Rio: Midfield Trio Hold The Key

Rio Ferdinand believes Manchester United’s midfield trio of Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba are key to success for the Reds this season.

The legendary defender was back in Manchester recently to get involved with the activities around United’s new link-up with Deezer, the club’s official audio streaming partner.

Ferdinand sat down with ManUtd.com while he was in town to discuss the season so far and he highlighted the importance of the core group of midfielders who have had an established run in the side and helped the Reds secure some positive results.

"I don’t think Jose knew his best team for a while but in the last few games you’ve seen him consistently starting the three midfielders of Herrera, Carrick and Pogba and I think you’ve seen a better balance in the midfield, so hopefully we can start motoring on now," Rio told us.

"That’s been a problem in the past in terms of working out where the balance is and who the best partnerships and combinations are, and I think he may have found that in those three. It frees up Paul, who’s a bit more of a maverick, and means he can roam a bit more."

United go into the festive fixtures in good form on the back of three hard-fought Premier League wins in a week and Ferdinand hopes Mourinho’s men can build on the triumphs and stay within sight of the leading pack.

"I used to look at the table in a little bit more detail at the turn of the year to see where we were," he recalled. "Hopefully you’re in touching distance or at the top itself and then you can go on from there. We were normally good at that point and we got an idea of what we needed to do. We probably used to play better when we knew what we needed to do.

"I think next season will be the more important one for United. They’ve spent big this summer and they’ll probably reinvest again next summer and go again the following season. This season, though, any one of six teams is capable of winning the league and United are in that mix. We need to keep being consistent and keep up a run of games where we build up confidence and get points on the board."

Credit: Manutd.com