Rio Ready To Fight For Place

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has acknowledged that he is not going to play in every game at this stage of his career, but he is determined to feature as regularly as possible.

Ferdinand, who turned 35 on Thursday, has to compete with the likes of Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling for a place in the heart of United's back four.

He felt that he defied his critics last season to play an important part in their title-winning campaign, but is aware that he must continue to prove himself to new boss David Moyes.

"Obviously, you want to play in every minute of every game, but at this stage of my career, I know that's not possible," Ferdinand said in the Daily Telegraph.

"I know the manager is going to put me in and out of the games, but I want to be involved in as many as I can.

"I think you go out there and play and put yourself in the shop window and the manager will decide if you play or not, but we're blessed with a number of good centre-backs here.

"Every season is a big challenge, you set yourself targets and I have always done that.

"At the beginning of last season, people were probably writing me off and saying I wasn't able to play in back-to-back games and play at this level but I was part of a championship-winning team, which said it all.

"Last season has no bearing on people's opinions this season, though, so you have to start again and prove yourself. That's part and parcel of it, every season that happens.

"I've been in back-to-back title-winning teams and people still write about me personally or the team so I'm used to it."