Manchester United star Carrick produces season best performance at what…?

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Michael Carrick made 135 passes against Crystal Palace yesterday … more than any other player in a single game this term.

It has been a tough campaign, and a tough year for Manchester United – but they picked up a vital win yesterday to end a brilliant week which saw Wayne Rooney commit himself to the club – even if he will be handsomely compensated for the pleasure to play for Manchester United.

Rooney impressed – as did Marouane Fellaini in perhaps his best performance in a Manchester United shirt.

But the performance of Michael Carrick was typically assured and as always under the radar.

Carrick is an ever-present in the United side and has been for many seasons now – and he has always been a key cog in the side.

His passing has always been his major benefit and his propensity to actually push forward with his passing – rather than go side-to-side or backward – he is perhaps the most probing midfielder in the Premier League.

In fact – he broke a record for the season yesterday, as confirmed by OptaJoe on Twitter:

135 passes in one game – well that is Barcelona/Bayern Munich like statistics and a real caveat for him and United.

Here is how it shapes up into the top ten for passing accuracy in a single game this season…

Unfortunately for Carrick this type of performance has been rare this campaign.Carrick can be like the pendulum for United – keeping the team ticking over at the right pace and turning defence into attack as swiftly and efficiently as possible – and if he continues to make 100+ passes in every game United can only climb up the table.

His tally was a massive 33 passes better than his next best performance against Sunderland (102) and his passing has not been on the same scale as previous seasons – this table shows his best ten passing performances – with a big disparity between top of the list and bottom, suggesting his lacking consistency.

Carrick is still playing well, and those figures should not be shirked at – but he is good enough to do better, as he proved yesterday.

If he keeps that up United could start to rise up the table.

image: © Andrea Sartorati