INTERVIEW: Rio Ferdinand on Man Utd frailties & John Terry

Kevin Palmer 00:41 11/08/2015
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  • Rio Ferdinand does not believe Sergio Ramos is a worthy investment for Manchester United.

    The acquisition of high-profile attacking flair has been a major priority for Louis van Gaal since he arrived at Manchester United but there remains somewhat of a defensive void at Old Trafford, with the Red Devils struggling to cope with the departures of Rio Ferdinand and his long-standing central defensive partner Nemanja Vidic left the club last summer along with left-back stalwart Patrice Evra. 

    The former England captain lifted the Premier League trophy above his head on six occasions during his 12-year spell at United and claimed a Champions League winners’ medal in 2008. Yet despite his relentless success at United, Ferdinand has more than a few regrets.

    Here, Ferdinand opens up to Sport360 about the biggest disappointments of his career, United’s current defensive crop and old foe John Terry.

    Can your old club Manchester United win the Premier League title this season?
    Defensively, they are short. They need a centre-half. Forget their talent, the centre-halves who are there have yet to show that physically they can get sustain their fitness throughout a whole season. That is a big problem. If you are going to be successful, the foundations of a team have to be in place.

    You look at Chelsea winning the league last year and John Terry played every match. Gary Cahill was always fit, Nemanja Matic was fit, Thibaut Courtois was fit. These are positions that are vitally important if you are going to be successful.

    Success for Man United this season is a top two finish and a hand on a trophy, whether it be Capital One Cup or FA Cup.

    They have to start well to have any chance. If they don’t start well, they will not get anywhere near that. If they start well, build a bit of confidence, they will have a chance. The key thing is keeping their key players fit. Chelsea are still the team to beat, but United should be closer to them now.

    Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have struggled with injuries at Old Trafford.

    What defender could United buy to strengthen. 
    What centre-back can you buy? If I ask you who is the best centre-back in the Champions League, who would you say? It is hard to say at this moment. In the past, you would have said straight away it was Carles Puyol, it was John Terry, it was Rio, it was Paolo Maldini. You can’t do that now.

    You wouldn’t be able to tell me if Sergio Ramos is better than Jerome Boateng. Or is Boateng is better than Thiago Silva. Or if Silva is better than Gerard Pique. No defender’s performances have stood out for me over the last couple of years.

    That may be a little bit because the game looks towards attacking players more at the moment. I still think there are good defenders out there, but they have not performed to a stand-out level. No defender has stood up to the point where you can say he has been consistently brilliant in every game.

    Ramos in the Champions League did well last season to be fair, but consistently standing out every week? I don’t see that from defenders.

    What did you make of John Terry’s impressive season with Chelsea?
    John Terry is an old-school defender, but he can still play. You look at him every week and he doesn’t give many balls away with his passing. He doesn’t take too many risks with the ball.

    Defenders have to start attacks now, that is what they want you to do. You look at Daley Blind now playing for Man United and Van Gaal has him playing centre-half. That says it all. The reason he is playing centre-half is to start attacks. That is the philosophy in the modern game.

    How is retirement treating you and do you have any regrets?
    I have not had a chance to think about it yet. I thought I would be thinking about it by now, but I don’t wake up in the morning and wonder what I might be doing. I have a lot of personal stuff in my life and with my work to deal with, so I don’t need to worry about what I’m going to do from day to day. That is good for me and long may that continue. The longer that goes on, the better.

    I have not had time to reflect on what I’ve done. My medals are in a box at home, I don’t look at them too much. I thought I would have been looking back at my career by now, thinking about what I did and didn’t do, but it hasn’t happened yet.

    Desire was never diminished for me when we won things. We got to two more Champions League finals quickly after winning the competition in 2008 and that shows it.

    My problem was not thinking about the good times, but sitting back and feeling gutted about the finals I lost, when I should have won. Thinking ‘I can’t believe we didn’t win that one’ or ‘we should have won this’. 

    The two Barcelona finals, I’d love to have won at least one of the them. The FA Cup semi-final against Everton [in 2009]. The final against Arsenal [in 2005] we should have won, easily. They are at the forefront of my mind, even more so that the trophies we won. It is strange I suppose, but that’s the reality. I’m not playing any more and I don’t understand it. It still kills me thinking about what might have been. That’s the story for a lot of players who have been successful I would guess. You always want more.

    Away from United and Chelsea, people have been talking about Arsenal. Can they challenge? 
    Arsenal have done well to get Petr Cech in and they have a real chance this year, but they need to end their problems with injuries. Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck have not always been the fittest players and they need to get that right to have a chance.

    They were lucky that Alexis Sanchez didn’t get injuries last season because they needed him big time. He has been playing in the Copa America this summer and they have to hope he doesn’t come back and pick up an injury.

    So while Arsenal have a chance this year, they need a bit of luck with injuries and that will give them a chance. At Man United, in the years when we won a lot of trophies, the manager invariably knew six or seven of his players every week.

    Man Utd, Arsenal and Man City didn’t have that last year and the dynamics of the league if John Terry and Eden Hazard are out for a long time for Chelsea this season and the other teams have a bit more luck with injuries.

    Chelsea are still the team to beat. They are the champions and they won it by a mile last year, but the dynamic of the league will change very quickly if they pick up key injuries, which was why all of their rivals came up short last season. Man City, Arsenal and United all had injuries to key players and you need a bit of luck in that department if you are going to be successful.

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