Manchester United ace Antonio Valencia has revealed some of the secrets behind his recent Player of the Month success, following an impressive return to action.
The Ecuador international missed three matches due to the arm fracture he sustained in October's EFL Cup derby against Manchester City but he quickly made up for lost time and earned the acclaim of fans voting for the club's monthly accolade on ManUtd.com and Twitter.The November award caps Valencia's resurgence in a new role of full-back, to which he was converted from his earlier days as a flying winger by Jose Mourinho's predecessor.
"I guess I've got to hold my hands up for my first season, when Mr van Gaal first started to play me more regularly at right-back," said Antonio.
"I made one or two mistakes in that role and some of those mistakes were maybe down to me not concentrating 100 per cent all the time. So one area where I have tried to improve is my concentration and always being totally focused."
Michael Carrick recently described Valencia as "incredible", when speaking after the Arsenal game at Old Trafford in which the Ecuadorian made such an impressive and earlier-than-expected comeback from injury.
Valencia acknowledged: "Michael referred to my positional sense, and I have been working hard on where I need to be in certain situations. That, and my concentration, are the two areas I have tried to work on."
Modest as ever, the Ecuadorian was keen to share the limelight with the two team-mates who were also nominated for the latest Player of the Month prize - Carrick and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
"These two legends are having such a great season," he told us.
"I think it would only be right if we could award three first prizes for the month because they’ve done really, really well. Carras and Ibra are great players and they deserve big congratulations as well."
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