The game against AIK illustrated it perfectly. Fortunately not many opposing teams have figured this out. I still don't understand why he does it. It's one of the most counter-intuitive things I've ever seen.
Rio - SAF's greatest defender?
- Thread starter Massive Spanner
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The game against AIK illustrated it perfectly. Fortunately not many opposing teams have figured this out. I still don't understand why he does it. It's one of the most counter-intuitive things I've ever seen.
That performance where he completely owned Torres at his best 
Which one?
The one where he bullied him and told to get the feck up. It was cruel in some way, Torres had that girlish hair
Anfield. 07/08 season.
That one !!
I agree.
Vidic>Rio
I agree Vidic is better.
Is it a case of teams not figuring out something so simple that some people off the internet can spot or is it more likely that Vidic simply doesn't let it effect his game more often than not?
Rio, no doubt. The sheer number of games he has played for the club gives him the edge over the likes of Stam and Vidic. Just wonder if Fergie should have signed him straight from West Ham. Rio was already good enough at the time.
06/07, 07/08 and in 08/09 before he was increasingly injured towards the back end of that season he was untouchable, the best centre back in the world.
His best, probably. Whether he was his most important is questionable. The role Bruce and Pallister played in getting us to the top can't be underestimated. But the op was the greatest, wasn't it? So yeah, Rio. Fair enough. I'll stop now.
He's the best, most talented centre back I've ever seen at United. In European competition from 07-09 he was at his peak. He's still an awesome defender today and £30m for 10 years top class service, he's proved a bargain.
Always used to wonder what sort of impact it must have on our attacking players having to go up against Rio, Vidic and Evra training everyday. Particularly when they were at their peak, Rio and Evra in particular were absolutely unbeatable one on one to the extent that you were effectively surrendering possession by having a run at them.
I see that graph from the other day and a similar set of stats from the season before about the lack of dribbling in our team and I think "it's those fecking defenders of ours pissing all over our attackers everyday in training"...
Edit: Another thing on Rio; I don't think it's often acknowledged but I think he was the best right from the start of the year 2006 and not just the season 06/07. Used to remember pissing in the wind trying to tell people back at school that he was better than John Terry back then, but the absolute leap he made after Keane's retirement was so noticeable. It's something that goes under the radar when people talk about how Vidic caused him to up his game, where as in reality he was amazing prior to striking up that combination and already looked like the best in the league next to Wes Brown.
I see that graph from the other day and a similar set of stats from the season before about the lack of dribbling in our team and I think "it's those fecking defenders of ours pissing all over our attackers everyday in training"...
Edit: Another thing on Rio; I don't think it's often acknowledged but I think he was the best right from the start of the year 2006 and not just the season 06/07. Used to remember pissing in the wind trying to tell people back at school that he was better than John Terry back then, but the absolute leap he made after Keane's retirement was so noticeable. It's something that goes under the radar when people talk about how Vidic caused him to up his game, where as in reality he was amazing prior to striking up that combination and already looked like the best in the league next to Wes Brown.
Vidic for me.
I think most people who do notice how completely awful he is at changing direction while running are still trying to figure it out. Seriously, his upper body appears to rotate in the oppposite direction that his hips and legs go. It's like he has some kind of magical ball bearing in his spine that allows him to do it. Unfortunately it's shit magic and virtually everytime he turns like that it results in a goal. I only noticed it maybe 18 months ago and it mesmerizes me whenever I see it. It could be as simple as him anticipating something else which then leads to him having to change directon and by that time he's a step behind the attacker. The good thing is that Vidic doesn't appear to have any other weaknesses and it's probable that makes this one all the more glaring.
Feel sorry for him, he deserved better today, not just result wise.
Yep. There was nothing 'fun' about it, and that's not taking into account the performance.
Perfect example of how not to organise a testimonial.
Perfect example of why we don't need testimonials.
Perfect performance from Rio today(goal wasn't his fault), won lot of important aerial duels which is surprise since we always see that from Vidic, and his positioning was excellent as always.
Alongside Welbeck and van Persie, our best player on the pitch IMO.
Alongside Welbeck and van Persie, our best player on the pitch IMO.
I thought his passing was a bit shit though, in the first half especially.
I dunno about "perfect" He got turned inside out by one of their players in the first half.
I think he slipped
During his peak, which was 07/08 (in terms of which season), he was easily the best defender I have ever seen with my own eyes. I just don't understand how a centre back could actually be better - it was like having the entire team playing centre back, with another 10 players filling in the other positions. He was the best player we had that season bar Ronaldo, & even then he was probably more consistent.
That's not a perfect excuse. Why do some players slip much more than others?
07/08 was absolutely ridiculous, probably the best season I've ever seen a central defender have (Nesta a few years earlier is his only competition). Right up there with Ronaldo that season.
Overall I'd have to give the edge to Vidic though, as he's maintained a higher level for longer. While they've been partnered, Rio was better for only the first two seasons, with Vidic being better since then.
Overall I'd have to give the edge to Vidic though, as he's maintained a higher level for longer. While they've been partnered, Rio was better for only the first two seasons, with Vidic being better since then.
Rio is easily better in last two season (due Vidic's injuries).
I don't think that's really true. Vidic coming back from injury instantly made us so much tighter at the back whereas Rio was a bit shaky at times, still a very good season though.
I'd say Vidic is better. Our defence just looks so much better when he is playing no matter who is the other CB alongside him.
I do think Ferdinand gets turned far too easily by pacy players over the last few years. And he really needs to stop hoofing it so much.
But for me Stam was possibly the best centre back under Fergie. He had no consistent partner and his partners were decent. He also had Neville alongside him at times. Rio would have struggled for me with those partners.
I do think Ferdinand gets turned far too easily by pacy players over the last few years. And he really needs to stop hoofing it so much.
But for me Stam was possibly the best centre back under Fergie. He had no consistent partner and his partners were decent. He also had Neville alongside him at times. Rio would have struggled for me with those partners.
Vidic has probably had a consistently higher level over his career here, but as others have said Rio from 07-09 was the best thing I've ever seen from a CB. In 07/08 when I genuinely didn't think that we would concede goals, surprised when we did, some of the performances were simply perfect.
The reason I would say Vidic is because he never seems to make the kind of mistakes Rio did. Goals like Bellamy's equalizer to make it 3-3 in that 4-3 win. Vidic would have booted that into the stand before trying something like that. Vidic in the air is far better, and his tackling is outstanding. Don't get me wrong, Rio is an excellent defender, but if I was playing centre back, I know who I'd want to play beside. Rio does things that sometimes make him look brilliant, but Vidic defends in a consistent way at a very high level and you could probably count the goals conceded that were specifically his fault on one hand. Both great defenders anyway.
Yeah, but Rio makes those mistakes because he's the one who builds our attacks from the back, and is more adventurous with his passing than Vida.
Yeah I agree with that. I believe Ferdinand is the better football, but I believe Vidic to be the better defender.
My thoughts, too - that for me was the defensive equivalent of Messi in 09/10. He was just amazing at every aspect of defending in pretty much every game and didn't have even the slightest of weaknesses. Vidic is better in than Rio in the air, but Rio back then was probably still the second best defender I've seen in this respect.
Vidic had just around 20 apps in total last season, and most of them were against lower placed teams, missing most of our big games, while SAF and many others people at club said that this was Rio's best season.
Couldn't agree more - & he did all this with such style. He really is the ultimate, modern-day, Rolls Royce defender. So gifted.