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Rio Ferdinand Explains Brilliantly Where It Went Wrong For David Moyes At United

Rio Ferdinand Explains Brilliantly Where It Went Wrong For David Moyes At United

Great insight into how Moyes spread doubt at United.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

Rio Ferdinand's anecdote on David Moyes' Manchester United spell says a lot about the difference in mentality from the previous regime.

Moyes endured an ill-fated stint at Old Trafford after taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson. He didn't last a season with the Scottish gaffer sacked before the close of the 2013/14 campaign.

That's despite inheriting a title-winning squad which included Ferdinand.

And on BT Sport's Premier League Tonight show, the defender was asked if he gave his all under the managerial tutelage of Moyes.

"I could have always been better as a player, definitely," he said via Mirror.

Explaining the mindset during training sessions.

"But in terms of support for him [Moyes] or wanting him to do well or wanting things to go the right way there's no question in my mind that I was there behind him in all aspects. But things just didn't go well.

"Even the mindset in one of the training sessions. I hope I'm not speaking out of line here toward David Moyes, but our mindset we were never worried about the opposition [before]."

Image: PA
Image: PA

Ferdinand added: "We never set out thinking we need to contain the opposition, we're going to try and win this game based on what we're good at.

"But I remember the first couple of games against Liverpool and Chelsea, we were talking more about Hazard and Coutinho than we were about our own attacking tactics.

"There's doubt and players there looking at each other thinking 'This isn't us. We're not used to this'. And you can see even the younger players looking around going 'Woah'. 'We're better than them, we won the league last year and we can beat these. Put us on the front foot and let us go out and attack these players'.

"I think that mindset came form being an Everton manager. Moyes in the big games played first not to get beat, then to see what we could get from the game. Before we were always on the front foot.

"Yes we were aware of the opposition but with the mentality of going there to win."

Superb insight.

Just like Ferdinand said, Moyes' mindset was forged through his time at Everton and was, ultimately, unable to adapt to the mentality Manchester United are famously renown for.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, David Moyes