 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.
