Will Tottenham regret selling off Carrick to Manchester United?
Paul Robinson says that Carrick’s sale to Manchester United was a ’step back’ for Tottenham - and it’s a position that has its merits (and certainly when Carrick says that he’s moved to a ‘massive’ club that just adds to the fun).
I think we football fans get too close to the day-to-day action and sometimes forget to see the bigger picture. As a business decision, Carrick’s sale was excellent - more than 14 mil, which left enough to help them buy a left-winger whose addition would greatly help Tottenham’s cause for being a regular top-6 club. Tottenham fans will also say that Carrick was not as critical to Tottenham’s success as he is sometimes made to be - possibly, but with players like Carrick you only miss them when they are gone.
Zokora is a good buy and hopefully he’ll do well in the Premiership but you only have to look at Tottenham’s first three performances to see what they are missing. Robbie Keane’s virtuoso performance on Wednesday aside, Tottenham lack creativity. Carrick gave them that edge with his passing, and they seem to lack that now.
Tottenham are still a good attacking side, but will they be able to control games for long periods of time? Carrick and Zokora playing together could have helped them do that (throw Jenas in the mix and you would have thought that Tottenham were good for a top 6 finish), but will that work now?
Manchester United fans for the most part are still reserving judgement. Signing a creative midfielder when we needed a direct replacement for Keano (and spending 14 mil in the process) is not a decision easily accepted, even if Carrick’s appearances in the last two matches have been encouraging.
The bottom line for me is - will Carrick’s purchase help Manchester United win the Premiership?
At the very least, it brings us closer to it (and gives us another option apart from Fletcher). And to be realistic, his passing game fits in perfectly with the style of play of our front four (Saha, Rooney, Giggs, Ronaldo).
The acid test for Carrick (assuming that he comes back unharmed from the Euro 2008 qualifiers) will be the three Manchester United games between the 9th and the 16th - two home games against Tottenham and Arsenal sandwiching a Champions League group game. If he excels, as he is expected to, then his transfer fee will be readily accepted.
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I am getting sick of this story - It was Carrick who wanted to go to Man U. When a player has made up their mind there is nothing you can do. Why don’t the press quote in context?
This is all so short termist. Michael is a brilliant player, who will, once he has settled at Man U, provide them with more goal scoring passes than anyone else at the club since Beckham.
Yes we will miss him at Tottenham, but I wish him much success.
I believe he will help Man U to the title!
Many Tottenham fans did not rate Carrick because they said he could not tackle. However, his reading of the game puts in the right place at the right time to make numerous interceptions without resorting to the Roy Keane bloodthirtsy crunches that Utd. fans loved so much. In reality you are getting a player who will re-gain posession as much as Keane ever did and make the killer passes for your forwards. The short answer is yes he will help Utd. to the title while we at Tottenham head in the other direction. For me it was the most stupid decision in a long line of stupid Tottenham decisions.
Hey Davek!MC wanted to go to MU!!!!. We can’t do anything to stop a player that want to leave! Are you a spurs fan? Did you follow the transfer news? we tried to stop him but MC wanted to join the red devil!!
“it was the most stupid decision in a long line of stupid Tottenham decisions.” Quote DaveK
Im not sure the word stupid is apt in this case. You know no-one at Spurs wanted to sell him (including the majority of fans who appreciated his passing skills, almost Hoddle reminiscent). He wanted to go, and could not be persuaded to sign a new contract (unlike Hargreaves who has another 4 years on his). He was offered loads more money, yet still refused. I would like to think that we could have negotiated a further 1 or 2 years, depending on whether we could get through to CL, and then allow him to go. We would then have had an opportunity to provide a world class replacement if we had achieved CL status, a much better position to be in compared to now.
Do you really think Spurs acted in a stupid manner to let him go, where after this season, he would still go, and yet we would get nothing for him? A la Campbell? Of course not. That is the difference with Bayern Munich, they can play hardball for at least another two years before they agree to his request.
I do agree with all your other comments, including “Many Tottenham fans did not rate Carrick” cos a lot of them really don’t know what makes football the Beautiful Game - you explained it so well. I think they will soon (if not already) realise their mistake.
osf
Carrick was arguably the Spurs’ best player and I’m sure they will miss him this season. Their attack mostly originated from his creativity. I hope he stays away from injuries and I’m sure he’ll be a good red devil player. After all, he’s still young and can only get better playing alongside great players like Giggs, Rio, rooney, ronaldo…
wow, I expected a big-time backlash. Here’s to Carrick playing well at United.
Carrick is a good player about to become a great one, As a united fan Im delighted he is with us. He adds poise and a super range of passing and you would expect the partnership with scholes to be excellent at retaining and passing the ball but where’s the bite?