Rio Ferdinand: Man Utd aren’t title contenders, but are in a really good place

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has told William Hill that he never saw his old side as true title contenders, but that they should be very happy with the progress they have made this season. 

United not title contenders

I never really saw Man United as title contenders. We all get emotional as fans and can get a bit carried away in the moment, but in the cold light of day, Manchester United are in a really good place at the moment. If you said three or four months ago that United would be in this position, then there would have been few fans that wouldn’t have said ‘we’re on the right track here’, so let’s remain calm and just praise how far the side has come recently.

I think top-four and a trophy would be a brilliant season for United and they are very much on track for that. They’ll be a few bumps along the road, but the results recently have been fantastic and they’ve just got to keep it up.

Casemiro a big miss

There’s no getting away from the fact that Casemiro will be a big miss against Arsenal this weekend. He’s been brilliant since he’s come in, but United did beat Arsenal without him earlier in the season, so it’s not the end of the world. With him out, I’d imagine Erik ten Hag will shuffle the pack with Luke Shaw back at centre back, [Tyrell] Malacia at left back and [Lisandro] Martinez into central midfield.

You’d think that is the way he’ll go, and in all honesty, I’d be pretty shocked if Ten Hag went with Fred and Scott McTominay in midfield as that doesn’t seem to work.

Maguire has a decision to make

If you are a player of Harry Maguire’s quality and you aren’t starting for your club every week, you have a decision to make. You want to be playing and if you’re not, then you have to look at the possibility of moving on. However, if you are happy being a squad player, then you can stick around and play that role.

Squad players are very important. In order for clubs to win leagues and trophies, you need squad players to come in and do their job when called upon. If Harry wants to do that then great, but I’m not sure when he signed from Leicester he made the move to sit on the bench and be more of a squad player. You’d have to think he wants to be starting every week.

Weghorst has a proven goal-scoring record

I like many was a bit surprised when I saw Wout Weghorst join Man United. He wasn’t the most fashionable option, but at this stage of the season we are looking for players that can make an impact. We’ll have to wait and see how he does, though his goal-scoring record, bar his time at Burnley, is pretty good, so he could easily make a difference.

The centre forward position was the one that needed addressing, so I’d be surprised if Erik ten Hag went back into the transfer market. If the perfect player became available then I’m sure they’d have the conversation, but those players are hard to find in January.

Arsenal have been brilliant

Arsenal have been absolutely magnificent so far this season. They have been everything that Mikel Arteta wanted and probably more. The club went through some tricky periods with the manager, but they stuck by him and they are getting the results now.

He’s building a really really good squad that are hungry and buy into what Arteta wants, so it’s a very good time to be an Arsenal fan. They are looking at top-quality players again and that calibre of player is looking at Arsenal with that little bit more respect than they did in recent times. There’s big potential there, and while they haven’t won anything yet, there’s a lot of scope for them to be challenging for the big trophies.

Too early for title talk

Arsenal are the favourites for the title and rightly so, but if I was in that dressing room, I wouldn’t be talking about it. Of course, it would flash up in your mind now and again, but there’s such a long way to go this season that they just need to take it game-by-game and they’ll be on the right path.

They look like a bunch of players that wouldn’t get too carried away and be focused on the title and neither does their manager, so if they can keep their feet on the ground and take it one game at a time, they’ll be there or thereabouts come the business end.