***Official Manchester United Thread*** Part 2

[A Bit High]

I was thinking about Rio Ferdinand today and I want to throw this out there.

Is it time to cash in on him while we still can?

Has missed alot of football over the last 3 seasons, not getting any younger and with the emergence of Smalling it could be time to get money for him.

Thoughts?

 

[belfast_bomber]

No. No. No.

He 's far, far more useful to the side than the money we'd get - which, as we know - wouldn't go on players anyway. (see CK's penultimate post)

We need him.

 

[A Bit High]

No. No. No.

He 's far, far more useful to the side than the money we'd get - which, as we know - wouldn't go on players anyway. (see CK's penultimate post)

We need him.

If he was playing regularly I would agree 100% but I would say he has missed most of the last 3 seasons and I am wondering if this is the sign of things to come. Hope not but he is in his 30's.

 

[Jolldo87]

How much money could we realistically expect anyway? Doubt we'd be getting many good offers. Could almost guarantee an insultingly low bid from Tottenham though.

 

[A Bit High]

How much money could we realistically expect anyway? Doubt we'd be getting many good offers. Could almost guarantee an insultingly low bid from Tottenham though.

Hard to say the way the market is these days, hopefully he can get himself right but trust me when I say at his age staying injury free will only get harder!

 

[mojito]

If he was playing regularly I would agree 100% but I would say he has missed most of the last 3 seasons and I am wondering if this is the sign of things to come. Hope not but he is in his 30's.

His orginisational skills at the back are second to none. I'd keep him for that alone.

 

[belfast_bomber]

Not forgetting his organisational skills for the annual Christmas party

 

[A Bit High]

His orginisational skills at the back are second to none. I'd keep him for that alone.

I think Vidic makes him look better than he actually is.

His lazy approach can get him into trouble at times.

Just an opinion.

 

[mojito]

Not forgetting his organisational skills for the annual Christmas party

merkage bro braap braap

 

[Crimson King]

Although ABH makes a valid point, I'd definitely rather keep Rio as he's a crucial player for us on and off the pitch.

There was this statistic I read not a long ago which stated that he didn't commit a foul for about nine months straight until he gave away that penalty against West Brom in January. Just goes to show how good he is at reading the play.

Off the pitch, his mentoring of our young defenders is important as well (Christmas parties aside).

 

[A Bit High]

Not committing a foul for 9 months, is that due to his zonal marking, many a time I have seen us concede a goal and Rio is in the box without being on his opponents hammer.

Just food for thought and healthy discussion.

 

[Crimson King]

How are the two related, though? not a committing a foul for nine months and zonal marking in the box, that is. For a defender not to commit a foul for that amount of period is an amazing feat, no matter what his weakness may be.

In regards to weaknesses, speedy players have gotten the better of Vidic before, Evra has been prone to being caught out of position before, yet despite these weaknesses, it doesn't change the fact that they are world class players, same applies to Rio.

IMO, he is our most composed defender and he provides a lot of leadership at the back. At his best, he is as good as any defender out there.

 

[A Bit High]

I guess I have always thought that Rio was a tad overrated and now I see him as an overrated player who does not even play.

 

[A Bit High]

How are the two related, though? not a committing a foul for nine months and zonal marking in the box, that is. For a defender not to commit a foul for that amount of period is an amazing feat, no matter what his weakness may be.

In regards to weaknesses, speedy players have gotten the better of Vidic before, Evra has been prone to being caught out of position before, yet despite these weaknesses, it doesn't change the fact that they are world class players, same applies to Rio.

IMO, he is our most composed defender and he provides a lot of leadership at the back. At his best, he is as good as any defender out there.

Zonal marking is guarding a zone, protecting an area, your hardly going to commit fouls unless your actually on a player.

Not saying this is the case all the time but he has caught ball watching.

 

[Crimson King]

Lapses in concentration have always been his weakness, no doubt about it but in my opinion, him not committing a foul for that long shows how good he is at reading the play which often means that he is in the right place at the right time to intercept opposition attacks and win the ball back, something which is one of his biggest strengths.

Anyway, hopefully, we'll be fine without him in the next two crucial games.

 

[archiemoses]

Will Smalling play CB next two games given Evans and Rio are injured?

I am making changes to my fantasy team

 

[Crimson King]

Will Smalling play CB next two games given Evans and Rio are injured?

Yep.

 

[archiemoses]

Yep.

Are you being sincere or jeopardizing my fantasy team?

 

[A Bit High]

Lapses in concentration have always been his weakness, no doubt about it but in my opinion, him not committing a foul for that long shows how good he is at reading the play which often means that he is in the right place at the right time to intercept opposition attacks and win the ball back, something which is one of his biggest strengths.

Anyway, hopefully, we'll be fine without him in the next two crucial games.

This will be the last comment on the Rio subject, but just watch how he defended against Darren Bent's goal in our 3-1 win at OT. Does this sort of defending to often for a "World Class" defender IMO.

 

[Crimson King]

I just had a look, ABH.

IMO, it wasn't solely just Rio's fault as we got caught on the counter and O'Shea, Rio and Vidic were all out of position to begin with.

Breaking it down - Downing had Vidic done for pace, Rio made a bad decision to close down Downing while Bent ran into the open space where O'Shea should have been after Rio committed. All three were at fault for the goal but I think it's an isolated incident because we rarely get sliced open on the counter like that since we are usually very organized at the back.

In regards to Rio, I'm not saying he doesn't have lapses in concentration at times but I think he has proven himself to be a consistent, quality defender over an extended period of time and thus is world class. This debate go on forever but I guess we'll be sticking to our opinions.

 

[A Bit High]

Team for the Wigan game -

Van der Sar; O'Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes; Nani, Hernandez, Rooney
Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Fabio, Rafael, Gibson, Berbatov, King

 

[Crimson King]

Phew, turned out to be a comfortable win in the end.

Good to see Fabio get on the scoresheet.

Chica

 

[A Bit High]

A few points on the match -

Rooney was lucky.

We looked dangerous on the counter.

Thank god for VDS in the first half.

Smalling and Vidic looks the goods.

Hernandez is an absolute gun.

Next 8 days are crucial.

 

[belfast_bomber]

Manchester!

 

[manureid]

A draw at minimum against the Renties this week and I will start to feel a little more comfortable (not totally mind!).