Heaton on why ETH is a keeper and how Ineos are making gains

Goalie on right decisions at club

- SAMUEL LUCKHURST

IF marginal gains extend to recognising a colour different from its actual colour and reacting right to the command of 'left, then United are ahead of the curve.

Just let Tom Heaton explain. "So there'd be a blue cone, a yellow cone - I mean this is pretty straightforward but it was a case of doing the opposite if he (new goalkeeping coach Jelle ten Rouwellar) shouts blue you have to go to yellow.

"Then he passed me the ball, and if he said right, it'd be left, and then the progression would be left, left, but the first one wouldn't be an opposite, and the second one would be an opposite. I was like 'What?'

"But no, it's good!" he protests. "It does make you think, so you're not just going through the motions, yes, it was good, it was just literally the first example of a warm-up day, but I can see that is how it's going to be, it's going to be good."

Heaton, into his 21st pre-season at the age of 38, was inundated with calls from old colleagues at Burnley, where Ten Rouwellar worked the past two seasons, rhapsodising about the Dutchman. That, apparently, is a rarity in football.

Ten Rouwellar is a 'really, really good bloke' who introduced Heaton to his new methods in an early separate session. Heaton only reported for pre-season training on Tuesday after taking a week off after his involvement as a training member of the England squad at the European Championship.