Jamie Carragher sparks fan backlash with bizarre Virgil van Dijk and Nemanja Vidic comparison – Man United News And Transfer News

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Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has attracted fierce backlash from a section of Manchester United supporters for his statement that Virgil van Dijk is a far better defender than Nemanja Vidic.

Carragher took to Twitter on Monday morning to leap to Van Dijk’s defence after the Liverpool star produced another woeful performance during his side’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal over the weekend.

Van Dijk was culpable for Arsenal’s early opener when in an attempt to clear the ball, accidentally put it in Gabriel Martinelli’s path. The Brazilian winger went on to poke the ball into the back of the net.

Following Van Dijk’s poor showing – just one of several this season from the 31-year-old this term, a football fan account on Twitter expressed dismay at the fact that he was once compared to some of the Premier League’s greatest defenders such as Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Vincent Kompany and Nemanja Vidic.

Carragher fired back, “VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against Torres?”

The Liverpool legend added, “‘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.”

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. https://t.co/rZ7vfHRN7d

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) April 10, 2023

“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.”

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 about other CB’s being the best player before, that shows the level he was at. https://t.co/1Igh7tMikM

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) April 10, 2023

As expected, Carragher’s declarations did not go down well with United fans who pointed out Vidic’s far better statistics compared to Van Dijk’s.

Vidic significantly outdoes Van Dijk in numerous metrics such as game-winning goals, tackle win rate, last-man tackles, trophies won, clean sheets, individual awards won, aerial duels success rate and wins registered.

🚨📊 Nemanja Vidic beats Virgil Van Dijk in the Premier League for the following statistics:

Game-winning goals
Tackle win rate
Errors leading to goals
Last man Tackles
Goal-line clearances
Clean sheets
Player of the Season
League Titles @StatmanDave 🔴 pic.twitter.com/3mdD14u3sp

— UtdPlug (@UtdPlug) April 10, 2023

The Athletic reporter Andy Mitten reports that he once spoke to Vidic about his infamous showing against Torres in 2009 that Carragher used as a platform to ridiculously claim that Van Dijk is superior to the Serb.

Mitten says that Vidic firmly dispelled the notion that he regularly struggled against Torres.

Vidic told Mitten, “It was one game. The story has grown. I went to head the ball, changed my mind and tried to pass to Edwin van der Sar. I misjudged the distance; Torres scored. He always created chances, but Drogba was tougher and always on you.”

I spoke to NV: “People say: ‘You had difficult games vs Torres’ – it was one game. The story has grown. I went to head the ball, changed my mind and tried to pass to EVDS. I misjudged the distance; Torres scored. He always created chances,but Drogba was tougher and always on you”

— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) April 10, 2023

Vidic’s former partner Rio Ferdinand also launched a staunch defence of his former teammate. Speaking on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel, Ferdinand dismantled Carragher’s reasoning and unfounded conclusion.

Ferdinand remarked, “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 like a shadow of himself, he’s lost form, obviously.”

“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.”

Ferdinand pointed out that Rashford has six goals in 13 games against Liverpool and in the same way that that stat does not equate to the United number 10 torturing Van Dijk, Torres’s three goals do not mean that he always got the better of Vidic.

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