As Manchester United face a defining moment in their busy season DanielTaylor casts a critical eye over their expensive central defender
It was not so long ago, during Leeds United's intrepid Champions League adventures, that the Spanish sports daily Marca hailed Rio Ferdinand as the English equivalent of Franco Baresi. For a defender there is surely no greater praise, so there is something vaguely depressing about the manner in which his star seems to have waned.
All week the Spanish press has been speculating about his apparent vulnerability. "Is Ferdinand the weak link?" was one question for Vicente del Bosque, the Real Madrid coach.
This is new territory for Ferdinand, but perhaps inevitable after an inaugural season at Manchester United in which his form has been scrutinised as never before and in which at times he has worn his £30 million price tag like a noose round his neck, never more so than on an evening of intense discomfort in Madrid a fortnight ago.
Two weeks since that night and, even in defeat, Alex Ferguson's eyes still twinkle at the memories of the vibrant atmosphere and mesmerising football in Madrid. But Ferdinand may recall two moments when everything seemed to go into slow motion and the world's most expensive defender must have wished he could retire to a darkened room.
The first was when Raul, with one enchanting change of direction, glided by him to score Madrid's second goal. And then there is the image of Roy Keane's contorted features, screaming abuse in his direction after another aberration late in the game. Ferdinand is not the first United player to feel the snake-lick of Keane's tongue but, as someone unaccustomed to this type of verbal battering, particularly from his own team-mates, the defender's bewildered expression was one of the night's enduring images.
"He (Ferdinand) has maybe been just a wee bit tentative," Ferguson, that vehement protector of his own, reluctantly acknowledged. The manager was disinclined to criticise his record signing any further but clearly blamed the defence for United's 3-1 deficit. "We didn't defend well over there, that's just a fact. We were too content sitting back, admiring the game. We need to improve that part of the game, because I'm sure we can score against them. The $64,000 question is whether we can keep a clean sheet." Whether Ferdinand's first season at Old Trafford has been a success is not a subject that Ferguson is willing to discuss, but it is a matter that seems to divide United watchers.
"I don't think the pressure has bothered him," Harry Redknapp, his former manager at West Ham, said yesterday. "But he was playing in a defence that kept being chopped and changed at the start of the season through injuries or whatever. His partnership with Laurent Blanc didn't seem to . . . you know . . . but his partnership with Wes Brown or Mikael Silvestre, or whoever plays in the middle with him now, is starting to look very solid.
"He's settled in now and is starting to play well. I said when he was 17 he'll be the best defender in the world one day and I've never changed my opinion."
Ferdinand's usual assuredness on the ball has been betrayed by the frequency of his errors. When, in only his third league game at Old Trafford, his carelessness allowed Tottenham's Robbie Keane a free run at goal, United's management put it down to his settling-in period. But he has remained erratic. Having been praised to the skies on his way up, Ferdinand must now show that he can hit the heights when it matters. This is a night when he is under scrutiny more than ever before.
