Mata's Blog: We're Up For The Fight

Hi everyone. Sundays after a win are always nice and quiet. [But] it wasn’t easy this time...

We already knew how tough it is to play at Loftus Road. I’m not quite sure about its dimensions but from the pitch I’d say it’s the smallest one in the league*. But what matters is that we fought hard and were able to win.

We made several chances throughout the entire game and finally we got three valuable points thanks to the goals from Felli and James. QPR played their cards as we expected and they were also dangerous when sending long balls to the attacking players, but David, once again, was a wall.

Winning this weekend was even more important since all the teams in the top side of the table – except Manchester City – won their games. There’s still a long way to go; we have to keep pushing and be at a high level because our main rivals will do the same. We want to get in top form for the crucial weeks of the season.

Now it’s time for the FA Cup, this is a competition that I like very much as I have said here many times. Perhaps it is because I was lucky to win it in my first year in England and I have good memories from those games at Wembley. We play against Cambridge United, from League Two. I believe they are not going to make things easy for us in their stadium.

Big hug to all of you, have a good week.

Juan

P.S. It was nice to see Rio Ferdinand again. We were together at United for just five months but he always treated me very well. Good luck Rio!

*The Loftus Road pitch, according to the Premier League, is 100m x 65.85m, the division’s smallest. Old Trafford is a standardised 105m x 68m.

Credit: manutd.com