Rio - SAF's greatest defender?

UnofficialDevil said:
Dont be daft, Rio was a better defender than Vidic had his peak which also ran for longer than Vidic's peak. There is a reason why we broke the English transfer record on a defender.
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We also spent 7 million on a player we had never seen play live before. What's your point?
 
Yeah, I've only ever seen one or two CBs as good as Rio in a United shirt, but he's done now.
 
nahealai said:
Struggling tonight.

I am not one to kick one of our own whilst he's down, but this performance has shades of Gary Neville v West Brom 2011 about it...
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Every time he's been in the team this season he's played like shit. His comments don't do him any favours either. He needs to be out of the team for good.
 
It's sad to see. Most annoying thing is my friends who I discuss football with in real life never seem to rate Rio, then will point at performances like this as proof that he's not good, conveniently ignoring how good he was when he bossed Torres and Eto'o in their prime. He's never really been rated by rival fans, and this is just further ammunition for them
 
He is too much of a liability to have on the pitch now, he can hardly move his legs have gone that much.
 
Time to retire Rio. He looks like an old man trying to keep up with the kids. Its a sad sight.
 
He can't run. Looks like he will do his back in whenever he runs.
 
When he dallied on the ball, it wasn't even a case of not having passing options, it was just him having a dream on the pitch and completely losing focus.
 
nahealai said:
Struggling tonight.

I am not one to kick one of our own whilst he's down, but this performance has shades of Gary Neville v West Brom 2011 about it...
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My thoughts too. He looks done - not just sluggish but done. I hope I'm wrong, needless to say, but when a player reaches a certain point...
 
I get that he's lost it defending one on one, but why does he have to take an absolute eternity every time he gets on the ball? It's his own fault that he's closed down, because he takes ages actually bothering to do anything on the ball.

Lazy twat.
 
He's been so fecking casual all season, I thought he was riding his luck against Leverkusen at times and its the same again tonight. All the warning signs are there now, looks like he's lost a yard too.
 
He's been a great servant, truly one of the best CBs, and a fantastic ambassador for the club so it would be a good idea to end it now before it gets ugly.
 
Time up. Reminded me of Nev against Blackburn away. All over.

Or maybe West Brom.

You know what I'm talking about.
 
Just doesn't have any positives anymore, at least when he's gone through a bad patch previously, he'd have some good moments, it's just all shit now. And even if Ferdinand himself can't see it, I can't understand why Moyes doesn't just drop him.
 
Why does he take a fortnight on the ball at the back? He gets it, holds it, holds it, holds it, holds it. Waits for player to close him down then either hoofs or tries something stupid and gets caught.
 
Finito. I would have happily let him go in the Summer and I've seen nothing to change my mind. To be fair to Moyes, I think he's using him wisely. He had no option but to play him tonight.
 
Possibly part of the greatest pair of CBs we've ever had when he was at his peak, but they way he's performed so far this season should easily make him a last resort. Way past it unfortunately, a great career coming to an end.
 
Great player for the club but now past it clearly. Should be last CB option behind Vidic, Evans, Smalling and Jones.
 
Wish Moyes would give an interview.
"Yeah he's different to my old centre backs....He doesn't seem to play at 100%. Only 80%. He's very casual and it drives me mad"
 
Should send some Christmas gift to Evans after today because he saved his sorry ass numerous times tonight.

Instead of spending hours on twitter, facebook and generally speaking talking shit about our club to the media spend more time training Rio.
 
There was a two or three year period where Rio was consistently the best defender I've seen at United

It's sad to see him not being able to win a foot race with players he would have destroyed a couple years ago. I remember the semi final with Barca in 2008, right up until the team selection no one was sure Rio was going to play. When I saw his name on the team sheet, I knew United would win the game, he was just that good. Vidic was the perfect partner for him, and vice versa.

I'm always reluctant to call a time on a player's career because players like Scholes and Giggs have consistently proven everyone wrong. Maybe if he is partnered with Vidic again, he can regain some form. Don't know though, Evans is quality, and tonight's performance maybe shows that it doesn't matter who is partner is, he is just a liability.
 
Rio's past it. Physically, he's fine but mentally, it's just not there.
 
Rio should retire before he embarrasses himself. He is building up to that Neville against West Brom type match and I don't want that to be my final memory of his career.
 
There's got to be something more to Rio's shocking form this season. I just can't see how a player who was playing nearly every game for us including being used mid week last season, is all of a sudden past it and on a Giggs schedule in such a short period of time. Last season he was quite rightly being showered with praise and now, in the span of 3 months he's suddenly turned into the awful player we see today? I'm not having that. If age or injuries was catching up to him, we would've seen signs of it last season, which we didn't because for the most part he was very good.
 
Obviously shown up big time tonight but I think it's harsh to say lets just kick him to the curb. He has been a great servant to the club and deserves a little more respect in my opinion. His experience will be crucial at times this season if he has to fill in for Evans or Vidic, so while he is past his best, he still has a role to play.

We need experienced heads around the place during this tough time, wanting to feck one of those heads off because he isn't quick is just stupid.
 
He's like any other player who is playing every third or fourth game. He's not match sharp and he looks like he needs an extra touch. Getting rid of that experience and know how would be an enormous risk. Much like Giggs I think he has some big performances in him before the end of the season.
 
Brophs said:
He's like any other player who is playing every third or fourth game. He's not match sharp and he looks like he needs an extra touch. Getting rid of that experience and know how would be an enormous risk. Much like Giggs I think he has some big performances in him before the end of the season.
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Agreed.

His time may be up at the end of the season though.
 
marjen said:
I get that he's lost it defending one on one, but why does he have to take an absolute eternity every time he gets on the ball? It's his own fault that he's closed down, because he takes ages actually bothering to do anything on the ball.

Lazy twat.
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I get what you are saying, but the dawdling on the ball isn't exclusive to Rio, it's widespread throughout the team, no options in front of you, the current lack of movement and risk free positioning which he is not used to, he got caught out badly on the ball tonight which his experience should have prevented though regardless of the lack of options, if he is caught one on one he is done, defo still has a role to play in a fully functional confident team where there is not so much pressure coming on to him, in certain fixtures... He has a lot of distractions off the pitch though so I can't see him hanging around for too long
 
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