Valencia: We Are On The Charge

Antonio Valencia has rediscovered some of his best form this season, so when United Review caught up with the flying Ecuadorian winger he spoke about his and the Reds' determination to turn in a successful campaign...

David Moyes has been full of praise for you this season – how happy are you with your form?
‪I've been pleased. It's something I've been working hard on and I will continue to work hard to make sure I keep doing my job ‪well. I must say as well that, as a team, I think ‪we are improving and our form is on the up. ‪It's important we keep that going.

‪You previously stated that you weren't too happy last season from ‪a personal perspective; what have you ‪done differently this term?
‪I suppose the previous season to that [2011/12] I'd set the bar quite high with my ‪performances, which was something that ‪was a little unexpected but I was very happy about. Last season I had a niggling problem ‪with my back, which didn't allow me to train ‪properly, whereas there is no sign of that now. ‪I feel great, and have been able to train to my ‪maximum and put in 100 per cent. That ‪has been paying dividends in the games.

You changed your shirt number this term, what was the thinking behind that?
‪There is no negative reason as to why I changed ‪it. I don't want people to think that I wasn't ‪doing my job for the team because of any added ‪pressure of wearing the no.7 shirt, it was more ‪to do with the fact that 25 was the number I had ‪when I first came to the club and I played well ‪wearing that number. So I thought 'why don't ‪I go back to 25?' because I had good times and ‪good fortune in that shirt.

‪David Moyes has slightly changed the team's system this season – has that impacted on your form?
I'm just trying to do what the manager tells me! [Smiles] He has come in with his own way of ‪setting things up tactically and it's down to us ‪as players to work hard as a unit to put all that ‪into practice. Any formation changes haven't ‪had too big an effect on me because my job is ‪about getting past defenders, putting crosses ‪in and creating chances for others. But I also ‪understand I have a job to do when it comes to ‪combining tactically with others around me so ‪I've focused on doing both.

You've played with a variety of full-backs behind you this term – Rafael, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones – and seem to have a good relationship with them all...
Yes, it's great and I enjoy playing with all of them. I don't have a preference for which player I play with. ‪I think we all work well together and have a ‪good understanding. Those three players are all having good seasons as well.

How would you sum up the campaign so ‪far from the team's perspective?
Whenever you get a new manager, you're always going to have a settling-in period where ‪there might be some negative results as well as positive ones. We've had some incredible games this season in which we've played really ‪well, but other times we haven't played as well as we've wanted to and things have gone ‪against us. The win at Aston Villa was important and we want to build on that.

‪You and your team-mates are used to being among the leading pack in the league – how have you dealt with not being up there so far?
It hurts. We're a team that is always used to being up around the top two or three places in ‪the league. Where we are now, after dropping ‪some silly points against teams we know we ‪should have beaten, especially at home, hurts ‪even more. It's difficult, but all you can do ‪is look back at what's gone wrong in certain ‪games and focus on putting those things right ‪and doing your best.

‪There are lots of points up for grabs over the festive period; how influential can this spell be for United?
This is always a big time in the season and it's down to us to work really hard ‪and play well. It would be nice to ‪see the other teams above us drop some points, but we know we ‪need to aim for maximum points from these games. There have ‪been some crazy results in ‪the league this season, but that's the Premier League for you. Every team can take points off ‪each other. We have a chance ‪to put a run of results together ‪in the next couple of weeks and we must do that.

‪What would the players regard as a successful campaign?
Our aim for the moment is to make sure we are in and around the top four or five ‪at the start of January so we can push on ‪from there. Our aim and objective every season is to win as many trophies as we can; ‪that hasn't changed. It never will.

This interview was first published in United Review, the official matchday programme.