Smalling's Selection Boost

Chris Smalling admits he was boosted to be included alongside Nemanja Vidic for the tough Champions League assignment against Shakhtar Donetsk.

The defender has produced some fine performances of late - such as in the home wins against Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool in the Capital One Cup - and looks at home in the middle of the back four.

Smalling is one of five top-class centre-backs vying for a place in David Moyes' side along with Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones. It means the manager has a selection headache in the position but the England international is out to nail down a permanent place.

"It was a confidence boost for me to get picked," he admitted. "I want to be involved as much as I can now. Hopefully, I can show the manager I can do a job and he can count on me. He wants players out there he can trust."

Smalling believes the Reds can build on the draw secured in Ukraine and can start to pick up more points in the Barclays Premier League following last weekend's home defeat to West Brom. The champions travel to bottom club Sunderland on Saturday ahead of another international break due to the World Cup qualifiers.

"We know ourselves that Saturday and a few other results have not gone our way," he said. "But we have been looking forward to this game [in Donetsk] and really showing that we have a bit of character and fight among us.

"You can only build confidence through performances. Tonight there was half a performance. It wasn't great by any means but a point well earned at a hard place to come gives us some positives.

"It is a good point. We saw their record before and it is very good here.

"After Saturday, this week was crucial with two away games. Now we need to make sure we get three points on Saturday, then things will look a lot better going into the international break. If we don't get that win, we have two weeks to ponder on what may have been."

Chris Smalling was talking to ManUtd.com and PA Sport.