On the quiet: Manchester United unsung hero Michael Carrick even swerves limelight like Paul Scholes
On the quiet: Manchester United unsung hero Michael Carrick even swerves limelight like Paul Scholes
Midfielder compared to the Old Trafford legend in fans'
chant is a key cog in Fergie's title-winning machine but won't blow his
own horn
Not Scholes: Carrick has played in 31 of 32 league games this season
John Peters
Michael Carrick is happy to remain Manchester United’s unsung hero - as long as they continue to win trophies.
The
31-year-old has emerged as one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s most important
players, despite going under the radar while other, more high-profile
names, grab the glory.
Only Robin van Persie, with 42 appearances, has figured more for the champions-elect this season - Carrick has played 41 times, including in all but one of their 32 Premier League games.
United fans have recognised the Geordie’s enduring value, with a chant comparing him to Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes:
But the England midfielder is happy to let his football do the talking.
“I’m not one for promoting myself,” said Carrick. “I just play my football.
“I gauge it on the manager and his response. I know myself when I’m playing well, but you can’t please everyone.
“As a footballer, if you do things that people outside the club want or expect you to do, you’re not going to be successful.
“As
it turns out, I’ve been here nearly seven years now and been
successful. That’s my main focus and anything outside of that is out of
my control.”
Since joining United from Tottenham for £16million in
2006, Carrick has won four titles, one Champions League, one League Cup
and one Club World Cup.
The one competition to elude him - and almost all of Ferguson’s current squad - is the FA Cup, which is why this season’s quarter-final defeat to Chelsea was so hard to take.
“It
hurts,” said Carrick. “I’ve come close, I’ve played in the final and
lost, been in semi-finals and, for whatever reason, it hasn’t fallen for
us and we haven’t been able to win it.
“It hurts because this
club should be winning the FA Cup, especially having had such a
successful period over the last six, seven, eight years.
“For a
club like this not to win it over that period of time is criminal. It
hurts the players because not many of us have won it.
“Hopefully, we have still got time to grab it, whether it be next season or after that.
“It
does get mentioned because we’re desperate to win it. It’s what I grew
up watching. The FA Cup was the game of the season when I was younger
and such a special day.
“We’ve come close, losing to Chelsea in the final, but we want to go better than that.”
Carrick said United’s exit from the Champions League last month
stung too, as they had contained Real Madrid both at the Bernabeu and
for the first half at Old Trafford, only to see the tie change and slip
away when Nani was controversially sent off.
“It hurts because we
want to win and we have come close to winning it more than we have, in
terms of the two Champions League finals we’ve lost,” said Carrick. Real sickener: Nani's red sunk United when they were en route to the semis
Alex Livesey
“We’ve taken a lot of stick for that but we were there to be
shot at, as we were there in the final. We managed to get to three
finals in four years, which shows we’re doing something right.
“We
want to get back to those occasions. It’s been too long. Having had
that spell of three [finals] in four years, we want to be there again.
“Hopefully
it can be next year. We felt we had a good chance this year and it
didn’t work for us, for obvious reasons, but we’ll go again next year.” United take on West Ham at Upton Park on Wednesday - a win over one of Carrick's former clubs will put them within four points of title No.20.
The
United boss said: “We have no injuries from Sunday against Stoke. It
was a tough game, certainly. But there were no injuries and that’s a
blessing of course.
“We have a good, strong squad. We took 20
players with us to Stoke and those 20 players will go with us again on
Wednesday night.” * Listen to the full interview with Michael Carrick from 4pm Wednesday on Drive Time on talkSPORT 1089/1053AM
West Ham vs Manchester United: Probable teams
West Ham Jaaskelainen; Demel, Collins, Pogatetz, O’Brien; Diame, O’Neil, Vaz Te, Nolan, Jarvis; Carroll. Manchester United De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Carrick, Cleverley; Welbeck, Rooney, Giggs; van Persie.
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