Rio Ferdinand Presents

Ste and Rio get together to bask in the glory of beating rivals Liverpool at Anfield. There’s analysis of specific tactics that Amorim employed to unsettle the Champions’ defence and Rio discusses why Mbuemo and Cunha cause Virgil Van Dijk so many problems.After scoring the winner, there’s special praise for Harry Maguire and also Casemiro for showing resilience and the mentality to regain their place in the team when it could have been easier to leave the club.Rio details the importance of new goalkeeper Senne Lammens and how his performances have stabilised the rest of the team. With an important match against Brighton next up, Rio questions whether the pragmatic, difficult-to-beat approach will be sustainable at Manchester United and Ste discusses whether the fans would allow that style of play to become more commonplace over the next few months as Amorim continues to develop the squad.Rio also suggests that Florian Wirtz will be questioning his summer transfer to Liverpool and details why Liverpool’s tactics are contributing to Alexander Isak’s early struggles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The HMRC of football podcasts, Karel Prince, joins Ste and Joel to come face to face with Rio after several messages back and forth on social media. After creating several viral videos scrutinising anecdotes and stories from players about their careers on various podcasts - Karel wants to bring some more evidence to put to Mr. Ferdinand. It’s the first time that Karel is in the presence of a player he’s made a video about so you’ll learn about the forensic process, the reasons for calling people out and the fallout that happens after the videos get released, plus Rio’s reaction to some new charges brought against him. Karel looks at whether there’s enough evidence out there to confirm Rio’s status as the greatest defender ever to have played in the Premier League. We’ve got the game’s best fact checker in position to hear the case for and against.Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently suggested that Ruben Amorim will get three years to prove he is a good coach - so the guys discuss whether that's fair, analyse the comparison he made with Arteta and look at the positives of the owner making such a public stance.Plus, Rio has to pick a player to take a free-kick who has to score it, in order to save his life. So who would he choose in today’s game, and from history, to take the most important set-piece of their lives? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steven Gerrard is the latest guest who sits down with Rio to show a different side of them that’s not been seen before on camera. He picks out two English midfielders that he’d love to go toe-to-toe with and details all of the reasons why the national side weren’t successful during his time as an international footballer. The Liverpool and England legend is honest about what went wrong whilst managing Aston Villa and also analyses some of the recruitment decisions taken by the Liverpool hierarchy when he was there as a player which he says the club got “badly wrong”. There’s amazing insight into what drove his ability to wrestle control of games, candid reflections on negative moments from his career and he carefully analyses some of the highest profile midfielders he played with and against including Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and Xabi Alonso. And, he gives his say about the debate that former team mate Michael Owen sparked on a previous episode - who’s better between him and Wayne Rooney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The focus is on Manchester United's recent win against Sunderland and the tactical tweaks that energized their play. Mason Mount's role in changing the team's mentality takes center stage, sparking discussions on professional pre-match routines. The hosts pit Declan Rice against Moises Caicedo in a lively debate about top midfielders. Erling Haaland's dominance in the Premier League is also analyzed, questioning his place among the greatest goal scorers. Finally, they weigh in on England squad selections and the surprising omissions.

Joel is fresh from Arsenal’s last minute victory and sits down with Rio and Ste to hear how they want to see their team play after Manchester United lost to Brentford at the weekend.Both Rio and Ste are asking for changes but the tweaks they ask for are quite different so let us know below what you believe would be the best option for Amorim to try and get more positive results. Rio has a warning for Liverpool’s Ibrahim Konate and analyses the “old-fashioned” battle between Newcastle’s Woltemade and Arsenal defender Gabriel.Eze is praised for what he’s adding to the Arsenal team but there’s dismay at the way that youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly has lost his place in the team to Riccardo Calafiori. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wayne Rooney is the latest guest on Rio Meets and sits down with Rio in a way you’ve never seen him before.Wayne candidly reveals how his anger got him into trouble away from football, the importance of his wife Coleen in protecting himself and his favourite player that he’s ever played with - spoiler, it’s not Cristiano.If you thought you knew Wayne Rooney, this is another episode of Rio Meets where you’ll see a completely different side to one of the game’s greatest players.You’ll hear an incredibly raw conversation about why Wayne never thought he fit in despite the successes he had on the pitch and the insecurities he battled throughout his career.There’s a young player singled out by Wayne for having the potential to be as great as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - plus he also has his say on that age old debate.In amongst the raw emotion, there’s incredible tactical insight into the team he thrived in at Manchester United, analysis on how Harry Kane could become even better and he also dismantles the game of one of the Premier League’s best defenders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a much-needed win for Manchester United over Chelsea at the weekend which saw Bruno Fernandes reach the 100 goal milestone, Rio and Ste are asked whether they’d accept £100m for their best player and how they’d invest that cash.Rio has special praise for Mathijs De-Ligt (after some gentle persuasion from Ste) and Joel brings up Raheem Sterling’s situation at Chelsea to see what they think about it.The Chelsea game saw Ruben Amorim substitute some of his defenders towards the end of the game and Rio tells us why centre-halves will find that particularly difficult - it’s something that gets his WhatsApp groups going every weekend!There’s analysis on the differences between Benjamin Sesko and Rasmus Hojlund and Rio responds directly to a social media post concerning him and his former teammate Nemanja Vidic and whether they’d be able to thrive in today’s game.Plus there’s a competition brought to you by our new partners Craftd where you can win an overnight stay in London, gain exclusive access to a podcast recording and receive a £1,000 credit to spend at craftd.com. Make sure you head to this instagram post for all the details.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a poor showing in the Manchester derby, Rio is with Ste Howson and Joel Beya to work out how manager Ruben Amorim can balance the need for victories with the desire to stick to his principles. Rio discusses how Pep Guardiola adapted during his time at Man City and points out the tactical tweaks he feels Amorim can make without compromising his values.There’s significant praise for Erling Haaland who will “blitz” numerous sides in the Premier League this year according to Rio who also debates whether he’d choose the Norwegian or Kylian Mbappe for the world’s best striker based on current form.Rio also asks for those Arsenal fans who petitioned against the signing of Noni Madueke to apologise after his terrific start to the season and gives advice to Kobbie Mainoo about how he should approach getting picked by the manager. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rio is joined by Joel and Ste who get stuck into Onana’s transfer to Turkey along with the talking points from England’s latest match under Thomas Tuchel.One of those is the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold so Rio analyses why international managers prefer Chelsea’s Reece James. There’s a discussion around the value of games against the likes of Andorra as Rio says there’s no concerns about England’s performances at this stage of the buildup to the World Cup.Rio reveals who he thinks will take on Kyle Walker’s mantle of the best 1v1 defender and praises Daniel Levy’s tenure at Spurs and discusses the difference in mentality shown by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo when it comes to their desire to play in the World Cup for their respective nations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Owen brings his Ballon d’Or trophy for this episode and he leaves Rio Ferdinand in no doubt about how good he felt he was as a young player. Rio has wanted to do this interview for years because he wanted to show everyone watching and listening a different side to one of just four Englishman to win the most coveted individual award in world football. After admitting he was on the decline when he got the Ballon d’Or, Owen discusses his career and the unshakeable self-belief he had in his own ability from when he was a schoolboy. He names the striker who impresses him most in the game today, reveals his concerns about the lack of good English strikers and states why he’s so confused about Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich. Owen also has his say on the comparisons between himself and Wayne Rooney, the differences between him and Robbie Fowler and why he’s still adamant that nobody will ever get close to his achievements at such a young age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.