Mata: Balanced Preparations Are Key

Each and every Monday during the season, Manchester United ace Juan Mata pens a personal blog. In his latest entry, the Spaniard reflects on victory over Brighton and looks ahead to clashes with Watford and Arsenal...

Hi everyone,

The week is off to a busy start, as on Tuesday we face Watford. So, we have to recover quickly and get ready for the game - there is no time to waste. Actually, this is one of the main challenges for football clubs nowadays; finding the right balance between the work after and before games when you only have three or four days in between each match.

Tomorrow's game is going to be really difficult, because Watford are one of the toughest teams to beat in the Premier League right now, you just have to take a look at their results this season. The truth is, as you know, that every game in the Premier League can get complicated. For example, on Saturday, Brighton made things very, very difficult for us. It wasn't our best performance of the season, that's for sure, but we got the three points.

Only four days after facing Watford we will travel to London again, this time to play against Arsenal. So, we have two consecutive away games that will require us to be at the top of our game. I feel that the whole squad is absolutely focused on this goal, and that's a key factor because with so many fixtures coming up, we need to have the entire squad ready to be involved.

In this sense I want to dedicate a few lines to Michael Carrick, a great team-mate who has gone through a few complicated weeks, and now he's ready to help the team again from the pitch. We are very happy about that fact, he's a great professional and his behaviour is an example to all of us. I'm sure that his elegant football will help us a lot during the rest of the season.

This past Sunday also marked the 25th anniversary to the day that Eric Cantona arrived at Manchester United. He’s a true legend, and his personality makes him an idol to all the United fans, even today. He was a different kind of player, an artist - I would've loved to have shared a dressing room with him. I have a great admiration for Eric.

Have a nice week.

Hugs,

Juan

Credit: Manutd.com