Ferdinand or Vidic in their pomp

I don't know, I'm not sure there is a special list for it somewhere.

In the same way people talk about all-time greats, I think Ferdinand will fall into that list.

If not, I don't really care, as you say depending on the viewpoint, he can be the greatest ever, or a good defender, but from what I know and have seen, I think he's a class apart from all defenders I've seen in my lifetime.

I suppose the correct way would be to say I'd like for him to go down as one of the greatest, but it's immaterial if he does or doesn't, the point is we feel that way.
 
Ofcourse Vidic's stats are going to be worse than Rio's considering Vidic doesn't spend half the season injured.
 
Rio Ferdinand!

He reminds me of two other great defenders. Allesandro Nesta and Franco Baresi. His style is similar to Nesta, they are both ahead of situations and doing everything so smoothly. But he also act like Baresi when it comes to commanding and helping his team mates.

A true sign of greatness is when you make other players to look comfortable and calm. This is why Rio is one of the best defenders of his generation.
 
Ferdinand - more intelliget, and better against pacey attackers who run directly at the defense.
 
In addition to the stats Pogue posted earlier showing that we've conceded twice as much this year without Rio, as of a few weeks back we'd conceded three times as many away from home without him. From memory it was about .7 with a 2 without.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Eh? Missing games through injury has bugger all effect on how well we defend when they actually play.
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Vidic plays so many more games. He was playing from the start of the season (even during our slumps) so it's obvious his stats will look worse than Rio's.

They're both brilliant players who work even better with each other but I prefer Vidic.
 
I'd build it around Rio. One of the most composed defenders around, a rare breed. Great leader aswell.

Not to take anything away from Vidic, who in his own right, is up there with the best.
 
wr8_utd said:
Vidic plays so many more games. He was playing from the start of the season (even during our slumps) so it's obvious his stats will look worse than Rio's.

They're both brilliant players who work even better with each other but I prefer Vidic.
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Again, this makes absolutely no difference to how many goals we concede when Rio does or doesn't play.

Nor is it particularly relevant to the goals conceded with/without Vidic. You could argue that he might be tired from playing so many games but, as you just pointed out, some of our worst defensive performances came earlier in the season when fatigue can't have been a factor.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Again, this makes absolutely no difference to how many goals we concede when Rio does or doesn't play.
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I think his argument is that Rio didn't play at the start of the season when the whole team was going through a bad spell, so it's unfair to use those stats against Vidic.
 
Rio Ferdinand is just the complete all round defender when fit and on form - the majority of 07/08. Vidic has been better over the last couple of years though, if only because of Rio's injuries, but he keeps improving and could overtake him in the future.
 
I_live_cement said:
I think his argument is that Rio didn't play at the start of the season when the whole team was going through a bad spell, so it's unfair to use those stats against Vidic.
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To be fair though I don't think the start of the season would have been so bad had Rio been available, I highly doubt we would have threw away some of the leads we did like against Everton.
 
I_live_cement said:
I think his argument is that Rio didn't play at the start of the season when the whole team was going through a bad spell, so it's unfair to use those stats against Vidic.
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In the early part of the season it wasn't really the whole team playing poorly though. We still managed to score a decent amount of goals (22 goals in our first 10 games) It was mainly our defence that let us down. Good examples being the defensive feckwittery in the closing minutes of the games against Fulham and Everton.

Couldn't you argue that this was, at least in part, because of Rio's absence? If he had been fit from the start of the season, I just don't see us dropping as many silly points as we did.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
In the early part of the season it wasn't really the whole team playing poorly though. We still managed to score a decent amount of goals (22 goals in our first 10 games) It was mainly our defence that let us down. Good examples being the defensive feckwittery in the closing minutes of the games against Fulham and Everton.

Couldn't you argue that this was, at least in part, because of Rio's absence? If he had been fit from the start of the season, I just don't see us dropping as many silly points as we did.
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It was defo down to the absence of Rio, also if my memory serves me correct Carrick also missed the start of the season didn't he? he always makes a difference to the side defensively and when the both him & Rio play it is very difficult to break us down.
 
Vidic will never be as good as Rio in his peak.

But come on, Rio is one off, like Ronaldo or Messi, its unfair to compare other players to them. Vidic is world class (whatever it means), good captain and currently without a shadow of doubt one of the best CB's in the world.
 
I know Rio adds a lot to our defense but people under rate Vidic just because we've got Rio. It was Vidic who was part of our staggering defensive run along with Evans and not Rio. Rio is fantastic and he adds a calm which Vidic doesn't have but Rio (even at his peak) is not really that much better than Vidic as people claim.
 
Agreed about the underrating Vida bit, especially if we're talking about their pomp. Rio was still struggling to really fulfil his potential for this club unti Vidic came on the scene and settled, 07/08 Ferdinand was the BDITW but it was brought about by the fact he felt so settled alongside Vidic, the guy who he could rely on to do the ugly stuff.

Despite this, based on big match performances and overall class, Rio wins it. Rarely seen him ever get raped by a top striker, he seems to always have them in his pocket whereas Vidic is susceptible to looking like a deer caught in headlights, or prone to reckless silly fouls when it isn't going his way.
 
I just don´t know, I´ve always felt Rio was the best CB I´ve seen since about 06/07. He´s just an immense defender all-round.

Vidic has been ridicilously consistant and good though, but overall I feel Rio´s got a few extras to his game that Vidic lack. Pace and distribution being two key moments here, plus he´s nearly as good in the air and in physical battles if not as good as Vidic.
 
wr8_utd said:
I know Rio adds a lot to our defense but people under rate Vidic just because we've got Rio. It was Vidic who was part of our staggering defensive run along with Evans and not Rio. Rio is fantastic and he adds a calm which Vidic doesn't have but Rio (even at his peak) is not really that much better than Vidic as people claim.
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2 years later and I find it amazing people forget Ferdinand was a big part of the 13 game clean sheet record. Maybe because Evans deputised so well.
 
MacMUFC said:
2 years later and I find it amazing people forget Ferdinand was a big part of the 13 game clean sheet record. Maybe because Evans deputised so well.
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It was mainly Vidic and Evans through that run iirc.
 
wr8_utd said:
It was mainly Vidic and Evans through that run iirc.
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I just find it bewildering, as it clearly wasnt the case. This myth has been debunked plenty of times and from what I remember Ferdinand played in 8/13 games in the clean sheet run, yet some people still think he didnt play in any of them :confused:
 
Vidic often looks to be doing more because his style is much more aggressive, but Ferdinand is just about as classy as defenders come.
 
The way most of you went about on Rio with such high praises makes Vidic look like a Danny Gabbidon. For me, there isn't much difference between them at their peak really, though Rio is obviously the better footballer

If i'm forced to make a choice, i'll pick Rio. But to shift a vote to Vidic here, i'll pick the Serb
 
Ferdinand will never fully get the recognition he deserves. Probably in the same way Best and Giggs never get exhaulted to the level of class catagory they deserve, because Ferdinand plays for an England team that has always been abysmal he will never be talked about in the same bracket as Moore, Beckenbuer and Baresi. Look at the level he was (or is, if you forget injuries) at in the Premiership and particularly in Europe over the past 4 or 5 seasons. He's a class apart.

The defensive records he has been apart of speak for themselves.
 
Brwned said:
I think Rio will be remembered as one of the great defenders of his generation while I'm not sure the same will be said of Vidic.
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SmashedHombre said:
Not just of his generation, of all time. In his prime I reckon he was the best player in the world for a point.
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What Smashed said.

There's no shame in any CB losing out to Ferdinand. He's one of the best CB's the game and this club have ever seen.

If we could buy him again as a 24y.o, we'd easily spunk £50m on him.
Red_Aaron said:
Rio Ferdinand is the still worlds best centre half even if he's (arguably) past his pomp
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This too.

No slight on Vidic, but Rio's the best CB in the world. Since Nesta's career began to decline, he's out there on his own as the best.
 
Rio's probably the best CB I've seen and I doubt we've had a better defender. To be fair, his game came on leaps and bounds after Vidic joined, as a pairing they've been the bedrock of our recent success. Throw VDS and Evra in to the mix and you'll be hard pushed to find a better defence to build a team around.
 
adexkola said:
So? Vermaleen is more classy, silkier and tekker than Vidic, does that make him a better defender?
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Why do you attribute silks and tekkers to defending? Ferdinand is classy in his defending, which means he has fantastic reading of the game and often doens't have to make last-grasp and heroic challenges like Vidic because he goes about his defending in a much more mannered way. It's as much to do with his positioning and reading of the game as it do with Vidic's aggressive style which is why they suit each other perfectly, who can do the most kick ups doesn't really matter.

I'm not sure how you came to deduce that from my post.
 
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