Competitive chat at Carrington revealed

It may surprise a lot of people but Bruno Fernandes has been known to don the gloves to go in goal for penalty shootouts, and the two groups even keep score over the course of the season!

In an exclusive chat with Nathan Bishop and Jack Butland recently, they provided some fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into what goes on at our base, including their thoughts on the best finisher and free-kick taker.

Butland is set to join Rangers at the start of next month, following the expiration of his loan, and was on the bench for the Emirates FA Cup final, while Bishop has been a valuable member of the goalkeeping group since arriving from Southend United in 2020.

When we asked the pair which outfield player is the best in goal, they volunteered Bruno as their suggestion. We have filmed some footage of Bruno trying his hand at being a keeper in the past (see below), although the suggestion is there is more talk than actual action!

"Do you know how much talk there is?" said Bishop. "They give it so much talk, that they would be unbelievable in goal!"

"But no-one's brave enough to do it. I haven't seen anybody in the time I've been here even think about going in goal," added Butland. 

Bish then suggested: "Bruno tries and he always loves a little rotation on the penalties. Like, if he has scored five, he's like, if you can score one past me now, we'll call it evens and stuff."

When it comes to the best finisher in training, a number of names were forwarded. 

"I think you've got different ones," said Butland. "You've got Rashy, who is pretty ruthless. You've got Anthony Martial, who is really cultured and great with his finishing, calm. Christian [Eriksen]. Bruno is a top, top finisher from distance. I've not seen many as prolific from outside the box and confident in where he's putting it and how he puts it there."

Bishop interjects with another suggestion. "You've got to put Scott [McTominay] in there. Scott, he slips into that category."

Butland replies, laughing: "He's going to be so happy, yeah, he does score.

"We're blessed. This is Man United. You're blessed with plenty of good finishers and we've got a big selection to choose from."

Although Jack appreciates how hard Nathan strikes the ball, both agreed that Rashford is the man with the most fierce shot, based on the criteria that neither would want to take a ball in the face from last term's leading scorer!

So what about the best free-kick expert? "There's a few top takers," explained Butland but Bishop warned: "Feelings are going to get hurt here."

A lot goes into the set-piece work at Carrington and there are plenty of options when it comes to having a dig at goal.

"We do a lot of work," explained Bishop. "A lot of practice. So I think, like seeing individuals that go at it every day and that are focused on their individual free-kicks, I think like, Christian, Bruno. You've got longer range, you've got Rashy, but Marcel [Sabitzer] fits in there as well."

Butland agreed on Sabitzer's strengths and added: "Diogo's not bad. So it's not bad."

It all adds up to healthy rivalry out on the training pitches, something that was fostered over the course of the campaign, Erik ten Hag's first in charge of the Reds.

"There's plenty of that," stated Butland. "If you don't get that, you're not going to be a top team. You're not going to get to the top and in finals if you've not got that sort of competitiveness between you all. So we've certainly got plenty of that. It pushes each other on and there's a lot of keeping score. It's noted every time we win and every time they win it. It carries a lot of weight, a lot, and there's a lot of talk. And that's all part of it. We enjoy it.

Bishop agreed, smiling: "There's a book. We make sure that they don't forget it when it's us that are up. But they obviously don't let us forget it when they're up either!"

It was a thrilling season following Manchester United. Make sure you are geared up for what's next in 2023/24 by becoming an official member, choose your perfect membership pack today.