Rio believes he will need 5 more games to reach his peak
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Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand believes he will need five more games to reach his peak
Case for the defence: Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand has admitted it could be another five games before he gets back to his peak. The Manchester United defender has finally recovered from the knee injury that wrecked his World Cup, turning in a typically stylish performance in Tuesday's disappointing goalless draw with Rangers.
Ferdinand is expected to keep his place for Sunday's north-west derby clash against Liverpool, when he should get the chance to resume his central defensive partnership with Nemanja Vidic and find out whether Sir Alex Ferguson views him as the successor to Gary Neville as captain.
But while the 31-year-old is hoping to speed up the acclimatisation process, he is wary of how long it will take to find top form again.
'I don't know how long it will take me to get back to my peak,' he said.
'I have never been out and doing nothing for this length of time.
'From what I gather it is normally up to six games before players see the best of themselves. Fingers crossed I can do it in two.'
This year will not be remembered with any affection by Ferdinand.
His appearance against Rangers was only his 14th in a United shirt so far this year and whilst he did play twice for England at the end of the season, the freak accident he suffered in a collision with Emile Heskey on the first day of World Cup training wrecked his dream of appearing in South Africa.
Not that Ferdinand is spending too long worrying about that. He said: 'I have got over the frustrations of the injury.
'I am trying to look forward and hoping to play some part in the games we have coming up.'
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Rio is injury prone, so have to start finding his long term replacement. not sure if smalling is up to the tasks, hope he does. otherwise need to spend and buy a class centreback to partner vidic. I am not convinced evans is the long term replacement for rio, but hope he makes good.