Rio Ferdinand by Jude Cauchi
S
ir Alex Ferguson once claimed that attack wins you games but defence wins you titles. Whether we agree or not with such a statement requires us to dig deeper and analyse data. For example, whilst this might sound surprising, since the Premier League inception, statistics seem to contradict this hypothesis. In fact, official data shows that teams who scored the most goals won the Premier League significantly more times when
compared to the teams who conceded fewer goals (such stats can be accessed from the Premier League official website). In spite of the fact that data analysis is a skill that can give validity and insights to our perspectives, in view that to engage with such a statement requires further analysis which takes into consideration other variables, this article is not intended to try and falsify
such a statement. In contrast, rather than treating the two as dichotomies, it is more useful to treat both attack and defence as very important ingredients for the success of the recipe. If we focus on the latter, the success of Manchester United throughout the years has been built around a solid back line consisting of legends which included Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, Jaap Stam, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand amongst others. Consequently, I also tend to support the philosophy that a solid defence is the basic foundation for success. Unfortunately, recent memories include our bitter rivals Liverpool whose solid defence enabled them to win both domestically as well as in Europe. Growing up as a Manchester United supporter, I always believed that a United player, amongst other qualities, should possess characteristics such as strength, dribbling, composure, pace, passing and aerial ability. With regard to Rio Ferdinand, in addition to possessing most of these qualities, his attitude and passion to play for the biggest club in England certainly makes him one of the best players to have ever wore the Red Devils shirt. Having said that, life is full of ups and downs and Rio’s career at United also had its controversies especially early on. In fact, in addition to having signed for a record fee which made him Britain’s most expensive footballer in 2002, signing from bitter rivals Leeds United
12 VOL 49 - ISSUE 1 - SEPTEMBER 2021
