Grant aiming to grab the gloves
Giants in mood for a big season
near the back end of last season with that. This year, we’ve got a stronger squad and the competition is there.
“If there’s competition in training then the training is intense, and then you have the pressure of a weekend that if you don’t put in good performances then your place is maybe up for grabs.”
Tough
Robertson, signed from Hull for £8m last summer, became Liverpool’s first-choice leftback last season after an injury to Alberto Moreno in December.
The 24-year-old kept his place for the rest of the season, culminating in Liverpool’s tough 3-1 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
Robertson admitted it took a while for him to get over the defeat in Kiev. “I didn’t speak to anyone for a while, to be honest,” he said.
“You put so much into the whole day, so much adrenaline, and then you have a massive come down afterwards. That hit me.
“I had to get through it. I went out with my dad and bought a barbecue because everyone was coming round.
“The day after the Champions League final I’m in Homebase in Formby, buying a barbecue. It just got me out the house.
“I watched the final back on my own. It was a tough watch. I watched the first half an hour and I was thinking ‘we’ve got them here’, but obviously things started going wrong after that.
“The second goal took the wind out of our sails and we didn’t know how to bounce back from it.
“But coming back for pre-season it’s a fresh start for everyone, players and staff.
“We can use the experience of what we did last season this time around, not just in the Champions League but in the FA Cup and the League Cup, too.
“Hopefully we can use that, hit the ground running and keep the confidence from the back end of last season.” David Mcdonnell NEW Manchester United keeper Lee Grant says he has no intention of settling for being thirdchoice at Old Trafford. Veteran Grant, a £1.5million signing from Stoke, was bought by United with a view to being behind David De Gea and Sergio Romero, with young keeper Joel Pereira to go on loan. But Grant, 35, who has come up through the lower leagues to the pinnacle of the Premier League with United, said he intends to give boss Jose Mourinho “a choice to make” by showing his quality and pushing for a starting place. “I’m old enough and ugly enough to understand the role I’m coming in to do,” said Grant. “I’m at a club that has the best keeper in the Premier League, also a club that has Argentina’s No.1 keeper, and there are also fantastic young keepers in the building and out on loan. “I know what I have to contend with but I’m confident in myself, I’m settled with my own role within all of that and I’m also certain I can offer something to the club. “My job is just to hold up my end of the bargain. I’ve been bought by United, so my role is to perform at a high level and conduct myself in the correct manner. That means training correctly, playing correctly when you get the opportunity and if that gives the manager a choice to make, that’s my job.
“Whether that means sitting on the bench or not sitting on the bench, whether I’m playing in the cup games, or not playing in the cup games, I’m ready and willing to do what I need to do.”
Grant came to Mourinho’s attention in October 2016 with a man-of-the-match display for Stoke at United in a 1-1 draw which saw the Potters earn a first point at Old Trafford in 36 years.
That performance stuck in Mourinho’s mind and was one of the factors that led to him signing him from Stoke, with Grant – a lifelong United fan – having admitted he felt the chance to join a big club had passed him by.
“That may have played some part in me being here,” said Grant. “But it’s probably more to do with the consistency levels I showed over the course of a whole season in the Premier League.
“But that performance at Old Trafford didn’t do any harm. It was special for a lot of reasons. It was the first time I played at Old Trafford, so as a lifelong United fan it was special for that reason.
“You get to the stage where you think you may have missed out on the opportunity. But the last two years at Stoke gave me the platform to showcase my ability at the highest level and coming here is the next level.” MO SALAH insists he will be fully fit for the new season after recovering from the shoulder injury that ended his Champions League final. The Liverpool forward, who was named PFA and FWA Footballer of the Year after a 44-goal debut season with the Reds, was forced off in the first half of the 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid after tangling with Sergio Ramos.