Wayne Rooney: Michael Carrick's a big reason why Manchester United win trophies

MICHAEL CARRICK'S laid-back demeanour is such that he rarely, if ever, appears ruffled, but even he might raise an eyebrow at being mentioned in the same breath as Sir Stanley Matthews.

00:10, Thu, Apr 2, 2015 | UPDATED: 01:59, Wed, Nov 8, 2017

Michael Carrick GETTY

Wayne Rooney said Michael Carrick was the best player on the field against Italy

After all, one was the galloping winger who became a national icon turned legend and the other has, at times, flattered to deceive for England.

When it comes to longevity, however, they share common ground. Should Carrick's latest renaissance carry him to Euro 2016, he will have enjoyed the longest England career of any outfield player since Matthews' last cap, at the age of 42 against Denmark in 1957, took his time with the national team to 22 years.

Carrick's England career would be stretched to 15 years if he features in France. Yet that he has collected just 33 caps since his debut against Mexico in May 2001, fewer than the likes of Kieron Dyer and Shaun Wright-Phillips, continues to confound.

England lacked control against Italy on Tuesday and it was only when the Manchester United midfielder stepped off the bench, illness having forced Chris Smalling to the sidelines, that the visitors were nursed back to health in Turin.

That Carrick has not been integral to England before is, by his own admission, partly down to his failure to make the most of the opportunities he has been granted when the competition for places was fierce. Of those 33 appearances only one has come at a major finals, and he has mustered only 844 minutes of competitive football for his country.

More controversial is Wayne Rooney's view that managers have made the "easy choice" in leaving him out, a criticism that could be levelled at Roy Hodgson, not simply the likes of Fabio Capello, given Carrick did not even go to the World Cup.

"He was probably more of an easy choice to leave out of the England team when we had big-name players in the squad," said Rooney. "Unfortunately that was Michael [who missed out], but I always felt he should be in the team and certainly in these past two performances he has done himself no harm.

Second half improvements please Rooney amp; Townsend [AMBIENT]

Michael was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He gave us great composure
Wayne Rooney

"Michael was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He gave us great composure. He slowed the game down when we needed to and started our attacks really well.

"He is not under-rated from me and certainly not from Manchester United fans. He is a fantastic player. He has been a big reason why, at United, we have won so many trophies over the last few years. So from myself and his team-mates he has not been under-estimated."

The retirements of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard post-Brazil created a window of opportunity that Hodgson feared no one would jump through.

There may be no one in midfield to grab a game by the scruff a la Gerrard, or someone who ghosts forward untracked and claims a goal like Lampard routinely did, but this is a different England.

Carrick's calming influence was preceded by Jack Wilshere producing arguably his best performance in an England shirt in the win over Scotland in November in a role at the base of the much-vaunted midfield diamond.

As Hodgson acknowledges, choosing between them would be "tough". But it is not a decision to be fudged.

The national coach spoke about "tweaking systems" to try to accommodate both in the moments after Andros Townsend's thumping right-foot shot brought reward for England's second-half recovery against the Azzurri.

Kane the real deal, say Cahill and Carrick [AMBIENT]

Yet that would over-complicate matters when Hodgson now has two formations - 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 diamond - which point the way forward and it is hard to see Carrick and Wilshere playing together.

The wretched first-half display England delivered, when too many players were deployed in positions in which they were not comfortable, was a reminder of how much work still needs to be done.

Since Brazil, Hodgson and his staff have sought to maximise what time they have with the players which has resulted in more meetings behind the scenes and greater responsibility pushed onto those members of his squad.

"We worked quite hard in the World Cup but didn't get any results," said Hodgson. "We are trying consistently to hone what we have been doing for a period of time and we are getting such a good response that there is some progression.

"But as you saw in Italy, we still can't turn it on like I would like, otherwise we wouldn't have had a first half like that which I was not at all satisfied with.

"Happily we got back on track, got our minds attuned, and got ourselves the football we wanted to play in the second half so we didn't get the result which would have left a bitter taste in the mouth.

"But until we can just go onto the field and it's in our backbone of knowing exactly what we want to do with the ball, without the ball, there's a lot of work still to do. Not only from the staff, but also from the players."