NEMANJA VIDIC INSISTED he would not swap any of Manchester United’s defenders for Virgil van Dijk or his Liverpool team-mates, while praising Victor Lindelof for displaying “character” to turn around his form.
United led the Premier League with 19 clean sheets in 2017-18 yet their goal has been breached in all but six of their 26 games to date this term.
Despite that, Sweden international Lindelof has received plaudits as one of United’s better performers, the 24-year-old establishing himself at the heart of the club’s defence after a difficult first season at Old Trafford.
Vidic, who spent eight years at United between 2006 and 2014, also took some time to find his feet in England before forming a formidable partnership with Rio Ferdinand.
The Serbian has been impressed by how Lindelof has responded to his own early struggles and feels United’s current centre-back options are as strong as their Premier League rivals’ defenders.
“I think [Lindelof] had a difficult time in the beginning,” Vidic said “Well done to him to come back. It’s not easy, especially playing for Man United, big club, to not start that well and have criticism from the media.
“To come back from that and now perform well, it shows some character as well, which is important if you want to play for Man United.
“He has some quality definitely. He has done really well. I think Phil Jones did well in the recent games he played, Chris Smalling is a good defender, [Eric] Bailly as well.
I think we have four solid defenders and with the right match I think they can perform to the best of their capabilities.
“Overall, I said even before when they didn’t have great games, if you look at the other teams, I would not have any defenders of Liverpool or Chelsea, I don’t think they have better defenders than we have.
“I think now the team is playing better, they have more confidence and there will come even better matches from them.”
Liverpool are the side with the most clean sheets in the Premier League this term, their 14 two more than title rivals Manchester City’s 12.
The presence of Virgil van Dijk at the heart of their defence is a big reason for that and though Vidic has been impressed by the £75 million man, he noted praise is easier to come by for defenders when the whole team is performing well.
I think he’s doing a great job – he’s strong physically, he’s fast, he’s a presence on the pitch,” Vidic added of Van Dijk.
“He’s a great defender, top defender, but I’m saying when teams are doing well, everyone gets recognition.
“I know that because I played for Man United and when you’re doing well, when you’re scoring goals, [getting] a few clean sheets, straight away people start talking about how good you are.”
Murray Kinsella, Andy Dunne and Gavan Casey look ahead to Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with Italy and discuss the week’s biggest stories in the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly.
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Stop lying to yourself.
How long is he out the game? A serious player in his day, but he’s spoofing with that statement
Ah Vidic c’mon lol, I’d drive Jones and Smalling to China to get Van Djik, quality defender ffs!
I’ve heard of concussion in rugby but they may check soccer players now. The number of times Torres had him falling on his behind must have damaged his brains
@Peter Roche:
Apparently he once lost his balance because of the weight of his 5 Premier League medals, his 3 League Cup medals, his Champions’ League medal, his Club World Cup medal and his 2 Premier League Player of the Season awards.
@CrabaRev: club world cup medal , come on ffs!
@CrabaRev: wonderful, doesn’t mean he’s not talking rubbish. Any right minded, knowledgable football fan would swap every single centre half Utd currently have for VVD.
@Willy Motley: The pinnacle of club football.
@Brendan:
Probably not, as that would leave them a little short on centre halves.
@CrabaRev: he wears all that whilst doing interviews?is he insecure that he needs to bring up such things to take away from his silly statement?
@CrabaRev: ya! And Djimi Traore has a Champions League medal
@CrabaRev:
@CrabaRev: in other great news for United fans, I hear ESPN classic is coming back.
@Mick O’Donoghue: superb, you might catch Liverpool last league title win on it also.
@CrabaRev: excellent point #honunited
What’s Vidic Smoking ?? I want some
Go home your drunk.
Loved the days when Torres used to make him look like a Buffon!
@Karl Cranny: Buffoon, sorry.
Lindelof will be as good a defender as you will see, in a year or two.
I think you would have to take Van Dijk over Smalling or Bailly. That being said, Smalling does have 2 premier league titles, an FA cup, a League cup and a Europa League more than Van Dijk
@CrabaRev: now you’re messing Crab
@samstheman:
I’ve always had an eye for a good player.
Are there any players at all in Liverpool with a Premier league medal (not won with a Manchester club)? Did Sturridge win one at Chelsea?
@CrabaRev: mo
@CrabaRev: Milner obviously but to suit yourself you excluded his 2. If you honestly think VVD doesn’t walk into any team with the form he’s in, I give up all hope on you
@samstheman:
I specified, “not won with a Manchester club”. It turns out Sturridge did win a Premier League with Chelsea. So they have one.
I never said for one second that Van Dijk wouldn’t walk into any Premier League team, or European team for that matter, on his current form. I just intimated that Smalling is not a bad centre half and he has 2 Premier League medals to prove it. You Liverpool fans are very sensitive.
@CrabaRev: haha like I said ask a question to suit the answer you’re looking for. You united fans are sound
@CrabaRev: I specified “don’t mention anything that takes away from my moot points” Foolishness
@Ollie Watson: Mo. No.
@samstheman: Not a United Fan, I just like winding up Liverpool supporters. It is a bit too easy though.
@Willy Motley: Ya what a stupid thing to say. How many has emailing won not with a Manchester club. Plus crab medals doesn’t say your a great player just that you have been part of great teams. I always bring this back to djimi traore and his champions league medal. You could name a 1000 better players not to have one of them. It’s a stupid example when comparing players. Sure salah has one with Chelsea despite only playing 30 mins for them that season before he was loaned to Fiorentina
@Seaniecp: is Crab actually Alex?
@CrabaRev: Mo actually does have a medal
Go easy on the pain killers, Van Dijk worth more than the United defence put together
As a united fan I’m afraid I have to say I think he’s away with the fairies here
Smalling came from non league obviously not good enough at that level.
Smalling, Young, Jones, not goid enough for utd.
The rest of the defenders average at best.
Matic great player but legs gone, Mata substitute player,Herrera honest but average too, clearly short to be european top level but. Work in progress. Never should have given contracts to the poor defenders.
@Martin McKenna: must’ve missed the part where Mata became a Centre back
A few to many bangs to the head I think
Everyone commenting that he’s concussed or high should read the actual quote and not the headline. This hardly qualifies as news anyway. Vidic was back at Carrington this week meeting the United team. He’s not likely to come out and criticise his former team ahead of a big clash with bitter rivals. He spoke very positively of VVD and the United defence.
Well he’s been on The smelling salts
Really…what’s the point of this article…
Lol matic is either stupid or trolling
@irishred: Vidic?
What’s this wa**er been smoking. He still has nightmares over Torres