Man Utd: No - To a Defensive Clear-Out

Article by e-Manchester United Correspondent Tony Gillies

News broke in early February that Nemanja Vidic will leave the club at the end of the season. I don't think too many people were too surprised at the news. But will he perform and give us 100% until the end of the season, yes he was shaky against Fulham but I can't believe people really believed he wouldn't give us he's all. Nemanja Vidic is a fighter, it's in he's DNA to win by any means necessary.

Rio Ferdinand doesn't care about the game anymore, he's too interested in selling he's range of caps and bobble hats, he's passed it anyway, too slow for the Premiership all reasonable arguments against the man who has been a rock in the heart of United's defence for the last decade.

Patrice Evra, not the player he was of years gone by, too interested in going forward and leaving us vulnerable on the left hand side against counter attacks, useless, get Baines in; they screamed in the summer. Luke Shaw, young, plays for Southampton had a few decent games, what?! Chelsea want to buy him? Moyes get your chequebook out we need him, people tweeted and blogged in January. No doubt these people are also in the Moyes Out brigade so maybe I shouldn't have taken these comments too seriously.

These three players are the amongst the most experienced senior players we have and the thought of all 3 leaving in the summer; to me seems unimaginable. Against Arsenal we never looked like conceding, Ferdinand only came on in the second half but as he stood alongside Vidic, I felt secure, I didn't feel like we were going to concede. We looked solid again, confidence from that showed in our defensive performance to keep Arsenal out for the second time this season and come away with a point.

Saturday evening in South London. After their previous performance and due to the injuries of Rafael, Evans and Jones. Vidic and Rio remained alongside Evra and Chris Smalling. As we've come to expect from Tony Pulis' sides we dealt with a lot of high balls and dead balls launched between our penalty spot and David de Gea's goal-line. But they were cleared with confidence, no panicking and we with the danger cleared we were able to reset our defensive line as the midfield calmly kept possession of the ball to set us on the attack. Yes, Vidic did have a couple of moments where he lost the ball around the halfway line in the second half but again no real panic as Evra and Ferdinand's experience held up the Crystal Palace attacks until Nemanja was back in position. We very rarely used the wings on Saturday, with most of the play being suffocated in the middle of the park. Step forward Patrice Evra who's darting run down the left into the box lead to being fouled and United being awarded the penalty in which Robin van Persie duly converted to put us 1-0 up and set us on our way to much needed 3 points. 6 minutes later and just after David de Gea saving well from Cameron Jerome; Evra was back down the left wing, he's cross slightly deflected into the path for Wayne Rooney to hit a sublime volley into the top corner and guarantee us the win. Crystal Palace had chances to get back into it in the final 20 minutes but again we never looked like conceding and for the second away game in a row we came away with another clean sheet and after our poor defensive showing so far this season, it's not pure coincidence that they have coincided with the return of our best two centre backs.

Now I'm not saying Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Chris Smalling are not good enough to replace them, should they go this season. I just feel to lose three of our four best defenders in one summer, could mean another season like this next season. Even if we bought the best two centre backs in the world it would still take them a good 6 months to build up a good understanding together and in my opinion still wouldn't be as good as Vidic and Ferdinand together. As for Evra, yes he has he's flaws but who doesn't? And to replace him with a knee jerk reaction to a teenager who has had a good few months seems suicidal. Evra has now activated a clause in he's contact based on appearances which warrants him a new deal and the quicker it's signed the better, it just gives us a chance to bring someone in to learn from him, he is a character and a leader and would be missed in the dressing room as well as on the pitch.

With Vidic already enjoying he's long goodbye, I personally feel we need to tie Ferdinand and Evra down to another season to nurture the talent that will be brought in during the summer.

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