Rio On The Art Of Defending

Rio Ferdinand sat down with Nick Coppack earlier this season to talk about the finer details of defending, in an interview for FourFourTwo magazine. Here are some extracts.

What makes a good defender great?
Consistency is the key for any player. There are some guys who reach an 8 out of 10 level once every few games. They're good players, but great ones perform at that level and beyond every single week. Those are the players who will help teams win championships. Also, great players shine when it matters – you can always count on them to pull out all the stops when it's most needed. Talking specifically about defenders, the thing I've noticed is that the great defenders seem to get the other players around them playing better. All of the greats have been able to influence the rest of the back four and extract better performances from them. That's a massive quality to have.

What other attributes are essential in order to make it to the top?
I'd say the three most important qualities are the ability to read the game well, confidence and concentration. And those are all things that come with experience. It's hard to teach that on the training ground.

Talking must be key to keeping concentration levels high...
Definitely. That's the tactic I use. I keep talking all through the game. Even if I'm talking rubbish – and often I am! - I just keep going. It helps to keep yourself on your toes and also your fellow defenders. You're barking instructions - “left”, “right”, “step up” - that are designed to help your team-mates but at the same time they help keep you alert. Lapses in concentration are the most common errors among young defenders. And that leads to basic errors. The ball goes wide, they follow the ball, turn their body the wrong way, forget where their man is. Or the ball gets played into a channel and they're not switched on enough to react quickly and the striker steals a march on them. Of all the attributes defenders need, concentration is the most important.

Somewhat strangely, you don't have to be a good tackler to be a good defender, do you?
No, I don't think so. A last-ditch tackle might look good but, in my mind, if you've had to throw yourself to the ground and make that sort of tackle you've had to do that because you've been out of position or you haven't read the game well enough in the seconds leading up to that moment. Last-ditch tackles are often about making up for a mistake.

Prevention is better than cure, then?
Exactly. When I was a kid I had a coach kid who would tell me that if my shorts weren't dirty at the end of the game then I'd not played well. In my mind, it's the opposite. Ideally, I want to come off the pitch with spotless shorts. I think sometimes you can judge how good a defender is by the colour of his shorts at the end of a game. Intercepting the ball is far more effective than tackling. It's not as flashy, though, so often it goes unnoticed. A lot of people are misguided in their views on Michael Carrick, for instance. He hardly ever launches into a slide tackle or gets involved in a physical battle in midfield. And that lands him some stick. But his stats for interceptions are off the chart.

Can you teach that, or is it all about instinct?
It's mainly instinct and experience. Some players just seem to have this knack of where to position themselves and the ball seems to be drawn to them like a magnet. In some ways you can learn about positioning, but a lot of it comes down to instinct and your reading of the game. And that's something that's hard to teach. It comes with experience. The best defenders can smell danger before it arrives. They position themselves in places that make it difficult for midfielders to play balls through gaps or they can step in front of a forward before a pass is even played so they can nick the ball off his toes.

It's not enough anymore to just be passionate and physical, is it?
I don't think so, no. That's not the way I defend and it's not the way the defenders I've admired down the years have played. I like to watch intelligent defenders, guys who can play a bit of football and play themselves out of trouble. My favourite defenders are Alessandro Nesta, Franco Baresi, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman... they were great with the ball and they could smell danger before it arrived so they were always one step ahead of their opponent. Don't get me wrong: sometimes it's great to see somebody who'll put their head through a brick wall to make a clearance but I think you need a balance in a defensive partnership. We've had that at Manchester United down the years with myself and Nemanja Vidic, although Vida can definitely play a bit as well. You have to be able to at a club like ours.

What happened to the old tactic of “letting the striker know you're there” in the early minutes?
You can't do that anymore! You have to be careful in the modern game – it's almost non-contact! Certainly, back in the day, you could give somebody a little kick in the first few minutes and that made the striker realise he was going to be in for a tough day. He'd know that if he kept receiving the ball to feet then you'd be there, snapping at his heels. That doesn't happen much anymore, though.

Defenders still need to be tough, though, don't they?
It definitely helps. You also need to be brave. You have to be willing to put your foot in when you need to or throw your head into situations where you're likely to get hurt. There have been occasions where I know I'm going to get clattered if I make a challenge, I know I'm going to end up on the ground. But what can you do? You have to make that challenge. I don't know how some players can jump out of a challenge. I just can't get my head around how you could let yourself do that. I'd be embarrassed. If the ball's there to be won you simply have to go for it. Every time. If the fans start seeing you jump out of challenges, they're well within their rights to start questioning you.

The best forwards seem to turn goalscoring into an art form. Can defending be artistic?
Absolutely. That's the way I see it. To see somebody clear something up, to break up a move simply by being in the right place at the right time, having that awareness to be able to see two moves ahead and snuff out the danger... that gives me just as much joy as seeing a terrific piece of skill. I love seeing defenders that exude calmness and authority.

Can you be too calm?
Yeah. That was my problem when I was young. Back in my early days I wanted to play the ball on the ground too much. I wanted to get it down and start attacks every single time. I think back to that time and my ideal game would be winning a few challenges, starting a couple of attacks and maybe pulling out a bit of skill to fool a centre-forward and make him look silly. But I soon grew out of that when I left West Ham. I had to change my game in order to become a better and more consistent player.

How does defending differ against, say, Peter Crouch and Lionel Messi?
Obviously Crouchy wants the ball in the air so the first thing you want from your wingers and full-backs is for them to be tight on the wide men. You want to stop crosses coming into the area. As a central defender you need to try and keep a high line, too. If you can keep a high line and remain outside the penalty area as much as possible somebody like Crouchy is less likely to do damage. Unfortunately, if the delivery is spot-on then there's not much you can do about it. He has that height advantage and nine times out of 10 he'll win the ball in the air. As for Messi, you can never switch off around him. He's always trying to drag you out of position to make space for somebody else to dart into. He lures centre-backs out and pulls you up the pitch, which leaves space behind you. If you don't follow him, you're left with the scenario of him getting the ball and having time to turn and run at you. And we all know how dangerous he is in that situation. He's always asking different questions of you and he makes life very difficult.

What's been the best defensive display you've been a part of?
Probably the 0-0 United got at the Nou Camp in the Champions League semi-final first leg in 2008. We were unbelievable that night. Not just the back four, either, but the whole team. And that's an important point: all the best defensive performances rely on much more than just the defenders and the goalkeeper. It starts with your strikers and filters down from there. That game in Barcelona was like that. It was a fantastic team performance.

For more of Rio's football tips, visit http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/experts/rio-ferdinand