Rooney withdrew from the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine after he suffered a nasty head wound in training for Manchester United ahead of their weekend defeat at Liverpool.
United manager David Moyes believes it will be three weeks before Rooney is able to play, whilst Theo Walcott has also spoken of the gruesome pictures he has seen of the incident.
Yet some observers, recalling Terry Butcher's heroic blood-soaked contribution to an England 1990 World Cup qualifier in Sweden, question whether Rooney needs to be out quite so long.
Carrick was part of the training session when Rooney got injured.
And he feels the criticism is extremely harsh.
"We know what he is like," said the midfielder.
"If there was a way of playing he would. It is easy for people to look at the past and compare with what has gone on but every situation is different.
"It was a bad cut. It wasn't nice to see.
"It is unfortunate but it is something that we will deal with."
Source: PA
Source: PA