Rio tips Vidic for gong

24 March 2009 19:17
Rio Ferdinand is calling for his defensive partner Nemanja Vidic to be nominated for this season's PFA Player of the Year. The Serbian centre-back, who endured a rare off day in defeat to Liverpool two weeks ago, has been a rock for United this season. He has also chipped in with vital goals, including an injury-time winner against Sunderland and precious openers against Chelsea and Internazionale, prompting Sir Alex Ferguson to acclaim the 27-year-old as one of the best in the world. United earned a record 14 successive Premier League clean sheets earlier in the season and, despite the recent blip, Ferdinand says Vidic can emulate the achievements of 2005 PFA Player of the Year John Terry. "I think he should definitely be up there this year for player of the year, he's a top player," Ferdinand said of his team-mate. "The attacking players normally get the accolades and the adulation so it would be nice for a defender to win it. JT won it a few years ago but not many centre-halves have won it over the years. "I think he will be up there. He has been our most consistent player this season along with Ryan Giggs and Edwin van der Sar. Those three have been our stand-out players in terms of consistency." United's title defence has suffered a serious setback with two defeats in their last two games, but they are still a point ahead of Liverpool with a game in hand, and Ferdinand insists they can draw on previous experience to close out the title. "We need win all the games that we have left - that's always the case at this stage of the season," he added. "There's no time for saying we can draw this one or that one - that's not the game we are in at the minute. "We have gained some great experience over the last couple of seasons that at this stage it comes down to winning at all costs, so hopefully we can lean on the experience that we have gained."

Source: SKY_Sports