Nemanja Vidic by Worrall Frank

Author:Worrall, Frank
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843584438
Publisher: John Blake Publishing

Chapter 9

SWEET SIXTEEN

AFTER THE DEFEAT at the Emirates Stadium on 8 November 2008, Manchester United would embark on one of the most remarkable runs in football history. They would go 16 matches unbeaten in the Premier League – until 14 March 2009 – as they marched unrelentingly towards retaining their title.

And, with Nemanja Vidi and Rio Ferdinand solid in front of him, keeper Edwin van der Sar would also set a new British record for keeping clean sheets. Van der Sar would pay tribute to Vidi’s role in the brilliant feat, saying: ‘I have not played behind a better centre-half partnership than Nemanja Vidi and Rio Ferdinand. The understanding between them is great.’

It was a scenario no one had envisaged after the demoralising defeat at Arsenal that dark November day. Most pundits had predicted it would be the Gunners who would now go on a roll and that United may need time to regroup. Yet we should all have known better than to doubt the fortitude and strength of Sir Alex Ferguson and his troops. As the boss would remark later in the season when United needed to win in Porto: ‘We at United are good at making firsts.’

That 16-match unbeaten run would take in some fine results, too. Straight after the loss at the Emirates, they would pummel an ever-improving, tough-to-beat Stoke City 5-0 at Old Trafford and then win 1-0 away at Manchester City.

A fortnight after the win at the City of Manchester Stadium, United beat Sunderland 1-0 at Old Trafford; that triumph on 6 December would see Vidi score the killer goal – and declare afterwards that it was ‘my most important goal ever.’ The injury-time winner was greeted so enthusiastically by Nemanja and his team-mates that anyone would have thought they had won the title again. Certainly, they had gone a huge way towards that aim. The win would fill them with optimism and the belief that they could pull it off again; Vidi’s goal was that important at the time. His eighth goal since joining United, it couldn’t have come at a more vital moment, arriving as it did in the slipstream of setbacks for Liverpool and Chelsea.

After a shot from Michael Carrick deflected into his path, Nemanja smashed the ball home. And he himself was in no doubt as to the importance of his goal in rallying the troops. He said, ‘How important was it? Just look at my reaction. It is not my favourite goal, but it is my most important ever. At this time in the season, you need to win every game. Sunderland did not make it easy because they defended with 11 men all the time. ‘We didn’t have that many clear chances, but we never gave up and in the end we got our reward. This win could be a big moment in our season.’

Midfielder Carrick also believed that Vidi had set United up for what would be a barnstorming crusade to retain their crown. Carrick observed, ‘It was

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