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Sir Alex Ferguson Responded After Jamie Carragher Slammed Nemanja Vidic
Irrespective of whether you believe it or not, there will forever be the assumption of how Fernando Torres ran Nemanja Vidic ragged when the two locked horns with each other while playing for Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively. Rio Ferdinand once told Sir Alex Ferguson about Jamie Carragher‘s viral tweet on the matter and his response was very interesting to say the least.
Vidic, who played at Old Trafford between 2006-2014, is widely regarded as one of the best central defenders of the Premier League era. A winner of five Premier League titles during his spell under Ferguson’s watchful eye in the northwest, the Serbian formed arguably the greatest centre-back pairing in Premier League history alongside the aforementioned Ferdinand.
In April 2023, on the back of an X (formerly Twitter) account claiming that Virgil van Dijk is not on the same level as the likes of John Terry, Vincent Kompany, Ferdinand and Vidic, Carragher tore into the former Inter Milan and Spartak Moscow defender. “VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against Torres?” he wrote.
“Rio & JT had poor seasons in their careers like all players, VVD is having one now,” the Liverpool legend claimed before adding that Van Dijk is the most influential centre-back in the history of the English top flight post-1992. “No CB in the PL era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team,” he wrote.
Alex Ferguson’s Response to Carragher’s Social Media Post Revealed
Ferguson may be widely regarded as one of the greatest managers in football history – but it’s not unfair to say that he’s not technically savvy. And that meant it required Ferdinand to give him the low-down on Carragher’s assessment of his former partner in crime while the two defenders were reminiscing over the good old days in a two-part YouTube interview.
Towards the end of Part II, Ferdinand picked up the phone and rang his former boss to tell him about what Carragher had said. “Jamie Carragher came out the other day saying that Torres tortured Vidic all the time and that Van Dijk’s better etc. Do you go along with that? I looked at a stat the other day: 15 times we played against Torres, only three goals he scored,” he said.
Ferguson responded by bringing up the fact that Vidic was sent off twice from his dealings with El Nino. “Well, there’s a problem with what he’s talking about,” the Scot commented. “[Vidic] brought [Torres] down twice when he was through on goal, so it looks like he was tortured from that respect.
“The second sending off was a bit unfair. He sort of grappled with him at Old Trafford and then got sent off. So I think Carragher’s saying the fact [Vidic] was sent off twice against [Torres] – once at Anfield, once at Old Trafford – suggests that he tortured him. Like all centre-forwards [Torres] had his qualities, but I wouldn’t say he was the best centre-forward that ever played against Vidic. Far from it.
“There’s a certain inclination and suggestion that because Vidic was sent off against him [Torres] had tortured him. But you know, one tackle can get you sent off,” Ferguson continued before being asked to described Vidic, whose £7 million move from Spartak Moscow in 2006 is regarded as one of the best bargains in Premier League history. “Determined, tough, and committed,” was his selection.
Nemanja Vidic Snubbed Torres When Naming His Four Toughest Premier League Opponents
Although the bruising Serb lacked the pace typically required to match the intensity of the Premier League, he made up for his lack of speed with his no-nonsense defending ability – but, of course, there were still centre-forwards in England’s top flight who gave him a tough time. Torres, though, is not one of them – and, in an interview with FourFourTwo, he named four of his toughest opponents.
Liverpool’s Peter Crouch, thanks to his height, was one of them, Vidic admitted. He also waxed lyrical about former Chelsea talisman Didier Drogba. “He was a very clever player who would get into the brain of the defenders. He was strong, but he was always thinking ahead,” he said about the do-it-all striker.
Sergio Aguero’s positioning was tough to deal with, the five-time Premier League winner also admitted before finishing his quartet of players with Luis Suarez, formerly of Liverpool. Who better to answer the question than Vidic himself, right? After all, Torres only managed to score three goals across their 15 meetings and Vidic was on the winning side on seven occasions.
