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

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A Bit High

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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?
 

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A Bit High

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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

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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

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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

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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.
 

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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).
 

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Crimson King

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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

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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.
 

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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.
 

A Bit High

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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

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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.
 
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