I just wanted to play football, but I became a Hollywood god

Another midfielder sitting on the bench is Archangel and Card God-Michael Carrick.

Carrick was not a Manchester United player, but started at West Ham United, and later moved to Tottenham Hotspur. It was not until 2006 that Ferguson poached Manchester United for 1680 million euros.

Ferguson was very optimistic about Carrick. After all, in 06, the price of 1680 million euros was not top-notch, but for a young player who was not very famous, it was definitely a sky-high transfer fee.

Carrick is 29 years old, 185cm tall and weighs 75kg.

But before joining Manchester United, Carrick was a young boy, weighing only 66kg, and his confrontational nature was naturally very poor.

Ferguson initially wanted to train Carrick into a player like Roy Keane, and Carrick also got Keane's No. 16 player. However, Carrick was not Keane's type of player at all.

Carrick had many nicknames when he first came to Manchester United - Card Queen, Card Missing, Invisible Emperor, Return Brother, Soft Brother.

Therefore, in the first few years when he came to Manchester United, Carrick struggled hard and could never find his own position. He worked very hard, but he always felt that his ability was average and he was not worthy of Manchester United at all. This also led to His confidence is even lower, and his physical fitness is at a disadvantage in high confrontations, especially since he can imitate Roy Keane, which makes Carrick even more uncomfortable.

At that time, Carrick didn't feel very reassured in either the frontcourt or the backcourt. Once the opponent's midfield stranglehold increased, Carrick, who had a softer style of play, would disappear directly and even appear in various situations. Low-level mistake.

Red Devils fans have almost never stopped criticizing Carrick. The weak waist in the post-Keane era is also the most serious problem facing the Manchester United team.

In the first few years at Manchester United, Carrick won many honors with Manchester United as a substitute, but none of them were achieved by himself. Carrick once had doubts about himself and even wanted to transfer and leave.

But at this time, Ferguson's ability to recognize people and his courage were revealed. Ferguson continued to believe in Carrick and continued to give Carrick time to find his own position.

Encouraged by Ferguson, Carrick quickly evolved.

Although he wears Keane's No. 16 jersey and plays as a defensive midfielder, Carrick no longer plays according to other people's expectations of him - not every deep-lying midfielder has to be like a midfielder or a sapper. When it comes to playing football, Pirlo and Butzquez are not, and neither is Carrick.

Carrick's evolution began in the 08-09 and 09-10 seasons. In the 10-11 season, Carrick had completely completed the transformation and fully enlightened.

This is actually also due to Scholes.

In the two seasons since Scholes hung up his boots and returned to Manchester United, he no longer attacks forward as he did in the past, but instead focuses on backcourt scheduling. Scholes has mastered the transformation and control of the team's offensive and defensive rhythm. the point.

Under the influence of Scholes, the double midfield cooperation of Carrick and Fletcher has begun to get on the right track - Fletcher is equivalent to the midfield troublemaker, while Carrick delays to organize the attack. The cooperation of two people is equivalent to one Scholes.

On defense, although Carrick cannot sweep his own backcourt like Keane, Carrick has developed an excellent sense of position. He can not only help defend teammates and complete beautiful steals.

Later, in the post-Ferguson era, Manchester United entered a turbulent period. At this stage, Carrick's style of play was more stable. Although his physical fitness was still weak, he relied on his height and excellent position selection predictions to perform well in defense and team counterattacks. Serving as Manchester United's metronome.

Whether it is Coach Moyes or Coach Van Gaal, they are inseparable from Carrick. It was also in the past two years that Manchester United fans finally stopped calling Carrick the Invisible Emperor, and instead respectfully called Carrick "Carrick". god. Carrick's growth trajectory is one of decline first and then rise, and his fame is far inferior to that of his contemporaries, midfielder Mikel Arteta and leg sister and Long brother Xavi Alonso. However, the older Carrick becomes, the more enchanting he is now. But he has excellent prediction and dispatching abilities, as well as the ability to pass forward and move widely from the midfield to the backfield. He can also fill in positions and intercept. He is the midfield commander with the highest passing success rate in the Premier League.

It is not difficult to see from the growth trajectories of Scholes and Carrick that real stars are not born, but are made step by step through progress and growth.

Some stars are really not very famous according to their names, but in fact they are just low-key, and their strength is really no worse than those famous superstars.

Two very powerful stars like Scholes and Carrick are sitting on Manchester United's bench, as well as backup forward golden boy Owen and unhappy winger Valencia - Manchester United in this era is really... The super battleship is enough to make people take one's breath away. This era also belongs to the era of the Red Devils.

Compared with the starting striker and midfielder, Manchester United's starting back line is more luxurious.

Manchester United's starting four defenders are:

No. 20 Fabio, No. 3 Evra, No. 5 Ferdinand, No. 15 Vidic.

The 20-year-old Brazilian defender Fabio da Silva is 172cm tall and weighs 69kg. He is still in the technical growth stage.

What makes him most popular among Manchester United fans is actually not his burst of speed and his ability to play in multiple positions such as left and right full-backs and left and right wing-backs. The most important thing is that Fabio has a twin brother, Rafael.

Rafael and Fabio look almost exactly the same, and they can also play as left and right full-backs and left and right wing-backs.

The height and weight of the two brothers, as well as their style of handling the ball, are almost exactly the same.

Manchester United has always liked this twin brother left and right full-back combination, because in Class 92, Gary Neville and Philip Neville were very famous and very capable left and right full-backs.

Gary Neville and Philip Neville have also played as left and right full-back partners in the national team.

This combination of twin brothers, let alone their strength, is enough to attract a lot of attention just by their identity.

Therefore, when brothers Fabio and Rafael were bought to Manchester United, the then Manchester United captain Gary Neville exclaimed: BOSS is going to make me retire!

The most glorious moment in the lives of brothers Fabio and Rafael was when they received an invitation call from Cristiano Ronaldo himself when they were under 18 years old.

At that time, Fabio and Rafael had already tried out at Manchester United, and had also received a trial invitation from Arsene Wenger's Arsenal. The two brothers' abilities had already emerged among the wealthy clubs.

In an interview with the media, Fabio described with a face full of intoxication: "It was a rainy day. Just when Rafael and I were lying at home and feeling bored, our phone rang. I answered it. When I got up, the first thing I heard was a greeting in Portuguese. As a Brazilian, of course I understand Portuguese. This made me feel very familiar, but also felt strange at the same time, because the voice was both strange and familiar - that familiar. Another strange voice said to me, Hi, I am Cristiano Ronaldo."

...(End of chapter)