Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand ready to put injury woes behind him

Rio Ferdinand has spoken of his hope that he has overcome the worst of his persistent injury problems and will now be able to put together an extended run for Manchester United without being troubled by the issues that have seen him miss 61 of their last 104 matches.

Ferdinand's performance in United's 1-0 defeat of Valencia in the Mestalla last night was one of the more encouraging aspects for Sir Alex Ferguson, the England captain resuming his partnership with Nemanja Vidic to help keep a clean sheet against the team that is currently top of the Spanish league.

"I just want to start playing football regularly again," Ferdinand said. "It's what I love doing, it's what I enjoy more than anything else. I'm at my happiest when I am on a football pitch and I've missed a lot of football over the last year so it's just nice to be playing again."

Ferdinand was forced out of the World Cup after damaging knee ligaments in a training-match collision with Emile Heskey and has also been troubled by recurrent back issues for over a year. The pain has been so severe at times he has spoken of days when he would "waddle into the club like a duck, bent over like an old hunchback", but the centre-half, 32 in November, was bemused by reports that discomfort from his back had caused him to stand for long spells of the flight to Valencia. It was wrong, he said, to make "assumptions" and he made a point of informing the relevant journalists. Ferdinand, incidentally, remained seated for the entire flight back.

Equally, he said, nothing should be read into the fact he could be seen conducting a series of stretches during breaks in play. "That is not about my back. That's people making assumptions again. It is just something I do. My back was fine, no problem."

His return comes at a good time for United, with nine goals conceded in their first six Premier League games and Jonny Evans facing criticism for recent performances, but Ferguson will continue to ease Ferdinand back into the team carefully, determined not to overstretch him and risk another breakdown.

"I trust the manager's judgment and views," Ferdinand said, turning his thoughts towards Saturday's game at Sunderland. "He's the most experienced football man on the planet so whatever he deems is right. I've been out such a long time that to expect me to come back and play at my best straight away is unrealistic, but if he picks me I will be delighted."

With Antonio Valencia ruled out for most of the season due to a broken leg and Ryan Giggs troubled by a hamstring injury, Ferguson must also decide whether to keep faith with Park Ji-sung when the South Korea international is openly admitting he is out of form.

"I'm not satisfied with my performances this season," Park said. "I have to improve and I have to show more on the pitch. Particularly in the first half [against Valencia], my performance was bad. Maybe I was not ready for the season [after the World Cup]. Mentally I have been weak."