Michael Carrick: Between the Lines: My Autobiography

by Michael Carrick

the air if he wanted to, Giggsy tired him out with small movements, jinking away. No one watching the game would know what he was up to. He would get his joy later on. He slotted Michael Owen in for the winner against City at Old Trafford in the sixth minute of stoppage time in September 2009 when Micah should have been there, tracking Owen’s run but he was finished. When I spoke about it with people at United, they mentioned how Solskjaer played right wing against Arsenal at Highbury and tore Ashley Cole to bits. Solskjaer kept moving Ash inside, then outside, taking him out of his comfort zone. Sir Alex always gathered players who thought deeply about the game. We hunted the title again, as we always did under Sir Alex, and one game that really sticks out in my memory was Newcastle on Boxing Day 2012. It was an absolute battle on a bog of a pitch at Old Trafford, it was a real storm and rained non-stop, making it even more of a crazy game. In a way, it was a classic Sir Alex match as we kept fighting, coming from behind three times, I assisted Robin’s equaliser for 3–3, and then we went for Newcastle even more. The seconds were running out when Rio Ferdinand slipped me the ball. I wasn’t as good as Giggs, Scholes or Rooney at winning a game late on but this was a slowmotion, clear-as-day moment for me. That’s what these great players must feel all the time, I thought. I took a little look up and saw Chicharito on the move, and knew this was it – our one chance of victory...