Carrick had some very good and some decent pcrformanees this year, but he has not been consistently good for years now. I used to like Carrick, a lot, and defended him from detractors, not anymore. There is nothing to defend. I hope this season he can get back to his best, because we will certainly need him, a lot.Anderson was played a lot with 2 other midfielders, sometimes in the attacking role you mention, sometimes with the task of shitting someone down. Even with only one central partner he was always given a task, he either tried to be the creator, or the defensive one. Nothing like he plays now.Jones has been great, a revelation even, but very lucky as well. However his tactical indiscipline has not helped our defending. Too many times he has been caught out of position. Don't get me wrong, I love those runs, but we need players who will cover him when he does make them. Too many times no one has. In one game it was so bad that for over a minute Ashley Young was playing central defence. Surely that is not what we want. Thankfully the opposition didn't test his tacking or aerial ability, but it was rather scary.