Rio Ferdinand says underrated Man Utd teammate helped him through ‘hardest moments of my career’

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Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand has weighed into the debate over right-backs to defender a former teammate.

Rio Ferdinand formed one of the best central defensive partnerships in Manchester United history alongside Nemanja Vidic, and he readily admits their success was helped by having top full-backs around them.

Gary Neville was one of them. Now known to a generation as an analyst and commentator on Sky Sports, the former Manchester United star often speaks in a self-deprecating tone about his own career, despite his incredible success.

Neville won the Champions League with Manchester United, along with eight Premier League titles. He is the fifth highest appearance maker for the Red Devils of all time with 602. He must have been doing something right.

Rio Ferdinand talks up Gary Neville

Former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand was speaking to Five amid a debate about current Premier League right-backs. And he said he was glad to have had Gary Neville alongside him during his playing days.

Ferdinand explained the trust he built up with Neville, which helped him through the more difficult moments, having confidence in his teammate’s ability and strong communication.

He explained: “I never ever once worried where Gary Neville was. I never ever had to worry.

“If the ball is over there, this is one of the hardest things for a defender, the biggest problem I’ve got is knowing what’s going to be over my shoulder. Your body turns to it [the ball], I can’t see that player [behind me], the winger and the forward are my blind side.

“I had the most comfortable moments of my career when one of the hardest positions to defend was going on, because I had Gary Neville there.

“I could trust where he would be, he would be communicating with me, to tell me what I could do, when the danger’s coming.”

He then compared this with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose defensive prowess has been criticised, noting: “These things we are talking about, another right-back, he doesn’t do any of that stuff I wouldn’t imagine, the games different now. Trent is Trent.”

Ferdinand comments highlight Manchester United difficulty in 2023/24

Rio Ferdinand’s comments highlight the strength of a defensive unit, rather than just individual quality. Neville certainly had this, but it was his relations and communication with the rest of the team which led to success, whether with the back four, or on the right with David Beckham.

It also neatly illustrates the major headache Erik ten Hag’s side have faced in 2023/24 with major injury issues in defence, and an ever-changing back four, sometimes struggling to field two full-backs.

All defences need consistency, and without that, they can come unstuck at key moments. Look at United’s late Champions League collapses in a 3-2 loss to Galatasaray and the 4-3 loss at Copenhagen. Hard moments, which were manageable, where a defence was out of sync.

The big hope for Erik ten Hag is that he can find a settled back four over the next month. It would make a huge difference.