Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand absolutely ripped apart his former club. Ferdinand criticized the pace and style of the team, ripped the attacking third which he described as very tentative and unexciting to watch. Rio Ferdinand also dismissed the Red Devils chances of competing for a title in both the Premier League and the in the UEFA Champions League
“Everything” was the response Rio Ferdinand gave when asked what the major differences are between the philosophies of Louis van Gaal and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Here’s more of the scathing remarks that Ferdinand made to the Irish Examiner:
“In terms of players, the personnel are completely different, and the way they play. You associate Man United with pace and power, explosive fantasy in the final third, but that’s not the way it is now.”
“Man United fans are having to re-educate themselves on what they’re going to see. You’re not going to see what you saw for the last 25 years. It will be a completely different type of football — not football I enjoy watching as much and probably most Man United fans are like that.”
“It’s methodical and really slow going side to side whereas before it was ‘bang, go.’ It’s getting the ball through the team not very quickly, keeping the ball from side to side and waiting for an opening and the time to come for a glaring opportunity to go forward.”
“If I was a betting man I wouldn’t put money on United winning the Premier League and certainly not the Champions League.”
“Right now, I don’t see a huge improvement from last season.”
It’s just more proverbial piling on Van Gaal. The latest potentially incendiary topic to surface centers around a report that Van Gaal was confronted by some of United’s senior players over his training method and his philosophy.
Also, here’s a list of three ex-United players who recently took parting shots at Van Gaal after leaving Old Trafford this summer.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram