Rio Ferdinand comments on Everton defender Ben Godfrey
Rio Ferdinand has showered praise on Everton defender Ben Godfrey after the Toffees earned a 1-1 draw against Manchester United on Saturday at Old Trafford.
Anthony Martial scored his first goal since February as United took the lead before the break. Andros Townsend scored the equaliser in the second half from a brilliant counter-attack involving Demarai Gray and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Godfrey was brilliant during the game and Ferdinand has spoken about his qualities.
One of the biggest talking points of the match was whether Ole Gunnar Solksjaer should have started with Cristiano Ronaldo.
There were suggestions that Ronaldo (and United wingers) should have had a go at Godfrey who started at right-back in the absence of Seamus Coleman.
However, Ferdinand said on Rio Ferdinand presents Five podcast that Godfrey is defensively more solid and the tactics may not have worked. He said: “Ben Godfrey, as good a defender as he is, going forward isn’t his best attribute and really he’s not going to be overlapping all game.
“He is not like Danny Alves, he’s not like Kyle Walker or Trent Alexander-Arnold. His main attribute is to get you one v one and defend against you. He’s great at that.”
Spot on
Ferdinand is absolutely right with his assessment. Godfrey is a highly-rated centre-back who can also play as a right-back when needed, similar to what Joe Gomez does at Liverpool.
The 23-year-old defender is very solid at the back and he is exceptionally good in one-v-one situations. His concentration levels are high, and he rarely makes glaring mistakes.
The likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kyle Walker are attacking full-backs and they bring a different set of qualities to the side. Walker loves to overlap while Alexander-Arnold often operates as a creator with his diagonal passes and crosses.
Godfrey was unlikely to leave space for the wingers to exploit and it’s conjecture that United wingers could have exploited more by having a go at him.
In other Everton news, this Blues star has branded a talkSPORT pundit ‘Mr Clickbait’ after sharing his verdict on Mohamed Salah.