Rio Ferdinand: David Moyes's tactics were embarrassing and I wanted to grab him when he dropped me in front of Manchester United squad
Ferdinand has made the claims in his new autobiography '#2Sides' and also revealed how Moyes informed him that he'd be dropped in front of his team-mates
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Your support makes all the difference.David Moyes’s reign at Manchester United was “embarrassing”, says former United defender Rio Ferdinand, after he criticised the tactics used by the Scot during his ill-fated ten-month spell at Old Trafford.
Moyes was given the unenviable task of taking the reins at United after Sir Alex Ferguson had retired, and his struggle to get to grips with life at the club coincided with the decline in performance of many players that have since been moved on.
Ferdinand was one of those to leave the club at the end of the season after the club chose not to renew his contract, and the 35-year-old returned to the side that he spent 12 trophy-laden years with on Sunday only to suffer a 4-0 hammering as part of a Queens Park Rangers side that looks destined for a relegation scrap this season.
His revelations come in the release of his new autobiography #2Sides, which is currently being serialised by The Sun, and in his belief Moyes went about imposing negatives tactics from day one.
“He tried to impose a vision but never seemed to be completely clear what that vision should be,” Ferdinand said. “Unintentionally, he created a negative vibe where, with Fergie, it had always been positive. It was always how to stop the other side. Moyes set us up not to lose. We’d been accustomed to playing to win.
“Moyes’s innovations mostly led to negativity and confusion. The biggest confusion was over how he wanted us to move the ball forward. Often he told us to play it long. Some players felt they kicked the ball long more than at any time in their career.
“Sometimes our main tactic was the long, high, diagonal cross. It was embarrassing. In one home game against Fulham we had 81 crosses! I was thinking, ‘why are we doing this? Andy Carroll doesn’t play for us!’
“The whole approach was alien. Other times Moyes wanted lots of passing. He’d say: ‘Today I want us to have 600 passes in the game. Last week it was only 400’. Who cares? I’d rather score five goals from 10 passes.”
Ferdinand also revealed his anger at being informed he would be dropped for the important Champions League clash against Bayern Munich in front of the rest of the squad, and states it was the worst moment of his United career that made him want to grab Moyes in frustration.
“It killed me,” he added. “Inside I wanted to scream and grab him. I’m a team player, so I just had to bite my tongue and stand there. But it was probably the worst single moment I ever had at United. I’d never been dropped for a big game like that - and to drop that on me in front of everybody.”
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