Rio woe will put fears into Fabio: Ferdinand's mental lapses proving costly

By Matt Barlow for the Daily Mail Updated: 17:21 EST, 11 October 2009

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Slump: Rio Ferdinand's struggling for form

Rio Ferdinand spoke before the Ukraine game to insist no player had enough 'credit in the bank' to guarantee a ticket to South Africa regardless of form or fitness.

After the match, his own England account was under scrutiny and Ferdinand left the talking to others. He has made a costly mistake in each of the two games he has played for his country this season.

A careless pass in a friendly against Holland led directly to a goal. A misjudged long ball in Dnipropetrovsk resulted in a red card for goalkeeper Robert Green and a penalty which Andriy Shevchenko missed. Sandwiched between came a rare error in a Manchester United shirt which allowed Craig Bellamy to score for Manchester City at Old Trafford.

'Rio's one of the best defenders in the world,' said John Terry after defeat in Ukraine ruined Fabio Capello's perfect World Cup qualifying campaign. 'We're all human. We all make mistakes but the good thing with him is that he doesn't fade away. He's a big personality.'

The England manager agreed. 'Rio made just one mistake,' said Capello. 'The ball bounced and he didn't judge the direction of the ball well but afterwards he played a good game. You can't question his value.'

True enough. Ferdinand has been excellent in the last two World Cup tournaments. What might be questioned are his fitness and state of mind. Often they go together. It can have an exaggerated impact if an elite player has tiny doubts about his condition.

In Ukraine, winning his 75th England cap, he played for the sixth time this season. The 30-year-old Londoner insists he is fit after a sequence of back, thigh and calf problems but remains far from his best.

Despite Capello's reputation for cautious football, the only clean sheets of the qualifying campaign have come against weaklings Andorra and Kazakhstan. Ferdinand is by no means a lone culprit. Capello's patience snapped after sloppy late goals conceded to Slovenia and Croatia last month, when the United defender did not play.

In Dnipropetrovsk, the England manager's fury was aimed at the referee. It is the way of the modern managers to be critical of their players after good results and comforting after defeat.

Clumsy: Ferdinand hauls down Artem Milevskyi in the Dnipro Stadium

Capello's team controlled the second half without finding an equaliser and he did not want to berate those who qualified for South Africa with games to spare. But these defensive frailties must command his attention in the next eight months.

Does Glen Johnson's inclination to gallop forward from right back drag his central defenders out of position? Do the deep midfielders offer enough protection? For all his talents, Frank Lampard is not blessed with a defender's instinct. Michael Carrick's trial as an alternative for Gareth Barry went badly.

Ukraine's Anatoliy Tymoschuk gave a wonderful exhibition of holding midfield play. Capello does not have such an option. There is Owen Hargreaves but he has barely kicked a ball in 18 months.

Needs a spark: Ferdinand needs to kick start his season

A wobbly back four can also seek mitigation from the goalkeeping issue. David James returned in Dnipropetrovsk and did well after Green's 13-minute nightmare.

West Ham's keeper left the stadium without a word, not even to James. The nerve of both keepers had been tested by Ukraine fans who lit up their goalmouth with flares but the real agony for Green is that he has surrendered the No 1 shirt to his rival. Suspension rules him out of the qualifier against Belarus on Wednesday. Luck has abandoned him before in a World Cup season.

'It won't be the end of Greenie,' said Terry. 'He's a hard worker who gets his head down. He's done well when he's come into the side and the manager has shown a lot of faith in him with David James back in the squad.'

Capello's inconsistency - keeping faith in Green as part of a winning team but dropping Matthew Upson, who had looked steady in Ferdinand's absence - will not have escaped James but he was diplomatic about it.

'Greenie had done OK beforehand and we have a squad,' said James. 'The team went up and I wasn't in it, so I thought, "Let's crack on and win the game". I didn't want Greenie to get sent off.'