Chris Smalling believes Manchester United’s performance in the 0-0 draw against Liverpool showed they are contenders to win the Premier League title.
The England defender helped José Mourinho’s side leave Anfield with a point on Monday after a disappointingly flat game that produced few goalscoring opportunities. It means United have gone five matches unbeaten since the 3-1 defeat to Watford on 18 September and are five points behind the leaders Manchester City after eight matches.
Smalling has now called on his side to show more consistency, with Thursday’s trip to face Fenerbahce in the Europa League swiftly followed by Mourinho’s return to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Asked if he has seen anything in United’s title rivals that worries him, Smalling said: “I think we have got more than enough. I think we have shown we can score goals and on nights like this we can keep a clean sheet and not give too many chances to them. We can do both sides of the job and it is about consistency now. We need to go on a little run and show people we are a team that is a threat.
“I think the fixtures we have got this week are ones that we can make a turning point this season. We have got a clean sheet which has not happened for a few games. Hopefully we can kick on now, we have got Thursday and Sunday, and confidence is good.”
Liverpool went into the game on the back of four straight Premier League victories but were frustrated by Mourinho’s tactics. Smalling revealed the United manager had given his players strict instructions before the match in an attempt to “stifle” the home side.
“We knew our gameplan, whoever we played against, but there is a lot of talk about how Liverpool play and they have started the season quite well by scoring a lot of goals,” he said.
“We knew we could be compact and stifle them. You could see that the crowd turned on them and we just played to our gameplan.”
Asked whether United’s defensive unit was making steady improvements, Smalling, who captained the side against Liverpool, said: “I think it is that consistency and those run of games. From a personal point of view I missed all of the pre-season games and it is nice to get a fine run. I am feeling fitter and fresher every game. I think you can tell the defence is a lot more compact. I am one of the ones who has played more games and we aren’t an old defence so it was time for someone to step in there and be that leader. I am enjoying being that leader.”