dont worry, im sure Newcastle would score atleast 7, seeing as it would be 3v3 at the back all the time

cech
richards
terry
ferdinand
a.cole
ronaldo
gerrard
ballack
j.cole
drogba
torres

the score line sounds like a Spurs match

or a Man U v Newcastle match

they were bad.

I remember Newcastle putting 7 past us at St James's in the mid 90's

Ferdinand, this season, has been the best centre half in Europe (from what I've seen). You obvioulsy rate these defenders who rely on last diotch challenges to win the ball whereas Ferdinand doesn't really need to. His reading of the game is second to none and intercepts alot of opposition passes cutting out the danger. This doesn't get noticed on Match of The Day so you wouldn't see much of it

Nope. Once tdv states his opinion on a certain subject, he lacks the ability to reassess said opinion at any time. He's been griping on Ferdinand for as long as he's been on this site and whilst maybe his opinion was correct to a certain extent once, he refuses to budge at all even on the merit of improvement.

Ferdinand has been absolute quality for 2-3 years now, cutting out the naiveity in his play on the field whilst settling down and maturing off it. In my opinion he has cemented his place as one of the best, if not the best defender in Europe.

He would certainly be United's player of the season if it weren't for Ronaldo. As a result he has been rewarded with the trial captaincy for England and will surely succeed as captain of Manchester United.

If you think that the back four look shakey with Vidic missing and Rio having to carry a new partner, we would be in a world of hurt if it was vice versa and Vidic was being paired of Pique or O'Shea.

Totally agree with that Forev!

same here, i never used to like him, used to just see him as a big dope. over the last two seasons hes proved me wrong and thats not easy for a Man United player to do that.

Ferdinand will always be better than Terry because he is fast. Terry get's frequently done for pace against good teams for England and sometimes for Chelsea. Less so for Chelsea though because they are so defensive.

Ferdinand might be a dunce sometimes but those moments are rare and while might make a mistake or two every season he is lightening quick every single game and that's well worth an occasional lapse in concentration.

id rather have an intelligent slow defender who is always 100% commited and always aware, concentrating and reading the game, than a fast pacey defender who has lapses in concentration. Defenders who lose concentration or try to be over-elaborate can be a liability at times, no matter how technically gifted they are.

Im not going to start getting into a big argument over this but if you's cant see whats wrong with Ferdinand then I think you's are blind. He's had a great season & last season & has brilliant moments like that great interception he made in the away game against Roma. But I think his reading of the game is overated as are his leadership qualities. Couple of times yesterday Adebayor got space to shoot when Ferdinand should have been picking him up & he had some responsabilty in letting in the goal. And is it just me or dose nobody else think its wrong that anytime he makes a mistakes or something goes wrong at the back he's always blaming & pointing the finger at someone else? Its like nothing is ever his fault & its always someone elses, probally to do with his big ego or something. The reason you don't see Ferdinand making much tackles is beause he dosent like to get dirty not because of his reading of the game.

Thats my opinion anyway. If you don't agree & think he's flawless fine.

What really matters is how slow and how often they make mistakes. If it's Titus Bramble then you're going with the slow guy and if it's 38 year old veteran slow then you're going with the mistake guy.

Ferdinand's mistakes are few and far between right now. He might cost you one or two goals a season at most but his pace will save significantly more than that.

I would rather have a defence of Terry and Maldini at their prime for example, they both have good concentration, and all you would have to do is set the defence deeper, and the pace factor would be taken out of the equation. Also a strong holding midfielder like a makelele or a mascherano is a must. If you you had a defence like that you would have a great chance of winning any game. Slow defenders who dont make mistakes and who concentrate for 90 + minutes and are skilled in the art of defence, are always better. If a defender needs to use pace to cover for mistakes, you should be asking why he is making mistakes in the first place.

Given the choice out of the two Chelsea centre backs, I would much, much rather have Carvalho than Terry. Its funny how a lot of people think that Terry is the physical,muscling Defender when infact it is Carvalho apparently who does most of that work as well as getting forward well and being composed on the ball.

Bang on the money pudding & pie. Carvalho everyday of the week for me. Then again, I'm not biased to jump on the nutsack of an English player

If Ledley King were fit then I'd say he's the second best centre back England have after Ferdinand.

Van de Sar

Essien Ferdinand Vidic Clichy

Ronaldo Anderson Fabregas Hleb

Torres Rooney

Anderson? Really? He's got potential but there are better choices in Man Utd's team alone and wouldn't that midfield be really lightweight?