Jamie Carragher caused a stir on Monday afternoon when he said Virgil van Dijk was ‘far better’ than Nemanja Vidic.
Carragher said on Twitter: “VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against Torres?
“Rio & JT had poor seasons in their career like all players, VVD is having one now.
“No CB in the PL era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team.”
He added: “Never mind the best CB in the league, he’s been the best player in the league along with KDB for four years before this one.
“We have never spoken about other CB’s being the best player before, that shows the level he was at.”
Rio Ferdinand fires back at Jamie Carragher for Virgil van Dijk vs Nemanja Vidic claim
Ferdinand played alongside Vidic for eight years at Manchester United and is well aware of just how good he was.
The 44-year-old saw Carragher’s tweet and had to come out in support of his former teammate.
Ferdinand felt the need to disprove the ‘myth’ that Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres, while he also said he didn’t understand why Carragher was making the comparisons in the first place.
He said on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE: “Liverpool’s defending… I don’t know what I’m seeing at the moment! I can’t get my head around it.
“Van Dijk has been the best defender in the world arguably for the last couple of years. He looks a shadow of himself, he’s lost form, obviously.
“He said that in a post after the game: ‘personally and collectively we’ve lost form, not playing the way we normally would’ – and that’s fair. Him, Trent [Alexander-Arnold]…
“They’ve got to get backs to basics. The way you get yourself out of ruts like that is you get back to basics.”
Turning to Carragher’s comments, he added: “I see Jamie Carragher tweeted something about Van Dijk being better than Vidic, I don’t know why that was said. He mentioned Torres…
“I think Torres scored three goals in 15 games against Vidic. Think that’s a bit of a myth. He had a few dodgy moments in those games and got sent off a couple of times but that gets amplified into saying he got tortured every time he played Torres and that wasn’t the case. Three goals in 15 games.
“[Marcus] Rashford’s got six goals in 13 games against Liverpool. Does that mean he tortured Van Dijk and he can’t handle him? We using the same methodology that we’re using for Vidic? Rashford is scoring every one in two games against Liverpool.
“I don’t know why Vidic’s name was thrown in there. Because people are hammering Van Dijk about his performances of late and he’s having an off-season. Which he has and I think he’ll admit that.”
What next for Van Dijk and Liverpool?
Van Dijk is only 31 years old and still has plenty of years left at the top level.
He will be looking to perform at his best in Liverpool’s next match against Leeds United on Monday April 17.
