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Vidic: “The players fought each other”

105188Nemanja Vidic has revealed just how hard his final season at Manchester United was, with players under constant scrutiny and arguing with each other, as the team that had lifted the Premier League in May 2013 all of a sudden lost its way and found itself trapped in a downward spiral which only ended with the last game of the season last Sunday.

The 1-1 draw at Southampton was Vidic’s last ever game for the club and, as he prepares to head over to Inter Milan for a new chapter in his career, Vidic has lift the lid on what life  has been like at Old Trafford for the last 10 months, as under David Moyes the club plummeted into previously unseen troubles.

“The players were being questioned, the manager was being questioned, the club was being questioned,” Vidic said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

“People end up saying the players are not good enough and we need to buy better ones.

“I am not saying we have had a good season. It was a bad time and the players could have done better. But everyone lost belief in the team.”

The United dressing room has been far from a happy place this season and Vidic revealed at times players argued among themselves, in a bid to improve an otherwise dismal campaign.

“We argued amongst ourselves,” Vidic said. “This year more than any other, because when you have bad times, people show they care. We are still friends, but we were arguing to get better. We wanted to improve.

“We could say those things to each other because we have been together for so long, but it hurt. If you didn’t argue, it would not be right. We had some hard moments in the dressing room between ourselves.

“We never argued with the manager or his assistants. Never.

After a decent start to the campaign, Moyes struggled to grow into the job at Old Trafford, with United collecting embarrassing performances in the Premier League and in Europe, courtesy of an archaic style of football. Vidic refused to blame the former United manager, but he made clear the Scotsman’s methods weren’t exactly loved by many players.

“I am not saying that the David Moyes way was bad, but these players feel more comfortable playing a certain way of football,” said Vidic.

“You have to respect where you are and what you represent, though, and there is no point speaking about someone who was here, who everyone knows lost his job because he did not succeed in doing what he wanted to achieve.

“It is not the players’ job – not even the captain – to tell the manager he should play this way or that.

“People said we lost faith in David Moyes. We didn’t. We knew he was trying to build something.

“The best I can say is that he tried really hard, he was professional. He was really committed to the job and desperately wanted to do well. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen and we are all sad.

“The captain has to respect the club. You will never hear from me that (Moyes) did this badly or that badly.”