Rio Ferdinand hits back at Jamie Carragher’s claim Nemanja Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres
‘It’s a MYTH!’: Rio Ferdinand hits back at Jamie Carragher for claiming his old Man United teammate Nemanja Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres… after the pundit insisted Virgil van Dijk was ‘much better’ than the Serb
Rio Ferdinand has rejected Jamie Carragher’s claim that Virgil van Dijk was a ‘much better’ defender than Man United legend Nemanja Vidic.
The former Liverpool centre-back called Van Dijk the “most influential” defender in Premier League history and compared the Dutchman’s recent troubles to “bad seasons” from Ferdinand and John Terry.
He also claimed that Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres, and that the Serbian defender was sent off against Liverpool in 2009 in a 4-1 defeat to United.
Ferdinand has hit back at his former England team-mate’s claims, as he said on his own Atmosphere with Five YouTube Channel: “I see Jamie Carragher has tweeted something that Van Dijk is better than Vidic.
“I think Torres scored three times in 15 games against Vidic. It’s a bit of a myth, he had some dodgy moments in those games and got sent off a few times and that’s been reinforced by saying he was tortured every time he played against Torres, which was not the case.
Rio Ferdinand has been touched by Jamie Carragher’s claim that Nemanja Vidic had a hard time with Fernando Torres
The former Manchester United defender said it was a ‘myth’ despite his former team-mate being sent off against Liverpool in 2009.
‘[Marcus] Rashford scored six goals in 13 games against Liverpool, does that mean he tortured Van Dijk?’
After battling for the quadruple last season, Jürgen Klopp’s side have experienced a significant setback this year.
They are currently eighth in the league with nine games to play and are winless in four games since beating Manchester United 7-0 last month.
The Reds’ defense has come under repeated fire after chastising defeats to the likes of Brighton, Brentford and Wolves, with their leaky back line already conceding more goals than in all of last season.
Jamie Carragher insisted Virgil van Dijk (L) is ‘much better’ than Nemanja Vidic (R)
The former Liverpool defender called Van Dijk the most ‘impactful defender’ in the Premier League
And the ex-Liverpool defender took to social media on Monday morning to make the claims
Van Dijk was fouled in Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal on Sunday after passing the ball into the path of Gabriel Martinelli to open the scoring, and Ferdinand could not explain his loss of form.
“Liverpool defending, I don’t know what I’m seeing at the moment,” he continued, “I can’t reach it.
Van Dijk may have been the best defender in the world in recent years. The way to get out of such a rut is to just go back to basics.’
Liverpool can be supported by taking two points at league leaders Arsenal and then play against Leeds, who were beaten 5-1 by Crystal Palace on Sunday.
