Gary Neville: Michael Carrick is a PIANO

“I’d say Carrick has the qualities of a Scholes or Andrea Pirlo, and of a Sergio Busquets,” said Neville. “Busquets does more defending and Pirlo is more of a rhythm player, like Scholes. Michael is a mix between the two styles.

“It’s unfair to say he is the same as one or the other – he’s different – but he has those qualities. He’s critical for Louis van Gaal and he’s a very important player for England in the next 12 months leading up to a European Championship. Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have retired, and now Michael Carrick has an opportunity.

"I describe him as a piano. You can go into a bar and listen to rock music, but Carrick is more like a piano player. He’s peaceful. He’s calm, he brings composure to everyone else around him.

"That’s important for young players. We want cultured players. We want players who can see the game, who are intelligent, who understand the game, where to be, when to be [there] and be a coach out on the pitch. That’s what he is.

“The reality is Michael Carrick will be remembered incredibly well by Manchester United players that played with him. But he’ll only be respected when he finishes. He’s an unsung hero.”

Neville also claimed his former team-mate’s importance to club and country may only be fully grasped when he has retired from playing.

“[In England], we shoe-horned Paul Scholes out to the left wing and it might be the same with Michael Carrick,” said Neville. “In three, four years’ time we will think, ‘What a hell of a player he was’.

"No other country would ever do that.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-uniteds-michael-carrick-part-5610763

What a beautiful metaphor from Neville !

So what you guys now think of our top man Carrick ? How highly do you rate him ? Isnt he underrated relatively?
For us at least he is a Legend.
Irreplaceable

if carrick is a piano,

then messi is a harmonica?

Have always rated him very highly, think he is a fantastic player and I think he has been the best English midfielder in a while.

That being said, I cant put him on the level of Busquets or a younger Pirlo because he is easier to pressure into errors. Carrick has many of the same tools as Busquets, he is better defensively than I think he is given credit for also, but if you put him under pressure he will make mistakes.

Thats not much of a criticism, Alonso is exactly the same, worse in fact. And not even Pirlo is immune to being disrupted under pressure.

Anyway, Carrick is great. I have always preferred him to someone like Alonso, which most people would not.

Should have been made captain tbh.

One of the most underrated midfielders to ever grace the PL. lol

Always been underrated but I think he was his swansong in 2013. need to replace him.

Should have played more for England tbf.

Criminally underrated player who was mistakenly described as bland when in fact he's more of a shadow in from of the defense. Doing the dirty work and then carrying the ball forward. Such a vital role that gets overlooked constantly. Reminds me a lot of strootman, minus the knack for scoring. A piano is a poetic way of describing him. I think he's more of a washing machine...constantly rinsing and recycling the ball.

in my opinion, he's rather a Wurlitzer though.

The Franchise wrote:Have always rated him very highly, think he is a fantastic player and I think he has been the best English midfielder in a while.

That being said, I cant put him on the level of Busquets or a younger Pirlo because he is easier to pressure into errors. Carrick has many of the same tools as Busquets, he is better defensively than I think he is given credit for also, but if you put him under pressure he will make mistakes.

Thats not much of a criticism, Alonso is exactly the same, worse in fact. And not even Pirlo is immune to being disrupted under pressure.

Anyway, Carrick is great. I have always preferred him to someone like Alonso, which most people would not.

I keep saying the same thing about Alonso The guy is horrendous under pressure even when he has passing options.

Carrick is a great player but this withdrawn #6 role he plays is only a recent development. Like Scholes he started doing it later in his career. Big problem for us as I don't think there are too many other players of this ilk available.

Always nice to read posts from fans of other clubs appreciating and valueing what Carrick does.

His importance to Utd can't be overstated and it's quite worrying how reliant we are on him. Finding a replacement for him should be one of our no.1 priorities this summer.

Referred to him as a mini Xavi Alonso once. Still I won't take credit away from him. My personal favorite in Man U at the moment.