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England v Lithuania - Euro 2016 qualifier
Michael Carrick, here with Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones, has impressed with his calm authority against Lithuania and Italy. Photograph: Michael Regan - The Fa/The FA via Getty Images
Michael Carrick, here with Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones, has impressed with his calm authority against Lithuania and Italy. Photograph: Michael Regan - The Fa/The FA via Getty Images

Michael Carrick ready to be England’s midfield linchpin at Euro 2016

This article is more than 8 years old
Fourteen years after his debut, the Manchester United player is the logical choice to be England’s holding midfielder, even if Jack Wilshere is fit
Michael Carrick sets tone and tempo for Manchester United
Wenger warns Wilshere he faces fight for Arsenal place

Roy Hodgson was running through his options post-match in the Juventus Stadium, musing out loud, as he is often prone to do, with the reality increasingly clear that difficult choices lie ahead. There was the five-man list of strikers vying for a place in England’s starting lineup and a nod to the “positive” impact made by Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend and, apparently, Phil Jones following their involvement in this international window.

Another kind of quandary awaits in midfield. Michael Carrick had been imperious against Italy, the Manchester United stalwart flung on to impose some kind of order on what had been a chaotic mess of a performance. His success in knitting England’s players together was a reminder of his underlying class. “But he has got competition too,” said the manager.

“You [the media] made Jack Wilshere our best man in our matches in the autumn and I am sure he will have something to say but I have always been an admirer of Michael’s and am delighted to see him back. If both of them are fit I might have to a) find some way of tweaking the formations, or b) pick one of them. That would be tough.”

It is on occasions such as this, against better-quality opposition who hog possession and conduct games at their own tempo, where Carrick is needed most. It may be England are not exposed to such pedigree again until November, when friendlies against France and Spain await.

Group E is proving to be a formality against substandard rivals, and even the frenzy of a visit to Dublin to face the Republic of Ireland does not feel quite so daunting given how impressive England were in Glasgow before Christmas. Carrick may not have to be as influential in the six games to come but when England test themselves against Les Bleus or the European champions and anxiety starts to sweep through a team who have grown more used to life with the ball, he could prevent panic taking a grip.

Carrick remains an enigma. He is a key performer at United who has only 33 caps, a paltry tally given his talent. Should he play at Euro 2016 then, 15 years since his debut, he will have had the longest career of any England outfield player since Sir Stanley Matthews, whose appearances spanned 22 years, 228 days. And yet he has managed only one appearance at a major finals and has rarely lived up to his reputation.

This could be his time. The 33-year-old will never be the dynamic midfielder who grasps a game by the scruff of the neck as it threatens to veer away, as Steven Gerrard did in his pomp for Liverpool. He is not going to ghost upfield untracked and conjure a decisive goal from nothing to determine a result in the way Frank Lampard did so often. But he is a calming presence, a quality that emits its own kind of authority. In a team crammed with eager, bright young things, and captained by Wayne Rooney, whose own game can be helter-skelter, that reassurance from the centre can be as significant as any strong-arm intervention.

“I felt Michael was the best player on the pitch by a mile,” Rooney said. “He gave us great composure, slowing the game down when we needed to and starting our attacks really well. He’s not underrated by me or by Manchester United fans. He’s a fantastic player and has been a big reason why, at United, we have won so many trophies over the last few years. He was probably more of an easy choice to leave out of the England team when we had big-name players in the squad.”

Those figures have since departed the scene. The easier choice now is to anticipate Carrick starting England’s opening game at Euro 2016, either at the base of a midfield diamond or in the middle of a three. His game does not require a sudden burst of explosive pace, so age should not count against him. If he is fit, he will be as metronomic in his scuttling runs and simple passing as he is now.

He is the natural for that position at the core, even if Hodgson utilised Wilshere there in the autumn. The Arsenal player was neat and tidy enough but his natural instincts are always forward-thinking. The discipline required as the anchorman can shackle a free spirit, and Wilshere offers so much threat as an attacking force. He has his own issues at present, primarily recovering fitness after the latest hiatus to his career through injury, but there was a reserve game in midweek and Hodgson remains in regular contact. Wilshere played the first half of a friendly for an Arsenal XI against Brentford on Tuesday, scoring a goal and setting up another.

“I spoke to Jack at the Arsenal training ground the other day and he was very positive,” Hodgson said. “I think he was planning to play 45 minutes and it was just a question of the irritation he’s been feeling with the wires they put into his ankle, which have been irritating his ligament. He’s pretty confident that with those taken out he’s going to be OK.”

His return will be welcome and offer further options to explore. Yet disposing of Carrick should not be one of them.

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