 On 30 September , Carrick scored his first goal of the 2009 – 10 season with the decisive goal against German champions Wolfsburg in a 2 – 1 Champions League win at home . Two months later he scored his first league goal of the season , scoring the second of a 3 – 0 home win over Everton . Due to a defensive crisis during December , Carrick had to fill in at centre back since Gary Neville , himself being played out of position , picked up an injury against West Ham United in a 4 – 0 away win . Carrick had never before played in defence during his career but manager Sir Alex Ferguson was very pleased with his contribution . On 8 December , he played in defence again by playing in a three @-@ man defence alongside central @-@ midfielder Darren Fletcher and regular left @-@ back Patrice Evra in a 3 – 1 away win against Wolfsburg in the Champions League . His third goal of the season came on 30 December in a 5 – 0 home league win over Wigan Athletic in what was United 's last game of the decade . On 25 January 2010 , Carrick scored the first @-@ ever League Cup goal of his career in a 4 – 3 aggregate win over rivals Manchester City in the second leg of their semi @-@ final tie . On 6 February , Carrick scored in a 5 – 0 home win over Portsmouth but it was credited as a Richard Hughes own goal following the game . However , the Dubious Goals Panel officially awarded Carrick the goal on 26 May following a review . On 16 February , he was sent off for the first time in his career after seeing two yellow cards in United 's 3 – 2 win over A.C. Milan at the San Siro . The midfielder was shown a second yellow card in injury @-@ time after flicking the ball away following Patrice Evra 's foul on Alexandre Pato . Carrick played the entire game of the 2010 League Cup Final against Aston Villa , which United won 2 – 1 resulting in his first League Cup medal . This was the first season of his United career that would end without winning the league title as Chelsea claimed the crown by a single point on the final day of the season . 
