I posted this in another thread which no one will probably read, so I will post it here again:

I don't really like the result. Our squad is so much stronger than Benfica and yet we struggled to maintain possession. We can use all the excuses, no first choice defence, it's Europe away etc. But it is clear that our midfield on the night was very weak and that is mainly because of Carrick. He simply doesn't offer much to us anymore, most of his passes are backwards and he doesn't make himself available for the ball like Cleverley and protect the defence well enough to start for us. He is too passive and we will always struggle in midfield when he plays. The Chelsea games of last season were anomalies where Carrick did well, but I don't believe that's conclusive that he's good enough to start for us.

He has been pretty poor for us since the Rome. Even Carrick himself admitted himself before last season that his form has not been up to standards, but Fergie must see something in him to continue to use him. Or perhaps it's because Gibson isn't good enough so he has to continue to rely on Carrick.

From what I see, his form started dipping after Ronaldo left. I think Ronaldo was a major factor in Carrick's form, because he will always draw defenders away leaving huge spaces for our other midfielders to strut their stuff. And Carrick is a player who needs space to do well. Without it he will struggle and lose the ball, he simply cannot make space himself or for others. Once Ronaldo left our midfield became static because the opponents started flooding it and stifling our play. Carrick suffered as a result.

That said, I'm not attempting to demean him, he was great for us from 2006 to 2009 but clearly something has been missing from him.

Thoughts?