da lvbet： He may not be their top scorer, their top creator, worth much on the transfer market or linked with a stunning move to Real Madrid this summer like one of his team-mates, but no player has had a bigger impact on Manchester United’s results this season than midfielder Michael Carrick.
da cassino online： With the 33 year-old in the starting XI, the Red Devils’ Premier League win rate is 75%; without him, it drops to 37.5%.
And the United playmaker is finally receiving the recognition his many talents deserve. After impressing for England against Italy in March, The Telegraph’s Mark Ogden compared Carrick to Azzurri’s iconic Andrea Pirlo, bemoaning the mob of Three Lions managers that inexplicably overlooked him for the last decade. A host of Premier League pundits have since jumped on the Carrick bandwagon – Robbie Savage recently described him as ‘the invisible man making United tick’.
Now 33 years of age, however, the Carrick appreciation society are a little behind the times – and Manchester United need to think about what lies ahead for a player proving so pivotal to their cause. The two midfielders who kept him out of the England line-up for so long, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, are about to head off for their swansongs in MLS, aged 34 and 36 respectively, and Carrick’s not too far behind. Now’s the time to consider preservation, not appreciation.
Unlike Lamps and Stevie G, the United midfielder has never relied upon the dynamism of relative youth; an astute reading of the game and immaculate composure on the ball remain his defining assets. They could continue to serve him equally effectively for the next four or five years – but only under the right conditions.
And in my opinion, those right conditions are largely dependent on who partners him in central midfield. Looking around Europe at players United could realistically sign this summer, I see no better accomplice, no midfielder complimenting and contrasting the veteran playmaker so perfectly, than Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan.
The German international’s blessed with the drive and energy – both with and without the ball – that Carrick’s always lacked, those surging runs through the middle of the park becoming a predominant feature of Borussia Dortmund’s play en route to the 2013 Champions League final. He’s defensively disciplined but always determined to get forward – this term averaging 1.6 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, 1.4 successful dribbles and 1.1 chances created per match – and that all-action combination makes him the perfect dynamo to cover Carrick’s limited yardage.
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But there’s much more to it than simply physicality – else, United could easily turn to one of the Premier League’s great many up and down merchants. Carrick needs somebody he can bounce the ball off, who knows how to craft a few yards of space with a quick one-two or a deft flick around the corner, which is exactly why he and Marouane Fellaini failed so spectacularly as a partnership last season.
Indeed, Carrick has always been a great orchestrator but he needs an accomplice who changes the pace in the middle of the park, who can link up with him in deep positions or drive forward to create space. Think of Pirlo and his protective partners at Juventus; Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio – players with not only fantastic physical attributes, but more importantly, great intelligence, awareness and cultured feet.
Gundogan has that within him too. Dortmund’s build-up play is as lung-bursting as it is intricate and the 24 year-old embodies that philosophy perfectly, equally prepared to take the ball in tight areas as galloping into oceans of space on the counter-attack. There’s an interesting blend there, a unique ying and yang; the German international swash-buckling his way up the pitch, Carrick engulfing the gaps he leaves behind.
There are may midfielders of a similar forte, two of which – Pogba and Vidal – I’ve already briefly mentioned. But in comparison to the Juventus stars and their enormous price-tags, Gundogan could be attainable for just £15million this summer when his Borussia Dortmund contract enters it’s final year – as alleged by The Daily Mail.
And it’s not so important who United’s summer signing is, as long as he helps preserve Carrick’s career. Why spend a record-breaking sum on Pogba when all the England international needs is a counterweight? Gundogan, a relentless dynamo with fantastic feet, is the perfect balancing act.
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