The former Red Devils captain says further transfer moves are not the answer to the team’s defensive fragility
Rio Ferdinand says spending more money is not the way to solve Manchester United’s defensive problems and should focus on the “details”, citing his experience playing with Edwin. van der Sar, former Red Devils goalkeeper.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side led twice against Leicester on Saturday but only came away with a point at King Power Stadium when Jamie Vardy’s late strike went off Axel Tuanzebe.
This is the first time United have dropped points down the road this season, having come from behind to win all six of their away league games.
While the spirit and character shown to fight back from a down goal is commendable, Ferdinand believes United ‘s failure will cost them to maintain consistent clean sheets in the long run.
Solskjaer’s side have the worst defensive record in the top half of the Premier League, having conceded 23 goals in their opening 14 games.
Some have said Norway should enter the transfer market in January to try to strengthen defenses. Ferdinand, however, believes that the current set of players can solve the team ‘s defensive deficiencies themselves.
“Sometimes you can’t just churn out checkbook after checkbook, buy player after player, sometimes it depends on coaching and analyzing things and watching on the best details, ”he added Five Youtube channel.
“I’m not saying the coaches don’t do that at Man United, because I know there are, but sometimes there aren’t many nuances, little things you might think or forget or not think at the time. “
Ferdinand says he and van der Sar’s deputy talked to similar issues during their time at Old Trafford.
The England international played with the Dutchman for six years as a United player, during which time the club won 10 major honors including four Premier League and 2008 Champions League titles.
“Edwin van der Sar texted me through [Leicester] game, when the goal was scored and McTominay did not go out to close it [Harvey Barnes] down and Bailly was behind him, ”said Ferdinand.
“And it brought me back to when we used to play and I would always say to Edwin, ‘When you see me going out to someone one-v-one, or on edge the box, I will try to stand in a certain place and no matter where I stand, you are standing opposite, you will respond where I stand ‘.
“So if I was going to say, Fernando Torres, on the edge of the box, I know he’s on his right foot, I’m going to make sure he can’t hit back. between my legs. So he can go down on the right, keep pushing down on the right, and get a bullet off, but I’m going to let you shoot close to a post, that’s fine, but it’s not back through my legs, I’m going to block that.
“And I would say to Edwin, ‘If he goes through my legs I hope you save him, but if you don’t, it’s up to me. I take full responsibility ‘. And those were our conversations.
“And that’s what players have to do. You have to form relationships, talk off the pitch before you move on, if this situation happens this is what I am going to do, turn it off like this. So no stone is left unturned. It is in the details. You sometimes win three points with precision.
“You go home with one point, or no points, because you didn’t focus or find out about the details and make sure you were both on the same page. It is about working in pairs, pairs, in threes, sometimes quarters, working together in small units on the pitch and gaining a good understanding of each other. “
Ferdinand also says the responsibility for working on details should not fall on the manager. Instead, it is up to the players to go further, which can often be the difference between success and failure.
“All of these players today, you can tell by the way they play, to be at the training ground, to see it, they are all well drilled as teams, they all got a game plan , they all work towards what the manager wants – that’s fine, that’s great. But sometimes you need a little more than that, ”he said.
“There are great details in the games that take you over the line and you have to be very diligent in doing that as a team. Sometimes it’s not up to the manager, and not the coaches, it’s up to you as a player to start asking questions and start pulling people to one side and saying, ‘We’re ‘going to do this because it’ s going to make it easier for you, and I’m going to stand here and you’re going to influence me ‘.
“Take ownership, take control of situations, as simple as that.”