'It's a MYTH!': Rio Ferdinand hits back at Jamie Carragher for claiming his old Manchester United team-mate Nemanja Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres... after the pundit insisted Virgil van Dijk was 'far better' than the Serbian

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Rio Ferdinand has rejected Jamie Carragher's claim that Virgil van Dijk was a 'far better' defender than Man United legend Nemanja Vidic.

The former Liverpool centre back called Van Dijk the 'most impactful' defender in Premier League history, and compared the Dutchman's recent struggles to 'poor seasons' from Ferdinand and John Terry.

He also claimed Vidic had struggled against Fernando Torres, and the Serbian defender was sent off against Liverpool in 2009 in a 4-1 loss for United.

Ferdinand has hit back at his former England teammate's claims, as he said on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel: 'I see Jamie Carragher tweeted something about Van Dijk being better than Vidic. 

'I think Torres scored three goals in 15 games against Vidic. It's a bit of a myth, he had a couple of dodgy moments in those games and got sent off a couple of times and that's been amplified into saying he got tortured every time he played against Torres which wasn't the case.

Rio Ferdinand has hit out at Jamie Carragher's claim that Nemanja Vidic struggled against Fernando Torres

The former Manchester United defender said it was a 'myth' despite his former teammate being sent off against Liverpool in 2009

'[Marcus] Rashford's got six goals in 13 games against Liverpool, does that mean he's tortured Van Dijk?'

After challenging for the quadruple last season, Jurgen Klopp's side have experienced a sizeable drop-off this year.

They currently sit eighth in the league with nine games left to play, and are winless in four games since thrashing Manchester United 7-0 last month.

The Reds' defence has repeatedly come under fire following chastening losses to the likes of Brighton, Brentford and Wolves, with their leaky back line already conceding more goals than they did in the entirety of last season.

Jamie Carragher insisted that Virgil van Dijk (L) is 'far better' than Nemanja Vidic (R) 

The former Liverpool defender called Van Dijk the most 'impactful defender' in the Premier League

And the ex-Liverpool defender took to social media to make the claims on Monday morning

Van Dijk was at fault in Liverpool's draw with Arsenal on Sunday after passing the ball into Gabriel Martinelli's path for him to open the scoring, and Ferdinand could not explain his loss of form.

'Liverpool's defending, I don't know what I'm seeing at the moment,' he continued, 'I can't get my head around it.

'Van Dijk has been the best defender in the world arguably for the last couple of years. The way you get yourself out of ruts like that is to just get back to basics.'

Liverpool can be buoyed by taking two points off league leaders Arsenal, and will next be in action against Leeds, who were hammered 5-1 by Crystal Palace on Sunday.