Rio Ferdinand

Rio's actually been very decent so far this season. Not perfect, but more than adequate to meet the needs, or at least reasonable demands, of the club.

But Rio is on some ridiculously expensive contract, whatever the actual numbers are. The question on the table is whether he's still worth whatever the club is paying him and whether a contract extension on similar terms is warranted.
 
Rio is not half the player he was a few years back. Injuries and age have taken their toll, especially with his pace. Still nice to have him around for a couple of years. Hummels would be an ideal replacement.
 
Sultan said:
Rio is not half the player he was a few years back. Injuries and age have taken their toll, especially with his pace. Still nice to have him around for a couple of years. Hummels would be an ideal replacement.
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Sultan pls...
 
I think he struggled a bit against Norwich, he's still a fantastic defender but we need to use him a bit more sparingly but that's easier said than done with our injury record.
 
I can't see Rio going anywhere. Fergie will keep him around for another season at least IMO. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vidic go though. That's obviously not based on anything, I just wouldn't be surprised given his current problems with injury.
 
Yeahh I could see Vidic leaving as well if Inter or someone were to offer a decent fee.
 
Can't see us losing both in a short space of time, although I was discussing a CB pool of Hummels, Smalling, Evans and Jones with my mate earlier...
 
Hummels would be the dream.

We've been linked to a few though, Shawcross for example.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
I think he struggled a bit against Norwich, he's still a fantastic defender but we need to use him a bit more sparingly but that's easier said than done with our injury record.
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Rio struggled a bit v Norwich, but only a bit. They were kept down to one good chance and they nicked it. His performance was good enough to keep the hand-wringing down to a minimum.
 
Sultan said:
There's not much quality around. Hummels is a decent ball playing defender.
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Yeh I wasn't saying he was bad. It was just a poor attempt at a Dolan gag. I'd love Hummels at United. He's a giant.
 
Sultan said:
Rio is not half the player he was a few years back. Injuries and age have taken their toll, especially with his pace. Still nice to have him around for a couple of years. Hummels would be an ideal replacement.
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Apparently one of the lesser Ferguson's is now in Germany watching L. Bender and Hummels. Am not surprised if that's true.
 
Snow said:
Apparently one of the lesser Ferguson's is now in Germany watching L. Bender and Hummels. Am not surprised if that's true.
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Wow. That would be some coup if we managed to sign him, got to be the most promising central defender in world football at the moment.

Always thought Barca should get him, instead of playing midfielders as ball playing centre backs they should sign him... a ball playing centre back.
 
What got into him today? Got so bored of effortlessly stealing the ball off the attackers that he decided to take the piss in the final third as well. Great stuff.
 
I see many people are mentioning him as our leader in defence, and I think he should be that too, but... He isn't really showing it, isn't he? Why doesn't he command our last line better, I don't see him yelling at other player at all, is it because he thinks he shouldn't be doing that because Evra is our captain, or he simply isn't that kind of player that we think he should be?

I am not having a go at him, but It's interesting situation, whenever our defence puts shit performance and Rio plays, I see people blaming him for lack of leadership.
 
Perhaps he's not confident in his new approach, having lost some of his pace and seemingly always dropping off and letting the other defender attack the ball. If you arent sure you're doing the right thing it's a bit rich to be yelling at others
 
He's shying away from responsibility. It's Evans giving people bollockings, it should be Rio who leads from the back.

I think Ekeke's onto something. He's just become such a passive defender. You don't see him dominate people anymore.
 
Rio's a strange one these days.

Plays the big matches like his life depends on it, and puts in monster performances. But then seems to play like he's dazzed in all the 'smaller' matches. Maybe his body just cant play at 100% every week, so he tries to save himself for the bigger matches? Just a theory.
 
Although not his best game but he can't be singled out for the poor showing, Evans at times was poor and so was Smalling.
 
Sam said:
Rio's a strange one these days.

Plays the big matches like his life depends on it, and puts in monster performances. But then seems to play like he's dazzed in all the 'smaller' matches. Maybe his body just cant play at 100% every week, so he tries to save himself for the bigger matches? Just a theory.
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This.
 
Sam said:
Rio's a strange one these days.

Plays the big matches like his life depends on it, and puts in monster performances. But then seems to play like he's dazzed in all the 'smaller' matches. Maybe his body just cant play at 100% every week, so he tries to save himself for the bigger matches? Just a theory.
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I agree with this.
 
I love Rio but when will he learn and stop his awful awful punts down the pitch? It almost always gives the goal to the keeper.
 
FFS we're top of the league by 7 feckin' points and people here are still committing mass suicide.
 
Him and Evans doesn't excactly give me confidence as a CB pairing. He's so lax these days. I'd rather Vidic played whenever he's fully fit again.
 
Sam said:
Rio's a strange one these days.

Plays the big matches like his life depends on it, and puts in monster performances. But then seems to play like he's dazzed in all the 'smaller' matches. Maybe his body just cant play at 100% every week, so he tries to save himself for the bigger matches? Just a theory.
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I'm with you on this. After we come through the Christmas program, I expect we'll see less of him, certainly in the smaller matches.
 
roonaldo78 said:
He needs to stop with all the long balls, keeps giving it away to the opposition.
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The lack of confidence, composure and poise on the ball shown by our defence recently has been really disappointing. The usual pattern has been to get the ball run forward then panic and square it to someone totally marked or just blast it down the pitch in blind fear. Rio I expect better of cos of his experience but even he looked totally lost, especially when there wasn't someone nearby to defer to, today. Hope it was just an off day he's meant to be our premier footballing centre half.
 
dmode said:
FFS we're top of the league by 7 feckin' points and people here are still committing mass suicide.
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One of those things from us having such high standards, and having so many armchair fans who don't watch all the games.

7 points clear! Happy days. City aren't in any sort of form, so we just have to keep notching our end of the bargain with wins.

Could do with winning by 2 or 3 one week to try and get the goal difference better.

the goals scored is going amazingly!
 
Not a very good game from Rio, Particularly in the first half. Seems his passing just wasn't working during the game. In the first half there was a period where it felt like every second pass would go to the other teams midfield, and it wasn't like they were working hard to intercept it either.

Need him to dust himself off and be back to his usual level next game
 
Not one of his greatest days as a footballer, but Rio deserves more credit for the job he did against a very determined, and capable, Newcastle squad who showed up today and took shots from just about everywhere.

But if you're asking whether he's getting old quickly, the answer is yes.
 
Ruud10 said:
Not one of his greatest days as a footballer, but Rio deserves more credit for the job he did against a very determined, and capable, Newcastle squad who showed up today and took shots from just about everywhere.

But if you're asking whether he's getting old quickly, the answer is yes.
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I'll agree that his defending itself wasn't to bad and he coped well with the strikers for the most part. It was just his passing and when he actually had the ball today that really let him down.
 
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