It was a novelty to see Liverpool players lined up in a parade for a video recording, to pay tribute to Lucas Leiva, one of their teammates, who had just joined SS Lazio in the Italian Serie ‘A’.

I do not remember this being done for even Steven Gerard, when he left at the end of the 2014/15 season, yet he played for Liverpool for over 15 years. But Leiva, who had been at Anfield since 2007, had the honour of his teammates showing him much love.

Unlike Leiva, Manchester United’s Michael Carrick, who has been at Old Trafford since July 2006, has not been treated to such a humbling tribute, save for the praise his former teammate, Ryan Giggs, accorded him recently, after he was appointed club captain.

Yet, what stands out distinctly about Carrick and Leiva, is not the midfield battles they have had whenever Liverpool met Man-Utd. But the fact that they have been unheralded as players.

Despite their specially profound qualities, used selflessly to help their teams get better, they have remained unappreciated. At a time when England grappled with the Steven Gerard and Frank Lampard conundrum on who would sit and be the holding midfielder, they failed to see that Carrick was the perfect player to complete the triangle.

Carrick’s game management and intelligent use of the ball has been his mark; not throwing legs and tackles like I imagine most England coaches may have wanted from a holding midfielder. Xabi Alonso discovered as much, when he talked to kids in the Liverpool academy.

But when Andrea Pirlo was destroying England’s midfield at Euro 2012, all the media there largely did on the morning after, was to wish he was English. Yet, in Carrick, they had the exact player, that would have given their team the ideal midfield shape and spark, that Pirlo and Sergio Busquets gave to Italy and Spain respectively.

It is now too late to rekindle that. At 35, Carrick is drawing closer to retirement, and his exclusion from much of what England has been doing over the last ten years, is one that will be rued. Following Man-Utd’s 2012/2013 league success, while everyone was in over-drive praising Robin van Persie for inspiring the twentieth league title, Arsene Wenger had a different opinion.

When asked whom he felt had been the MVP in the Premier League that year, the Frenchman said Carrick. But many perceived it as sour-graping; that he did not want to bring himself to credit Van Persie, because he had forced his way out of Arsenal at a bad time.

However, if you have critically analyzed Wenger, you realized that he is not the kind of coach with scores to settle. His appraisal of Carrick was quite valid. But one needed broad perspective to understand what Wenger actually meant.

One thing is for sure, Carrick was not about to out-compete a high goal-scorer on the face of it; like you would pit Germany’s Manuel Neuer against Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.

But adjudged independently on the basis of what their overall duties are, you will find that probably Neuer is the more consistent one. It is exactly what Carrick brought to Man-Utd; team shape, dictating play, tempo and, above all, passing the ball in the right areas to capitalize on the opponent’s weaknesses.

Otherwise, if he was your average junkie, Carrick would never have been at Old Trafford for the last eleven years. The reason why Paul Scholes retired from the England team early in 2004, was because Sven Goran Eriksson chose to sacrifice him for Gerard and Lampard. He was played as a left-winger at Euro 2004. Disaster. How could anyone do that? Paul Scholes!

Well, that was Eriksson for you. But so have been many Liverpool coaches as far as Leiva is concerned. A good game breaker and passer of the ball, Leiva really broke through at Liverpool in 2009 under Rafa Benitez.

He was not only a tough tackler, who got himself carded, he also gave Liverpool shape and a shield in front of defence. But an injury early in Kenny Dalglish’s tenure, turned out to end a clearly sprouting career. Levia was intelligently hard, just like Javier Mascherano. That is why he could play in several positions effectively, even though as coaches after Benitez tossed him around, which made him appear surplus to requirement.

Leiva may not have had the potency in the final third. But he was a fine passer. He is now gone to Lazio, like Carrick is almost hanging up his boots. The two will probably only be remembered long after they are gone. Probably then, our understanding of the game will have improved too.

jovi@observer.ug