness under Louis van Gaal could be the reason for the club's injury crisis.
United have suffered 43 injuries in five months, and Phelan has questioned the change in role for fitness coach Tony Strudwick.

He said: "They've brought in new people with a different way of doing things.
"Tony understood the ins and outs of how to keep players fit."

Mike Phelan was Sir Alex Ferguson's deputy but left Manchester United when David Moyes took over
The 52-year-old served on Sir Alex Ferguson's coaching staff for five years, winning five Premier League titles at United as player and assistant manager.

Now first-team coach at Norwich City, he has suggested the intensity of Van Gaal's training regime may have exacerbated an injury crisis that has seen players such as Michael Carrick, Phil Jones, Rafael and and Radamel Falcao face lengthy spells out.

Phelan told the International Business Times: "The intensity of training may be one thing - it may be too intense, or not intense enough - but obviously slight changes have been made with the present way of doing things.

"What's happened is a continuation of the same players getting injured all the time, so you have to look to the reasons why. I think Manchester United changed their thoughts on the fitness regime, they looked at it a bit differently."

He pointed to Van Gaal's decision to relieve fitness coach Strudwick of direct responsibility for the first team in favour of a more general role as a key factor.

"Tony Strudwick, who was operating as head of sports science, was involved day to day with the first team.
"He understood how to keep players ready for competition. Then suddenly they moved him sideways and did something completely different. That may have had an effect. That one area has changed."

Phelan is bitter ,the same players used to get injured when he was there.

Same was said about David Moyes and his backroom staff, now this

its the players who are just crocks. RVP is crock, Falcao is a crock, Rafael, Smalling, Jones, Evans, put these individuals in any club and they will spend most time in the injury list, thats the root problem

you are wicked.

You are right about Man Utd signing players with questionable injury records (RVP, Falcao etc). Even their rumoured next targets spend a lot of time in hospital (Strootman, Vidal). That is why I keep saying they should get Shawcross (never gets injured and will at least play 40 games a season).

Chelsea have been VERY fortunate with injuries this season. That is why they have managed to have such a settled back 4/team. If Man Utd's injury record was inflicted on them, it would be the equivalent of Terry, Cahill, Azpilucueta, Ivanovic, Luis Felipe, Matic, Fabregas, Mikel, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, and Diego Costa, all being injured simultaneously. Would Chelsea be the same with 11 players injured simultaneously (which has been the story of Man Utd's season). At most points in time this season Man Utd have had about 10 players injured.

sadly there seems to be a smoking gun here, Man U seems attracted to and keeps crocks in the squad especially the defenders they are all injury prone crocks who are even worse than RVP at times.
Di Maria is another one, Madrid wanted to stop him playing world cup, he ended up injured anyway, so expect to see him on the sidelines more often in future

Once again its true we are not playing the best way we can largely due to these massive injury list, but nobody else will care about this, you find Chelsea fans crying that they were missing Matic, or City wailing about just Aguero

Not forgetting Man Utd bought a well known injury prone Owen Hargreaves, and fans started blaming physios when his injuries resurfaced

Anderson also was another one bought when he had a bad injury record and injuries are what halted his career at Old Trafford

and as you say, the club is sniffing around more hospital cases like Vidal and Strootman, and also tried to get crock Vermaelen

ultimately, the fault lies with the club, they are responsible for this whole situation that the club finds itself in, its not bad luck, its self made

We should go for Bahimi. That guy is a beast!!!

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Only two things in life are certain - death and taxes. But there is one other unpleasant certainty: criticism. No one escapes it entirely and often our careers, our emotional stability, even our happiness depends on how we react to it."By Benjamin Franklin"

Who is Bahimi?

i think he means Brahimi, the Porto guy

Difficult match tomorrow at OT vs Liverpool, its never an easy fixture nomatter how bad Liverpool are, and the weather will be bad, so dreadful performance highly likely

But this time Man Utd is really not playing well, and talk of Phil Jones starting makes my heart skip
I dont even know what to expect and will take a draw and if we lose it must not be a morale sapping drubbing, coz after this game there is chance to keep momentum

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@the Mod who deleted my Fine Jersey FC crying thread...dis 1-2 pain you

you know what man, i am actually not convinced by this hype being peddled that the return of Carrick is responsible for all the wins Man Utd has been getting, i think its purely coincidence and nothing else.

The like of Gary Neville analyse football in a very flawed way, they seem to want to overhype Carrick's contribution and they continually ignore his weaknesses, just ask yourself why are teams finding it so easy to create chances ever since Carrick returned
Just highlighting 3 or 4 instances where Carrick makes interceptions, yet each match is 90 mins just shows whats wrong about this whole facade.

i remain totally unconvinced

you see the problem with stats, they keeps saying Man Utd are the best passers in the league, but when you look at Man Utd play especially in the last 3 games, can you say Man Utd are the best passers ?
LVG has been complaining that Man Utd is not playing very well, i suspect majority of those best passes are backpasses to De Gea, honestly

Man Utd's record since Carrick returned to the team:

6 wins in 6 games
13 goals scored
3 goals conceded

Man Utd's record before Carrick returned to the team:

3 wins in 10 games
17 goals conceded
14 goals scored