Ferdinand hails Fergie team-talk
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Rio Ferdinand hopes a motivational team-talk from Sir Alex Ferguson will prove to be 'a defining point' in Manchester United's season.
United lifted the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Liga de Quito in Japan and Ferdinand admits Ferguson made the players aware of the significance of the game.
The centre-half revealed the United manager warned the Premier League and European champions that losing in the Club World Cup final would have a negative effect on their campaign.
"The manager's team-talk before the game hit the nail on the head," said Ferdinand in The Sun.
"In fact, he hit a lot of things on the head that were needed for us to get into gear. That is the sign of a great manager.
"We spoke before the game about how, if we lost this game, it could have a big effect on us for the rest of the season. We have been in Japan for 10 days and it has been a hard trip, if I am honest, both physically and mentally with adjusting to the time and all that.
"The manager went into certain points. One of the things said was that if we didn't win, it would have a major effect on our season - a very negative effect.
"But there are frequent significant moments from the manager, not just team-talks but at different parts of the season either on the training field or in the changing room.
"Sometimes you need to be told the basics and reminded about what got us to where we were last year and the year before.
"Great players need reminding - and we have a few of them in our squad. Hopefully, this could be a defining point in our season."
teamtalk.com