Romero: I'm Always Ready

Sergio Romero might only have played two games so far this season but he's impressed on both occasions, something he puts down to the "great job" being done by Manchester United's coaches in training.

Due to David De Gea's excellence between the posts, the Argentina no.1's opportunities have been somewhat restricted following his arrival in the summer of 2015. He enjoyed a good run of games at the start of his Reds career, but De Gea has since remained fit and in form, meaning Romero has been forced to watch on from the bench.

The man himself remains positive on the situation and he had nothing but praise for United's coaching staff for the way they ensure all the senior goalkeepers are ready whenever needed.

"Broadly speaking, we are working really well together," he declared in an interview ManUtd.com. "We have two coaches, Silvinho [Louro] and Emilio [Alvarez], and I think that myself, David and Sam [Johnstone] are working really hard alongside them.

"As each week goes by we are all feeling more and more comfortable with each other as a group. I think you can see this in David when he’s playing – he feels good and relaxed in himself – and that our work and training during the week is very good. 

"Similarly with myself you could see [when I've played] that I’d been training hard and waiting for my chance to play and that when that did happen, I was 100 per cent ready. As I said, I reckon a great job is being done with our training and that can only be a good thing."

Romero started the EFL Cup win at Northampton and the Europa League victory at home to Zorya Luhansk and he says the two outings have given him good confidence.

"You work hard all week in order to play at the weekend, and so as the game approaches you will be 100 per cent ready and available for the manager and the group of your team-mates. You aim to show them that you are all prepared and ready to play," he explained.

"Having played my first game of the season in the United shirt has been very important as it gives you reassurance and keeps you calm and relaxed in the knowledge that things went quite well. You know that you can keep on working and improving. 

"It’s also good as it means that the people within the national team set-up are also aware that you have played and done well which means that you are in a better position to be selected for the upcoming qualifying games."

Romero spoke further about the influence of United's coaches, brought in this season by Jose Mourinho, and revealed how they have adapted training in order to try to cover every scenario a keeper may face in a game situation.

"I didn’t know them before but I think with their years in the game and their vast experience, they’ve really been able to add some different ingredients," enthused Romero. "We’ve been working and training in a way that maybe in the past, we hadn’t been used to. 

"We are doing lots of exercises in just one activity; we’re not just focusing on practising just one part of our game but we are aware that goalkeeper training nowadays is based more upon game situations. And we don’t limit ourselves to just one situation but we practise two or three of them together.

"For example, we make a pass and then we continue playing, and then according to whether the pass was executed well or badly, another ball might come in to play for which we have to be ready and waiting. Dependent upon this situation being concluded positively or not, we know that another ball might be on its way too. 

"It’s all about widening the goalkeeper’s vision, and not limiting the keeper to just one situation but encouraging him to have a wider appreciation of what’s happening. And they certainly have that vision.

"So they are encouraging us be more watchful and aware that not every situation just ends with the first ball going dead. Whether you’ve made the right or wrong call, or even on many occasions if you’ve made the best save of the game, that ball might then go out for a corner, stay in play or even come off the post and fall straight to an opponent, and you then have to be ready for that next ball."