First day back after the Villa defeat.With the EDS playing tonight there were only 17 on show today which reflects the recent departures of Ade,Bridge and others. Nimley was working away with a physio so hopefully the injury he picked up last week isn't too bad. Also Seam Tse and Ahmed Benali came out later with a physio to continue their rehab.Of the first team squad I think it was just Mario missing and SWP was still there. No news on Mario.No MJ today either and he isn't in the squad for the EDS tonight.
Plenty of warm up drills to start as the group were split into two and then all in to a passing game. I watched the keepers for a while going through their stuff.They were helped by 2 young players Abdul Razak and Phillipe Mancini ( I think it's Phillipe). Shame their shooting wasn't the best! I think I could have a job there testing the keepers a bit more consistently.Near the end of the passing game Zaba picked up an injury and had to finish. I doubt it was bad as he wasnt really limping so no long term issues hopefully.
Then they split into 2 5 a side games and goals were flying in all over the place. One team with Kolo,Jo,Barry and I think Vieira seemed to score at will.Frustratingly Nigel wasn't having as much luck. Within this game the whistle was blown every few minutes to signal that all players had to run 40 yards , touch a pole ( no jokes please) and race back again. This just seemed to emphasise that the session was probably more about work and stamina than anything else. Sounds right after 3 days off!
This part ended and a few left altogether( Carlos,Kolo and Barry amongst them) and the rest played an 8 a side game. Best goal for me in this was by Milner who just got onto a long ball and cleverly nicked it past the keeper.SWP was running with Milner and he tried in vain toe stop it crossing the line. Best player on the pitch was Vinnie. A master in action and then it all finished with a break where Milner again I think tried to squeeze a ball home and it broke off Joe Hart but was trickling towards the net. Joe was scrambling back but coming in from the other side was Nigel and he managed to just get there ahead of joe to nudge it in.You would have thought he had won the cup judging by the smile on his face and initial reaction.
It did finish on that note as if the game had been continuing until he scored. Now it's time to thaw out if I can before going off to the reserves at Hyde. I hear Newcastle have a very young side tonight so maybe a few goals to watch.
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