Smalling On Vidic

After an outstanding season for Manchester United, Chris Smalling now has a busy summer ahead representing England at Euro 2016. Before he left, we sat down with the defender to discuss playing alongside the man who put the fear into opposition teams every time he stepped on the pitch, former Reds captain Nemanja Vidic...

"Vida, as we all called him, just loved to defend. A lot is said about the more glamorous side of the game and the flair players but you can’t beat someone like Vida as a dominant and aggressive figure in the backline who just wants to stop goals. That’s ultimately what we’re there to do as defenders and he was always solely focused on that.

"He had many qualities which made him a great defender, but two that stand out for me were his leadership and his presence. I’m pretty sure that when players on the opposition team saw his name on the team-sheet, they would be fearful. He had that fear factor and that made him such a big presence for us. The aggression he had is probably the biggest thing I took from playing alongside him. No matter whether it was a training session or a match, no-one ever wanted to be up against Vida because he’d have no hesitation in kicking you as well as the ball if it was there to be won! [Smiles] He was committed every day.

"Playing with him was a great experience. His aggression and the dominance he had in games is something I’ve always wanted to bring into my game. To be able to learn alongside one of the greatest defenders this club has had about both of those qualities was brilliant for me. He always helped me in terms of trying to be aware and sense the danger before it happened and he was a player that was always pushing you to improve and be the best. He was never satisfied - every day in training he always strived to keep improving.

"Talking to him, on and off the field, was invaluable. Communication was key to his great partnership with Rio [Ferdinand], it’s the key to any defensive partnership, Vida always stressed that to me. He and Rio could anticipate trouble before it happened at times because they read the game so well and communicated so well together.

"He wasn’t just a big figure in the defence, he had a knack of popping up at the other with some key goals too and he was always a threat from set-plays, which is another thing I’d like to continue to improve in my game.

"His contribution to United will be talked about for years to come and he’ll rightly go down as a club legend. Whenever he stepped on the pitch, he led by example and he was a true centre-back that all us defenders should look up to."