The thing with the midfielder anchorman role is that it isn't flashy, you have to be disciplined, able to pass, and tactically astute. You don't necessarily have to be a top class, technically gifted player to do it to a very high level. So on one hand you have some fans rubbishing these players as limited, and then quite often you get overrating in response to that.
Carrick for years was a listless crab of a footballer, he does nothing special and still doesn't to this day, but what is different now is that he has a clear role and a position of responsibility - he is the leader of that midfield. He's also more mature and tactically astute.