[GocartMozart]

SPOILERS!





While I'll reference TT as a great blog, I must say that the guardian has been impressing me of late. Here's another bit:


How Scholes and Carrick sucked in Villa's wingers | Sport | Guardian Unlimited

How Scholes and Carrick sucked in Villa's wingers
March 31, 2008 12:00 AM - David Pleat

The dominance of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick in central midfield was key as Manchester United had far too much for Aston Villa at Old Trafford

Aston Villa have beavered away this season with a comparatively threadbare Premier League squad, with Martin O'Neill selective in the transfer market and reluctant to spend the club's money wastefully. Doug Ellis would be proud of his good husbandry. Yet, here we saw the chasm that has developed between Villa's thin group and opposition like Manchester United who, around the hour mark, took off three internationals and replaced them with three more, confident that the game was sewn up.

The visitors, shorn of Craig Gardner, Zat Knight and Curtis Davies through injury, looked tired and simply could not cope with United's vibrancy. Key to this contest was the central pair of Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes who consistently dragged the visitors' wide midfielders into tight areas and then liberated their own wide man to run at a full-back who had been stripped of his cover. Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young were sucked in from either wing and one of Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo was set free.

Right-back has been a problem area for Villa since Olof Mellberg was forced back into a central role. Here, Nigel Reo-Coker was shunted back from midfield to try to contain Rooney, Ronaldo and Giggs. United did not need an outside-left stationed wide. They simply divided the role at bewitching speed.

A further problem when you play right-back against United is the need for your right-sided midfield colleague not only to be a workaholic but clever defensively to discourage the pass out wide. That can be achieved either by canny positioning or an ability to double up quickly against a dribbler. Here, Gardner was missed and, indeed, Stilian Petrov might have better been deployed wider. He was unable to get to grips with Scholes and Carrick in the middle.

Gareth Barry and Petrov, plus a wide man, were unable to stop Carrick and Scholes encouraging them in tight and then playing around them. Carlos Tevez or Rooney helped to complete a triangle and United swiftly widened the play to put any one of United's front line in possession early and into a wide area.

When and where to quicken the play is the key. As soon as Rooney, Ronaldo or Giggs received, they moved quickly with the ball. Their marker can never get balanced when faced with this threat as he is forced to retreat. Confronted with passing and movement at such speed, the Villa defence lost its shape and was denied time to develop cover. The move that led to Tevez's header for the second goal perfectly illustrated the importance of speed of both play and pass.

When possession is regained opponents are at their most vulnerable. It is all about recognising the moment to strike quickly. England hopefuls Agbonlahor and Young had been praying for decent possession but they ended up overworked, tucking in to help out an overwhelmed midfield. O'Neill must have felt like telling the coach driver to start the bus at half-time, such was the inevitability of this result.

[dpak3000]

I think the most overlooked aspect of this Manchester United season is how brilliant Michael Carrick has been playing. He is holding the central midfield wonderfully and his passing has been exceptional. He has virtually locked down his spot in the starting 11 and Hargreaves is the one struggling to find time. Would be nice to see Capello start Carrick in the England squad and see what he can do because he has been great for United.

[ZEUS]

Well that proves again that the Scholes-Carrick partnership is a strong one, which could be compared with the Rio-Vida one. Scholes and Carrick had been dominating the midfield last season, as well as this season when they got to play together. They simply excel when they play as partners in the middle.

[simpsom]

actually there were time that i douted about scholes and carrick
now i have to eat my word...they show me that what they can do
what a quality player they are.hope to see more of them in the coming match

[DdT_7]

i always have no clue why some fans criticize carrick.

he perhaps had an off-form, but heck who doesn't?

to me, he's been a great signing and a good lad. love his pass and vision, he perhaps lack of defending ability, but i saw him doing great on some occasion

IMO, he's better than hargo this season. my choice for our mid is always carrick-scholsey. and anderson can tab in when scholsey retired

for hargo, i love seeing him play at RB