For the last few weeks months, there have been numerous pundits and bloggers coming out in defence of Manchester United holding man Michael Carrick. Everyone talks about where United would be without Robin van Persie’s goals, perhaps because it’s more measurable (not that I think they’re meaningful stats anyway). What about where we’d be sitting without Michael Carrick?
I’m hardly saying that he’s the best holding midfielder in the league, but he’s pretty darn close. Let’s have a look at some stats between some of the other similarly positioned midfielders in the top few clubs.
First of all, I’ll just say that statistics are only useful to a certain extent and there are tonnes of factors (i.e. possession, playing style, surrounding players etc.) that would skew these numbers in varying ways. Because of this, I figured choosing players from lower teams, despite statistically looking adequate if not better in some cases, just wouldn’t be as logical to compare.
You’re probably looking at the table now and thinking it perhaps makes a bigger case for Arteta being underrated than it does for Carrick. While he too probably doesn’t get held up as high as he should in talks of Premier League midfielders, I’ll leave Julien to talk him up.
Let’s say for the purpose of this argument that Arteta is the best. Carrick might not beat him in too many categories, but the numbers are relatively similar, especially when you’re comparing them to the other three guys in here. The numbers are pretty consistent with the ones he produced last year, already bettering his assist tally in a few less matches, and could be even more impressive once the season’s done.
There’s really not much to argue here, Carrick is a real quality player and is a huge reason why United are top of the table. He’s not flashy, he just does the essential things, and he does them well. Last season Fergie was extremely complimentary about him, saying he can go toe to toe with the best of them, and this season he has surely concreted those claims.
That gaping hole left by the seemingly irreplaceable Scholes, the one that United fans and pundits were claiming was the biggest weakness in the squad, has surely been muted somewhat.
Carrick has stepped up when we needed him to most, a lot which should be owed to SAF and his confidence in the midfielder, and now rather than worrying about someone to fill that position, the only worry is who would fill it should he be injured. We do have a lot of versatility in the squad, with the likes of Jones, Anderson, and even Rooney all capable of filling that role for a match here and there.
After listening to BBC’s Red Wednesday the last few weeks, I’ve got to agree with the argument that a younger prodigy seems like the next logical step. Pogba was going to be that guy, and maybe SAF was so bitter about that debacle that he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of “needing to be replaced”. Thus no one was purchased and we’re not exactly struggling because of it.
We do have some youth talent that could develop, but someone who’s a bit more experienced that could slot easily in to the starting rotation would be a good option. Be it a Kevin Strootman, Victor Wanyama, or someone not even on the radar at the moment, which is a topic that needn’t be touched until the end of the season.
The Spot Kick 