If you are a Manchester United fan, the big news emanating from Old Trafford last week would have been Rio Ferdinand’s contract extension. The veteran defender made the most starts at centre back for the Premier League champions this season (26) and his late goal in the 2-1 win over Swansea City during Sir Alex Ferguson’s last home game for the club all but epitomised the manager's reign with the Manchester giants.
The 34-year-old’s new deal until the summer of 2014 will see Ferdinand welcome his 12th season with United, much to the delight of the fans, the player and new manager David Moyes. Such was his form over the duration of the season that many had tipped the Peckham born colossus for an England recall, before announcing his international retirement regardless of the best efforts of manager Roy Hodgson to reintegrate him into the national team.
Nevertheless, while the United defence hasn’t been as watertight as in recent seasons - the 43 goals they conceded in the Premier League this year was their highest since the 2001/02 season (45) - Ferdinand has still been deserving of the plaudits this season, with many of the opinion that the defensive stalwart was the best English centre-back in the top flight.
However, as impressive as Ferdinand has been in recent years, culpable for only one error that has led to a goal in his last 109 appearances in the Champions League and Premier League for United, the team still conceded 32 goals in his 26 league starts this season, a poor return by any defender's standards. As a result, his average WhoScored.com rating when compared to the other players that have played at centre-back and made more than five starts this season - Jonny Evans (21 starts), Nemanja Vidic (18) and Chris Smalling (6) - is in fact the lowest of the quartet, with Ferdinand garnering 7.01, and the remaining three attaining an average of 7.27, 7.44 and 7.03, respectively.
While Smalling may have made 20 fewer starts than Ferdinand in central defence, the fact that Vidic and Evans have acquired a higher average rating than the former England international is particularly telling. With many a United fan proclaiming he was their best defender this term, his average rating suggests otherwise, especially with the considerable distance between the players' respective ratings.
A major reason behind this could well be the lower aerial success rate of Ferdinand in comparison to Evans and Vidic. Ferdinand won only 45 headed battles when starting this season, 5 fewer than Evans (50), but a significant way below Vidic (80); the Serbian winning the most aerial duels in the United team, despite making just 18 starts.
Including sub appearances, Vidic (4.2) and Evans (2.3) rank as the two best United players in terms of aerial duels won per game, with Ferdinand falling way below the pairing, winning just 1.6 per game. Meanwhile it’s Evans that made the most tackles per game (1.8) of the trio, with Vidic (1.4) just ahead of Ferdinand (1.3).
However, as a result of the battling capabilities of his teammates, Ferdinand is often the defender who is charged with bringing the ball out and looking to distribute it, with the former West Ham United trainee having boasting a better pass success rate (89.6%) than either Vidic (87.4%) or Evans (89.3%). Ferdinand prefers to patiently build up attacks from the back rather than adopt a gung-ho approach unless absolutely necessary, and he has thus completed more passes in his own half of the pitch (802) than Vidic (516) and Evans (701). It isn’t just his defensive passing abilities that stand him in good stead, though, with Ferdinand having found a teammate with 358 of his attempted passes in the opposition half, again a figure higher than that of Vidic (174) and Evans (298).
However, unfortunately for Ferdinand, he’s been in the starting lineup when United have conceded heavily rather too often this season, with the Englishman having played from the off in the 4-3 away win at Reading, the 3-2 win over Southampton and the 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, amongst others.
Whilst he hasn't been directly at fault for any goals this season, the defender has been saved by a teammate twice in Premier League games this season, with two of his errors in defence leading to shots on goal. Only Michael Carrick (4) and Patrice Evra (3) have given away more chances in the United squad this season, a stat that certainly wouldn’t have aided his average rating. Moreover, having been tackled 9 times by the opposition - compared to 4 and 3, for Evans and Vidic, respectively - there clearly are negative implications of utilising a ball playing defender in the team.
Nevertheless, with Ferdinand a cornerstone of the United defence the past campaign, starting 22 games with either Vidic (10) or Evans (12) alongside him, Ferguson’s side picked up 2.6 and 2.5 points per game with those respective pairings. That they averaged only 2.2 points per game without him on their way to securing Premier League glory once again highlighted the importance of the veteran defender. The welcoming news of securing him on a one year extension will further ease any concerns Moyes may have had when stepping into the shoes of Ferguson next season.
