Michael Carrick is ‘the key’ apparently

Alex Ferguson has had some interesting things to say about Michael Carrick today.

Man United have fallen behind their Premier League rivals recently when it comes to the quality of their midfield with Man City boasting a plethora of accomplished stars, Chelsea purchasing Eden Hazard to add to the mettle of Essien and Lampard and even Liverpool and Tottenham possessing superior midfielders to United in the forms of Gerrard and Modric.

Alex Ferguson has been chasing Van Persie of late but Fergie recognises that it’s his midfield that needs strengthening the most having already added Japanese playboy Shinji Kagawa to his team.

To that end Fergie has come across all Morpheus in the Matrix by naming Michael Carrick as 'the key' as reported in the Guardian today.

Speaking from the Red Devil’s tour of Cape Town, Fergie has said “Carrick is the key to it,"

“He denies it but he has always had slow starts [to a season]. By the time he gets to December he starts playing consistently well and he had a really good end to the season last year.

"If you look at the central midfielders in the Premier League Modric, Yaya Touré and Gerrard, depending on where you play him – he can match up against any of them in terms of quality. He can read the game and also play in front of the back four. In the modern game you don't need tacklers the way you used to. It's about anticipation and reading the game."

It’s a bit of stretch to say that Carrick can match those three in terms of quality to say the least, but to use the same language to describe Carrick as you would Neo? That’s practically blasphemy Fergie.