TO USE ONE of his more famous quotes, Alex Ferguson has already described his greatest achievement in football as "knocking Liverpool off their perch" (expletive removed), and the most successful manager in the business predicted last night it would not be long before he had inflicted yet more misery on Manchester United's arch rivals.

Ferguson's haul of 10 titles has taken United's overall total of league championships to 17, meaning they can equal Liverpool's record if they reaffirm their status as England's best team this season.

John Terry, the Chelsea captain, recently questioned whether the European Cup winners had "another level to go to" but a bullish Ferguson believes the opposite is true and United are still to hit their peak.

"That's the challenge," he said. "I'm not sure exactly what John Terry said but with young players such as Anderson, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani, the possibility for improvement is definitely there for us. In fact, I think that's the most natural thing you can say about our club. These players have the capacity to improve and they will, there's no doubt about that. This team will win a lot more championships, even long after I've gone. That's the nature of the club, there are good foundations to win more championships."

The incentive for many United followers this season will be to draw level with Liverpool but Ferguson has other goals, beginning with winning the European Super Cup when United take on Zenit St Petersburg on August 29th, followed by the World Club Championship in Tokyo in December.

"When we won the World Club Championship [in 1999] for some reason it seemed to be passed over. But we are the only British team to have won it. Liverpool have never won it. So I cannot understand why we did not get the praise or the publicity that we deserved. To go halfway around the world and beat Palmeiras, the best team in South America at that time, was a real achievement."

Of equalling Liverpool's record, he added: "That's not actually my target in life. My target has already been achieved as far as Liverpool are concerned in terms of ending their dominance."

Ferguson, who refused to discuss United's pursuit of the Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov, explained his confidence with the fact that he "saw no deterioration". He added: "Obviously, you can never have too many strikers, although I don't actually think we need to improve on too much from last season.

"We have to protect the dinosaurs a little bit more - Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and Gary Neville - but they are fit guys. Giggs's endurance tests were the best in the club this summer, which is unbelievable. Scholes and Neville are much the same, there's a lot of football left in them all. Plus I'm expecting a natural progression with the younger players."

Rooney has recovered from illness and will be involved against Newcastle United tomorrow while Ferguson has been encouraged by Cristiano Ronaldo's progress from an ankle operation.

"He is ahead of schedule," said the manager. "We are delighted with how he is doing and we're pencilling him in for the beginning of October."

Whether Ronaldo will be as focused as before remains to be seen, but Ferguson does not expect the player's form to suffer because of his summer romance with Real Madrid. "Improvement can come in a number of different ways for Ronaldo," he said.

"Forty-two goals is the target and it is still possible for him to achieve it given the talent of the boy, but you have to say it's a big target for him. What we will see is improvement in his authority and decision-making."

Guardian Service