Manchester United have lost their last three league games. A run of form so poor, not even David Moyes oversaw the like during his tenure.
This downturn has been all the more startling due to the steady progress of Louis van Gaal’s side in the preceding months.
The absence of Michael Carrick from each of the last three fixtures though, suggests we shouldn’t be surprised.
It has long since been the norm that United win more games with Carrick in the side. Perhaps then it’s not just club, but country that has been missing a trick all these years.
Carrick’s England career has seen him amass 33 caps but despite his distinguished club CV, he has never been a preferred fixture in the national team’s midfield.
A host of England managers have preferred the action-hero style of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, who started ahead of the Manchester United man for the best part of a decade.
Granted these two are superb footballers but perhaps their battling qualities saw them get the nod for the national team ahead of the more unassuming Carrick.
They were chosen for their quality yes, but also due to the impassioned traditional view of an English midfielder. Carrick, more of a thinking-man’s footballer, might have and still could be, a clever alternative to carry the hopes of a nation.
Failure by The Three Lions to met expectations during the golden Gerrard/Lampard era led to post-mortem after post-mortem.
It was claimed the two couldn’t play together; Gareth Barry was tried, Scott Parker, none were the ultimate answer or missing piece. The likes of Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson might finally now admit, that it was under their noses the entire time.
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Carrick, who turns 34 this July, might not be as glamorous a pass-master as the likes of Xabi Alonso or Andrea Pirlo but there is no doubt he is in that mould.
Men like these have been arguably the most important fixtures of every successful international side since 2006. It is no co-incidence that the two, now elder statesmen themselves, lined up in Champions League semi-finals this week.
Even at last summer’s World Cup, champions Germany has Bastian Schweinsteiger pulling the strings.
The cry to “give youth a chance” is prominent in the aftermath of every England exit from a major competition.
Even now, Hodgson has turned to the likes of Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshire and Jordan Henderson.
This decision may still prove successful of course but it just seems that a perennial under estimation of Carrick might just have cost England dear. Perhaps giving experience a chance would have been a wiser mantra.
The former Tottenham man represents the ultimate steadying influence and his composure when the pressure is on, is something that would be of great value to any side.
All three managers during his Old Trafford career so far have used him as an emergency centre-back.
This is testament to an awareness and positional sense that have proved crucial for a Red Devils side reeling from the collective loss of an experienced back-line.
Further forward too though, the 33-year-old can still impact games with his eye for the incisive pass and his enviable ball striking technique.
Interestingly the 6ft 2 midfielder played only one game when he went to Germany under Sven-Goran Eriksson in 2006 and England won it, their second round victory over Ecuador.
In 2010 Capello took him to South Africa but he failed to make an appearance.
At both tournaments and continually since the eventual winner deployed someone in the “quarter-back” role.
These players like Carrick continue to flourish in their mid-thirties. Had it been realised before now that there is more to him than simply good pass completion stats, England might not have disappointed quite so much.
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