Im not sure why people are bashing Rio, the entire under performed. I'm sure Rio would be the first to say he didnt have a great game but what is needed now is perspective for us to regroup and gather our thoughts for the next game.
Evans, Smalling and Jones... Really?!Rio is showing signs of decline. Unfortunately the players bound to replace him aren't really very good either.
Rio is showing signs of decline. Unfortunately the players bound to replace him aren't really very good either.
Devilish your one of my favourite posters but this is your worst post ever mate. We have Evans, Jones and Smalling that is magnificent options to have. Evans has been superb for 2 seasons now Smalling looks like he just needs time and I'd bet Jones will do a Kompany for us.
Wow thanks. To be honest after a big defeat i dont like myself very much as i get too emotional and i tend to let anger cloud my judgement. Returning to the subject i am not saying that jones etc are shit. What i am saying is that none of the young players have yet shown that they are able to replace rio which considering his age is a bit didturbing.
Just look at Kompany at the other end. The difference in his and Rio's performances was utterly fecking embarassing.
Rio is showing signs of decline. Unfortunately the players bound to replace him aren't really very good either.
Thing is Rio had literally one thing to do all game against Palace...and it ended with an opposition player being through on goal despite having to control a 60 yard pass with Ferdinand between him and the goal.
He had very little defending to do at Anfield and yet still managed to cost us a goal and cause us problems in possession.
That's the sort of thing that really gets me. Even if we dominate or control a game, there seems to be a strong chance that Rio will influence it in the other team's favour at some point.
It's what I mean about him being levels below his team mates. It's like having one person in your relay team who runs out of breath after 25 metres. It risks making the talent of the rest of the team's efforts somewhat irrelevant.
He's almost 35, at that age it is possible for players to decline suddenly. I do agree though, I don't think he's necessarily in decline, I just think he's being overplayed, there's a reason why Fergie didn't play him three times in a week.He was arguably the best central back in the PL last season; how much do you think a summer of good intensive training can hurt the guy? Get some perspective.
This place can be depressing as hell at times.
I think you are massively overreacting. He was on the PL-team last year - did he buy his way into that team? He hasn't been great the last couple of matches, but people on here are making way too much out of this.
It's been every game he's played this season...and I'm not over reacting at all. All I've done there is post some examples of things that actually happened in games.
I didn't even include the spastic episode against Leverkusen or anything about yesterday's performance (which to be fair, had more problems with it than just Rio).
He has yet to put in a competent performance. He cost us the only goal at Anfield in a game which we had control over for the most part. He could easily have cost us the game against Crystal Palace despite them barely having an attack. It's a tough league. We can't afford to be losing cheap goals and points in games we should have control of, just because no one wants to admit Rio Ferdinand isn't doing his job nearly as well as he used to.
He definitely wasn't the best centreback in the League last season either. He had a good run of form and other games where he seemed to struggle...he also had to be rested for every other game. He wasn't even our best centreback over the course of the season.
Who was significantly better than Rio last season? He was terrific for the most part - he made some mistakes, but Kompany certainly has his fair share of brainfarts, and I do think he's a great defender.
The one against Liverpool isn't that much of mistake - he lost a duel, fair enough. If it was Rio who had won against Agger and it led to a goal we would say great work by Rio and not poor from Agger - it depends on your point of view really. And at this point, it seems to be more in-tune to be negative.
The Liverpool goal was clearly his fault. All he had to do was jump up and contest a header, but he went in with his foot first and Agger was always going to make it before him. Just bad defending.
Anyway, as people have said he can't play 3 games a season anymore, but he has been making mistakes all season now. He hasn't been particularly terrible, but the mistakes he has been making could and have been costly.
Yesterday I thought his concentration was shot. On Aguero's second goal when Negredo got the cross in (Vidic should have stopped it despite tracking him well) Aguero just ghosted in on his own. It was like that all match to be fair. No one other than Vidic defended - and yeah he made some mistakes also before you all react.
Then clearly you think City's second goal was Vidic's fault as he lost the duel to Negredo and bumped into Smalling at the same time. Vidic lost too many duels yesterday and had a very poor display. I thought Rio was awful, but some of the stick he gets here is ridiculous. There's too much negativity - one should think we are about to be relegated.
Rio was 34 years old for the vast majority of last season and Evans is a fantastic defender, I'm not sure why the "even" part is necessary.Rio wasn't that great last season. Even Evans was better than him.
Not really, Negredo wasn't his man - Fellaini biggest culprit for me in any case.
Vidic didn't win the majority of his duels like he usually does, but it's harsh to say he was 'very poor' given that he looked like he was the only one defending. Not too mention he stopped one clear cut goal and possibly another. So very poor is a bit wrong IMO.
Actually he doesn't really get any stick on here Noodle aside. Some of the mistakes he has made this season would have been slated if they were made by someone like David Luiz.
Rio was 34 years old for the vast majority of last season and Evans is a fantastic defender, I'm not sure why the "even" part is necessary.
I agree with you, I think Rio had a brilliant season last year, it was just his distribution which was really poor (which has mostly carried on this year). His concentration and tactical awareness were great, but he was perfectly managed as far as which games he would play and so on. I really think the management is at fault here, I think he's still got a lot to offer to the team but he should be used wisely. He already looked tired in midweek against Leverkusen, no way should he have played yesterday.Why does age matter? Imo, Rio was better than Evans last year, and I doubt I'm the only one who thinks so seeing that Rio did make the PL-team and Evans did not.
Because Rio isn't as good as he used to be? You'd expect Evans to be better than him soon hence why the "even" part was ridiculously harsh on both players.Why does age matter? Imo, Rio was better than Evans last year, and I doubt I'm the only one who thinks so seeing that Rio did make the PL-team and Evans did not.
He was arguably the best central back in the PL last season; how much do you think a summer of good intensive training can hurt the guy? Get some perspective.
This place can be depressing as hell at times.
In terms of Vidic, I think we just see things differently. Vidic is a fantastic defender, but I thought he was very poor yesterday. He struggled to keep the ball, cleared the ball when he had good alternatives to play to and lost a few duels. He did prevent a goal, that's for sure, but he was just as faulty for the first goal as Valencia and Evra.
In terms of Vidic, I think we just see things differently. Vidic is a fantastic defender, but I thought he was very poor yesterday. He struggled to keep the ball, cleared the ball when he had good alternatives to play to and lost a few duels. He did prevent a goal, that's for sure, but he was just as faulty for the first goal as Valencia and Evra.
I agree with you, I think Rio had a brilliant season last year, it was just his distribution which was really poor (which has mostly carried on this year). His concentration and tactical awareness were great, but he was perfectly managed as far as which games he would play and so on. I really think the management is at fault here, I think he's still got a lot to offer to the team but he should be used wisely. He already looked tired in midweek against Leverkusen, no way should he have played yesterday.
We'll probably have to wait until Rio is long-term injured for Moysey/coaches to realise what Rio, Fergie and the rest of us realised a few years ago. Maybe Moyes is so worried about losing games that in some positions he daren't play some of our other players. In a way it's understandable but in other ways it's quite concerning. Evans is quite capable of partnering Vidic and hopefully Jones will be fit soon.Normally I would agree with this, but it hasn't just been the one game. He kept getting caught out with long balls over the top against Palace and Leverkuson and his short passing game has become erratic at best.
He clearly looks as if he can no longer manage 3 games in a week, and for his age that is totally understandable, the question is, how long is it going to take Moysey to figure that out?
He's been showing signs of decline for years. Same as Vidic. However they remain undisputed first teamers because the alternatives to them aren't exactly great players. Unless Smalling, Jones and Evans are able to step up and be counted on a weekly basis then in few years time the CB will be one big problem that need to be sorted.
I don't agree that Evans was better than Rio last year and I'm still far from convinced he's ready to step in full-time but it does look it's gotten to the stage where Evans should at least be given the chance. I don't think it has all that much to do with Rio's pace either. He's just let those brainfarts and that complacency from his early 20s creep back into his game now.
I don't agree that Evans was better than Rio last year and I'm still far from convinced he's ready to step in full-time but it does look it's gotten to the stage where Evans should at least be given the chance. I don't think it has all that much to do with Rio's pace either. He's just let those brainfarts and that complacency from his early 20s creep back into his game now.
Would people on here be comfortable if Rio quit next season and we didn't buy a new CB considering we have Jones, Smalling and Evans to play alongside Vidic?
I'd play Evans ahead of Rio right now for his ability on the ball alone. I sometimes think the biggest impact of his declining abilities is in the opposition half. With Evans much more willing to carry the ball forward and much less reliant on long punts upfield from deep, he seems to keep the opposition on the back foot much more than Rio can. Which is a shame, because this was one of Rio's great strengths, in his prime.
