How good was Rio Ferdinand? | …….

Rio was quality. It took him a few seasons (from when we signed him) to truly develop into a world class defender but at the peak of his powers probably around 2005-2010 or so he was just about the best in the business - at least in the premier league. He was quality on the ball, read the game well and was very consistent. Vidic was more of the type of defender who'd put his face in places you wouldn't put your feet but you got the sense Rio was so good he was seldom in danger.
 
Probably second only to Ronaldo in the 08 season, he was that important to us. I think Vidic outshone him for a few years after that season but they were both outstanding.
 
Mr. MUJAC said:
I would have him as the best centre-half I've seen in Britain's top divisions during my lifetime.

I never saw enough of some of the foreign players to make comparisons but Baresi was something else.

Stam was second to Ferdinand at United.

1. Ferdinand
2. Stam
3. McGrath
4. Vidic
5. Buchan
6. Pallister

After that it doesn't really matter but Bruce, Johnsen woulkd be up there.
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I'd agree with that list. I'm never quite sure how I rate Stam because it sounds like he peaked after leaving United and I didn't really watch him at any other club. Good to see McGrath so near the top. Him and Rio were similar in the way they make defending look incredibly easy.

Kills me to say it but Van Dijk is the closest I've seen to that style of laid back but utterly dominant defending since Rio hung up his boots.
 
KW2006 said:
At least as good as, if not better than, Jaap Stam.
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I disagree. Rio is the best English defender i've seen, and the second best I've seen at United, but Stam was something else. He was Rio and Vidic rolled into one.
 
royboy16 said:
The same could be said about Rio.
Both were excellent and complemented each other,Vidic the muscle,Rio the speed.
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They didn't need each other to look brilliant, though. They both regularly looked superb with whoever else took the place of their regular partner if he got injured/banned. Jonny Evans, O'Shea, Silvestre, Brown, whoever. Stick either one of them in our current XI alongside Jones, Lindelof or Smalling and he'd a) be immense and b) form a better CB pairing than any currently available to us.
 
At his peak, he is easily better than any defenders in the world right now, but some margin.
 
Rio was better than Vidic. Rio never got exposed by a single player - while Vidic always struggled against Torres. The one flaw Rio had was that he wasn't a particularly physical player. But he was quick, good in the air, read the game well and had a technical ability superior to all other centre-backs at the time.

Vidic was his complete opposite - he was a tank. Completely fearless, ruthless in the tackles - and always cleared any ball entering the area. He was also a much bigger threat at set-pieces than Rio.

It was the ultimate partnership.
 
lysglimt said:
Rio was better than Vidic. Rio never got exposed by a single player - while Vidic always struggled against Torres. The one flaw Rio had was that he wasn't a particularly physical player. But he was quick, good in the air, read the game well and had a technical ability superior to all other centre-backs at the time.

Vidic was his complete opposite - he was a tank. Completely fearless, ruthless in the tackles - and always cleared any ball entering the area. He was also a much bigger threat at set-pieces than Rio.

It was the ultimate partnership.
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Don't disagree with you overall but the bolded part is a bit of a myth.
 
lysglimt said:
Rio was better than Vidic. Rio never got exposed by a single player - while Vidic always struggled against Torres. The one flaw Rio had was that he wasn't a particularly physical player. But he was quick, good in the air, read the game well and had a technical ability superior to all other centre-backs at the time.

Vidic was his complete opposite - he was a tank. Completely fearless, ruthless in the tackles - and always cleared any ball entering the area. He was also a much bigger threat at set-pieces than Rio.

It was the ultimate partnership.
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Rio was strong as an ox. He wasn't very aggressive - which is why he almost never got booked - but he was never bullied, physically, by anyone he came up against.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
They didn't need each other to look brilliant, though. They both regularly looked superb with whoever else took the place of their regular partner if he got injured/banned. Jonny Evans, O'Shea, Silvestre, Brown, whoever. Stick either one of them in our current XI alongside Jones, Lindelof or Smalling and he'd a) be immense and b) form a better CB pairing than any currently available to us.
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Agreed,I think they both had a superb skill set and working in tandem together.
 
Most of the time when people talk about players who played their best 10+ years ago, football has changed so much in those few years, which makes it hard to compare. Other qualities are needed today than 10-15 years ago.

But with Rio I feel he had all those qualities that are needed in the best centrebacks of today.
 
He started in midfield early in his youth career so it helped him when he became a CB. His technical ability was very good and he had a style about him. I think both Vidic and Rio made each other better. He was also very quick though he lost a lot during the latter part of his career. If he had played abroad he would have been appreciated a lot more. I think a club like Barca would love to have someone like him.
 
evil_geko said:
People still believe in this Myth? Really?
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Why is it a myth? It can happen with the best of them. It's true Torres scared the daylights out of Vidic; Harry Kane makes mincemeat of Lovren at Liverpool (but which top striker wouldn't? Guy is next to useless, Lovren, that is) Michael Owen used to run any defence ragged, van Nistelrooy had most defenders on toast......
 
Just for a bit of comparison this video popped up on my Youtube feed earlier, dated from 2006:



Something to think about next time we write a new player off after their first 3 touches. Rio had some terrible games for us in the early days.
 
Perhaps best in the world from 06-09. I’ll never forget that game when he returned back from the suspension and our defence went up a notch almost instantly. His ball playing from the back was a tad overrated. I remember him knocking long balls out fairly regularly. His reading off the game and organisation was next level. Rarely got booked as he was very left exposed.
 
Really good. World class.

But probably not as good as its sometimes made out on here. And certainly not always.

When he first came he tried to run the ball into midfield but after being caught on the ball a few times he didnt do it anymore.

So there was a lot of hype about him being a ball playing CB that could step into midfield but in practice, after that didnt work out a few times, it left his game.

His suspension for missing his drug test also let us down, even though the length of it seemed unfair at the time and with how people were treated after him seems even more so. But ultimately the club were without our big signing for that time.

In my opinion it was only when Vidic settled next to him that he was truly as good as anyone else in his position. Vidic helped balance him not being the strongest in the air. Like any good partnership they covered some of each others weaknesses and it made them both look better.
 
lysglimt said:
Rio was better than Vidic. Rio never got exposed by a single player - while Vidic always struggled against Torres. The one flaw Rio had was that he wasn't a particularly physical player. But he was quick, good in the air, read the game well and had a technical ability superior to all other centre-backs at the time.

Vidic was his complete opposite - he was a tank. Completely fearless, ruthless in the tackles - and always cleared any ball entering the area. He was also a much bigger threat at set-pieces than Rio.

It was the ultimate partnership.
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I think you are mistaken. Rio did get exposed. Please remember I love the guy and I thought at one point he was the best in the world. But I seem to remember Bellamy and Anelka getting the better of him and embarrassing him a few times. The Bellamy one was horrible to watch against us in the 4-3 game with Owen scoring in the last min
 
Pogue Mahone said:
They didn't need each other to look brilliant, though. They both regularly looked superb with whoever else took the place of their regular partner if he got injured/banned. Jonny Evans, O'Shea, Silvestre, Brown, whoever. Stick either one of them in our current XI alongside Jones, Lindelof or Smalling and he'd a) be immense and b) form a better CB pairing than any currently available to us.
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Not really. Rio and Silvestre, Brown, etc were really error prone. Rio and Wes with their corn rows were a laughing stock at the time. Physical attacks relished coming up against them but it was Rio’s losses of concentration that were the real killer.

Rio and Evans were a really poor combination. Vidic +1 was a really strong defensive unit. That run where United broke the clean sheet record, I am pretty sure it was Vidic and Evans for most of it.

Rio had a couple of outstanding years either side of winning the Champions League but people forget how error prone he was before then and how injury prone he was after. It honestly shocked me how highly rated Rio is on this board. An incredible talent but apart from when he was next to Vidic for a couple of outstanding seasons, he never really fulfilled it.
 
11101 said:
Just for a bit of comparison this video popped up on my Youtube feed earlier, dated from 2006:



Something to think about next time we write a new player off after their first 3 touches. Rio had some terrible games for us in the early days.
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Dreadlocks Rio was pretty shite for us. His career came full circle when he shaved it and kept it short.
 
MaxiPaxi said:
Really? I thought Vidic complemented Rio. Without Rio there wouldn't be Vidic. Akin to Carvalho and Terry imo.
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I think so too, but if I could pick just one for my team, I’d go with Ferdinand. I really think he is the best central defender I’ve seen at United since I began watching, ahead of Stam, Vidic and the short lived peak of an injury free Ronny Johnsen.
 
POF said:
Not really. Rio and Silvestre, Brown, etc were really error prone. Rio and Wes with their corn rows were a laughing stock at the time. Physical attacks relished coming up against them but it was Rio’s losses of concentration that were the real killer.

Rio and Evans were a really poor combination. Vidic +1 was a really strong defensive unit. That run where United broke the clean sheet record, I am pretty sure it was Vidic and Evans for most of it.

Rio had a couple of outstanding years either side of winning the Champions League but people forget how error prone he was before then and how injury prone he was after. It honestly shocked me how highly rated Rio is on this board. An incredible talent but apart from when he was next to Vidic for a couple of outstanding seasons, he never really fulfilled it.
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Don’t really agree with most of your assesments of Ferdinand +1. What I do agree with is that he was error prone in his first years here. But still then, mostly very good.
 
NotQuiteManc said:
During his prime, he had great anticipation and rarely had to make slide tackle. If he misses a tackle, he had pace to burn too. Not bad at scoring as well.
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Rio very rarely scored for us though. I can remember one against Liverpool and one in his last home match for Sir Alex.
 
One of our best centre halves in my time and i started standing on the Stretford end when it was Martin Buchan and Brian Greenhough. Gordon mcqueen was pretty awsome as was japp stam but rio pips them for me.
Remember listening to Fergies discussing Rio a few years a go. He rated him the best and said if a defender ran at Rio he would just nip in and take the ball. Good in the air, good reader of the game, great tackler and his running with the ball out from the back upto the attackers, he was as good as we've had.


(Sorry about typing changes this site doesnt like my typing)
 
POF said:
Not really. Rio and Silvestre, Brown, etc were really error prone. Rio and Wes with their corn rows were a laughing stock at the time. Physical attacks relished coming up against them but it was Rio’s losses of concentration that were the real killer.

Rio and Evans were a really poor combination. Vidic +1 was a really strong defensive unit. That run where United broke the clean sheet record, I am pretty sure it was Vidic and Evans for most of it.

Rio had a couple of outstanding years either side of winning the Champions League but people forget how error prone he was before then and how injury prone he was after. It honestly shocked me how highly rated Rio is on this board. An incredible talent but apart from when he was next to Vidic for a couple of outstanding seasons, he never really fulfilled it.
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We won the title with Rio and Brown.......
 
RedIan said:
One of our best centre halves in my time and i started standing on the Stretford end when it was Martin Buchan and Brian Greenhough. Gordon mcqueen was pretty awsome as was japp stam but rio pips them for me.
Remember listening to Fergies discussing Rio a few years a go. He rated him the best and said if a defender ran at Rio he would just nip in and take the ball. Good in the air, good reader of the game, great tackler and his running with the ball out from the back upto the attackers, he was as good as we've had.


(Sorry about typing changes this site doesnt like my typing)
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What the feck is this monstrosity?
 
POF said:
Not really. Rio and Silvestre, Brown, etc were really error prone. Rio and Wes with their corn rows were a laughing stock at the time. Physical attacks relished coming up against them but it was Rio’s losses of concentration that were the real killer.

Rio and Evans were a really poor combination. Vidic +1 was a really strong defensive unit. That run where United broke the clean sheet record, I am pretty sure it was Vidic and Evans for most of it.

Rio had a couple of outstanding years either side of winning the Champions League but people forget how error prone he was before then and how injury prone he was after. It honestly shocked me how highly rated Rio is on this board. An incredible talent but apart from when he was next to Vidic for a couple of outstanding seasons, he never really fulfilled it.
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Rio wasn't error prone but he was capable of a lack of concentration when the game was 'easy' and he took risks, but that's also what made him so good. He's possibly the best CB I've ever seen, better than Stam. Vidic spent quite a bit injured as well but Rio marshalled the defence brilliantly, he was much better than you're giving him credit for.
 
Incredible defender. Possibly the best in the world around 2008. Would definitely be in the best United XI of the last 30 years.
 
Stacks said:
We won the title with Rio and Brown.......
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As a centre back pairing? When was that?

Either way, it's not that relevant to this argument. United won titles with Valencia and Young on the wings but nobody saw them as world class wingers.

crossy1686 said:
Rio wasn't error prone but he was capable of a lack of concentration when the game was 'easy' and he took risks, but that's also what made him so good. He's possibly the best CB I've ever seen, better than Stam. Vidic spent quite a bit injured as well but Rio marshalled the defence brilliantly, he was much better than you're giving him credit for.
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I don't think it had anything to do with the game being too easy. He gave Messi a free header in the box in a Champions League final. It was just poor concentration, he certainly wasn't finding that game too easy.

I also don't subscribe to the fact that Rio marshalled the defence. Before Vidic arrived, the defence was weak. Once Vidic settled it improved to good, to great, to world class. I'm sure both Rio and Vidic had a major impact on that, but as for who was better, it was Vidic by a long way. Vidic +1 was easily better than Rio +1.

When Ronaldo left the club, the defence was the reason the club kept winning trophies. Rio missed a lot of football yet the defence was still rock solid. Vidic and Jonny Evans looked a genuinely formidable centre back pairing. Jonny Evans never looked anywhere near as good next to anyone else.

I'm not one for stats but just look at the seasons United won the league and the number of games Vidic played. It's a very obvious pattern and no coincidence.

I remember the feeling of dread when Vidic got booted in the face at Stamford Bridge, I remember the feeling that United's season was destroyed when he did his knee in Basel and I remember the feeling of seeing a United line up with Vidic in it and not being worried every time the ball came near the penalty area.

They were a really good combination for a number of reasons but Rio played better with Vidic because Vidic was so intense that he kept him concentrated more than others did.

I think it may be due to the fact I wasn't living in the UK or Ireland at the time and watched the games without any UK media narrative but it really shocks me when United fans rate Rio higher than Vidic.
 
POF said:
I think it may be due to the fact I wasn't living in the UK or Ireland at the time and watched the games without any UK media narrative but it really shocks me when United fans rate Rio higher than Vidic.
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I think it is because some people subscribe to the "if a defender has to make a tackle he has already made a mistake" notion. So they end up underappreciating physical CBs like Vidic.
 
I’m subbing to his YouTube channel. It’s the least he deserves
 
He’s a king muppet and doing Lords work.
 
So somebody MUST have spoken to him this morning. Ferguson? Ronaldo himself?
 
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