Vidic writes off United’s title hopes

Nemanja Vidic has broken rank and admitted Manchester United’s title hopes are over.

The United skipper admitted their 3-1 defeat at Chelsea has ended the champions hopes of retaining the Premier League crown.

Manager David Moyes insisted after the Stamford Bridge defeat that there was still a chance they could catch up on the top three – even though Jose Mourinho was quick to dismiss those claims. United are 14 points behind leaders Arsenal as their first season under Moyes goes from bad to worse.

And Vidic – who was sent off for a wild challenge on Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge – insists there is no way back for the fallen giants.

He said:: “We are too far behind and we have now to focus on the top three or four.

“We have to be positive, today we didn’t play a bad game. They had three shots and scored three goals and that’s the difference in the game, we have been punished for every mistake we made.

“It’s not going to be easy, we have to now fight to achieve the Champions League. We have to stay positive and stick together and work hard. With a bit of luck hopefully we can achieve that.”

Vidic is refusing to blame Moyes for United’s slump in form. Everyone in football knew following in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson was never going to be easy for anyone. Yet Moyes has so far lived up to fans fears he would struggle after 11 trophy-less years as manager of Everton.

Vidic added: “We cannot always speak about manager’s, the players are tired of speaking about that because the manager is trying to do the best he can. Tactically we did well today.”

The Serbian defender was upset by the decision to send him off for a foul on Eden Hazard late in the game at Stamford Bridge. The red card means Vidic is ruled out out of Wednesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Sunderland.

“My feeling is that it was very harsh because I went for the ball. Hazard we know is a sharp player and he just pushed the ball,” he added.

“In my opinion it was not a red card I was disappointed with that decision at the time.”