Rio Ferdinand slams ‘worst’ Premier League teams in 15 years

“They are not players who can pass the ball like Paul Scholes or Andrea Pirlo and they don’t get forward”.

Manchester United’s success under Alex Ferguson was down to the former manager’s intense demands of his “animal” players, Rio Ferdinand revealed.

Ferdinand is one of the few Old Trafford legends defending Louis van Gaal after fans saw the club draw yet another game 0-0 midweek in the Champions League.

Rio Ferdinand believes the current season is the worst standard of Premier League in over 15 years, and that none of the current teams would beat his 2008 Manchester United, Jose Mourinho’s first Chelsea team or Arsenal’s 2003-04 Invincibles.

The summer signings were unable to make a breakthrough in United’s goalless draw with Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Van Gaal has received significant criticism from the media and former players for his style of play, which in turn has seen the Red Devils fail to score with any real consistency.

Although their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League is under threat heading into the final fixture of the group, as well as being a point adrift of Premier League leaders Leicester City, their defence has been an important part of their play.

He added: “Certainly during the final three seasons under Sir Alex it was more a case of us getting over the line than anything cavalier”.

Ferdinand also feels that fans are being ungrateful as the club could be top of the Premier League by tomorrow afternoon.

“In many ways, why should there be, given where he has taken the club in 18 months?”

“It is not a game in the best traditions of Old Trafford”.

“However, there was certainly a lot more ambition and threat in our play than there is now with United”. Instead, he was someone who would stabilise the situation and put the club in with a chance of winning trophies again.

‘That’s what he’s doing but, no, it is not very exciting.