Vidic

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JakeC said:
Make you realize how good he really is.
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Bloody hell like 1,000 views in the last couple of days - must be all from the Caf.

In any case, yeah it shows how good he is really in this video. The last 20 minutes of the game he was immense, and the way he tackles Silva as he is about to nip into the box was just class position.
 
It's so good to have the captain back.I really hope he can maintain his fitness and avoid injuries for the rest of the season now, he'll need and several weeks to get back to a very good level never mind his best.
The timing is good too with the recent injury of Evans, we need fit players in these next few busy weeks
 
We've badly missed Nemanja Vidic, a footballer whom most, if not at all, considered the top center back on the planet before he went down.
 
Will be good to see him playing again. Hopefully he doesn't re-injure himself so quickly this time. Then we just need to hope he can get back to the same levels as he was before all the injury dramas
 
Yep. Looked very under weight compared to back when he was at his best for us when he came back last time. I'm hoping this time we have got him doing more gym work and such during the break and given him much longer than he actually needed to fully get back to fitness.
 
Dargonk said:
Yep. Looked very under weight compared to back when he was at his best for us when he came back last time. I'm hoping this time we have got him doing more gym work and such during the break and given him much longer than he actually needed to fully get back to fitness.
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He also needs to shave his hair off.
 
He doesn't need to shave his hair off to look tough...he is tough full stop!!
 
There's no telling he will be the same Vidic though, I mean he's 31 now and we've its been a while since him, Rio and Brown did what they did with Van Sar etc.
 
Claymore said:
There's no telling he will be the same Vidic though, I mean he's 31 now and we've its been a while since him, Rio and Brown did what they did with Van Sar etc.
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31 for a defender isn't problem at all, though his injuries can be. Anyway even if he returns at 80% of his form in 2010-2011 he is one of the best (if not the best) CB in England.
 
Vidic and Smalling as a pairing may well be the answer to a lot of our defensive troubles at the moment assuming the former returns to a level somewhere near his best. We'd have that aerial dominance back that we've been lacking at times with Rio and Evans. Still laugh when I think back to how good Vidic was back between the start 08/09 and the end of 10/11 (especially during 10/11). He was class before that obviously but that was one hell of a defender. The opposition would just lump ball after ball into the box only for Vidic to repeatedly be the one on the end of it. I swear there were some games where he had about 12-15 headed clearances alone.
 
It vexes me how little credit our defense got during those years. This is where Brwned or Gio come in and chastise me, but I can't think of any defenses, bar Milan's defenses of the early 2000s, that beat the unit we had. We broke all the records.

------------VDS

Brown---Rio----Vidic----Evra

With Evans, O'Shea, Rafa, Neville deputizing brilliantly. With Carrick and Fletcher protecting the flanks. What a defense.
 
The way I remember it, everyone was acknowledging how amazing that defence was. This forum certainly was at least. Personally thought Rio was every bit as good as Ronaldo that year and a lot of others did too.

It was actually a bit of a shock when the opposition scored back then.
 
It was telling that after Ronaldo left we were able to repeat the achievements of final season two years later. He was arguably the best player to ever play for us, but what made that team truly special was the Van Der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick unit.
 
Chabon said:
It was telling that after Ronaldo left we were able to repeat the achievements of final season two years later. He was arguably the best player to ever play for us, but what made that team truly special was the Van Der Sar, Ferdinand, Vidic, Carrick unit.
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I fully agree with the sentiment, but not the statement of fact. What made the 07/08 truly special was Ronaldo, as demonstrated by the fact that we won a CL trophy that season and haven't been able to since. Yes, Barca rose to new heights but, for what it's worth, I personally believe that had we had still had Ronaldo we would have beaten Barcelona at least once and I even believe we would have bagged two, maybe three more CL trophies after 07/08. Although that's pure speculation on my part it must be acknowledged we came very close without him and were missing that extra attacking dimension without Ronaldo that could have given Barcelona, and of course Bayern, some real trouble.
 
KingEric7 said:
The way I remember it, everyone was acknowledging how amazing that defence was. This forum certainly was at least. Personally thought Rio was every bit as good as Ronaldo that year and a lot of others did too.

It was actually a bit of a shock when the opposition scored back then.
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I remember going to barca in the first leg in 2008 and feeling confident we wouldn't concede. Oh how times change :lol:
 
Ruud10 said:
I fully agree with the sentiment, but not the statement of fact. What made the 07/08 truly special was Ronaldo, as demonstrated by the fact that we won a CL trophy that season and haven't been able to since. Yes, Barca rose to new heights but, for what it's worth, I personally believe that had we had still had Ronaldo we would have beaten Barcelona at least once and I even believe we would have bagged two, maybe three more CL trophies after 07/08.
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We did have Ronaldo in the first final against Barcelona and it didn't change much. I doubt he would have made a difference in the second final. We didn't lose either because of the Ronaldo factor.

One way or the other, it's a team game. Ronaldo scored a lot of the goals to win us matches but they wouldn't have made a difference if we didn't have the backline to make those goals count.
 
Amir said:
We did have Ronaldo in the first final against Barcelona and it didn't change much. I doubt he would have made a difference in the second final. We didn't lose either because of the Ronaldo factor.

One way or the other, it's a team game. Ronaldo scored a lot of the goals to win us matches but they wouldn't have made a difference if we didn't have the backline to make those goals count.
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I think Barca scoring first was a big part in that.
 
The reception he received yesterday just goes to show he is genuinely loved and its good to have him back. He is like a security blanket you feel better knowing he is on the pitch
 
Even an off form Vidič just makes me much more assured about our defense.
No doubt in my mind he was the best defender in the world prior to his injury, hopefully he can get that title back.
I know, I know..."but what about his injury and his age?"....well, he's 30 or 31 (still prime time for a defender), and he was never one to rely on his pace in the first place, and that's really all Vidič lost with this injury.
Sure he'll need some time to get back to his old self, but I have no doubt in my mind he will be instrumental in us picking up silverware come the end of the season.
 
OGkush said:
Even an off form Vidič just makes me much more assured about our defense.
No doubt in my mind he was the best defender in the world prior to his injury, hopefully he can get that title back.
I know, I know..."but what about his injury and his age?"....well, he's 30 or 31 (still prime time for a defender), and he was never one to rely on his pace in the first place, and that's really all Vidič lost with this injury.
Sure he'll need some time to get back to his old self, but I have no doubt in my mind he will be instrumental in us picking up silverware come the end of the season.
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This. The way he started directing the players right after he came was great. Hope he stays healthy. We will definitely need him.
 
Loved Rio's face when he swapped with Vidic. You can tell the team is happy to have him back. It was a good run out for him, not put under any great pressure to do anything, but gives him some match time. Hopefully we slowly build him up and get him fully over the injuries and have him back to his best
 
Yeah. Came here to post just that. I didnt notice it at the time. Was watching the highlights now.

Great to see Rio smiling as he was going off and towards Vidic.
I'd love to see Rio-Vidic together again.
 
It certainly was a good sight to behold and the warm reception by the crowd spoke volumes. What he needs is games and obviously the challenge is to stay injury free and keep some much needed clean sheets. The goal difference issue should still be on our radar.
 
A little controversial, I'm a little bemused by something here and it's the assumption that Vidic is going to magically recover his imperious form 09-11. I keep seeing people assuming that our best defence automatically involves Vidic and that he's going to shore up our defence again.

He's suffered from a severe knee injury and hasn't played regularly for about a year. He was rushed back this season and looked a bit under strength and we weren't any different defensively with him in the side. Against Sunderland, when he came on, it was apparent that it was Smalling who was the physical presence in the defence. I'm not about to write him off, that'd be stupid and no doubt he'll be in the side for the big games like Rio because of his experience, reading of the game and influence. But I'd be cautious in expecting him to displace Evans and Smalling because we don't know if he's match fit, or if his knee will allow him to build up a run of games to let him regain fitness and if it affects his mobility in any way.
 
Even if the strength and power has declined, you can never lose the sense of positioning and anticipation.

Vidic to me is so much more than a power-house in the air. He has been resolute against quick and skilled forwards as well.

I'm sure he can get back to an elite level.
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
Even if the strength and power has declined, you can never lose the sense of positioning and anticipation.

Vidic to me is so much more than a power-house in the air. He has been resolute against quick and skilled forwards as well.

I'm sure he can get back to an elite level.
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Still, you can't really afford to be losing muscle mass when the likes of Benteke etc are around. Even Rio who's built like a train can get outmuscled at times.

Gary Neville is probably the classic example of a player who had a bad injury and then got a lot of muscle problems due to his age and couldn't get a run of games together and looked off the pace almost permanently. Full back is a completely different kettle of fish granted, but I'm not really trying to argue that Vidic has turned to shit just that we can't take for granted that he'll be the world class centre back he was before.
 
Hopefully he gets some minutes this week too, not necessarily a start, but a half would do him the world of good.
All this talk on whether he'll reach his best again for me are a little pointless.
Best to wait and see in my opinion.
 
Was good to see him get 90minutes under his belt. Played fairly well as well. Could tell he was slightly rusty at points particularly early on, but overall a good performance from him.

Hope he keeps himself fit now
 
Looks good today. Great to have him back.
 
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