Back to normal again today with cold and rain at Carrington for what was only a short training session scehduled to start at 3pm. I arrived early just in case they did too and saw the end of the reserves training. One or two faces I didn't know as they have bolstered the numbers due to quite a few going on loan. 2 I did know were Helan and Guidetti and both showed up quite well in the few minutes I saw.
The first team came out roughly on schedule with Bridge first closely followed by Petrov so some things don't change. The keepers though are always out a little before the rest. Everyone was out except Bellamy and Tevez which was better news maybe than expected and they all took part even if it wasn't for very long and not involving much football. ( not 100% sure Boyata was there today)
The initial half hour was taken up with some work on zonal defending. A team of players all taking up their positions as shown by all the cones already laid out and the rest of the players watching on and listening to Mancini explain how it should all work. No keepers involved during this part and no ball either. Then they all took up the positions on the field and did the regular movements around under Mancini's guidnace with Carminati taking over after a short while to introduce some stretching exercises.
AS I said that was half an hourish and then followed by some more warm up excercises and an opening game on a 5 a side sized area. Not football though but basically netball! All passes by hand and goals only with headers. That moved into a more football oriented game where it had to be one touch and goals could only come from a header off a volleyed pass! All good fun and in keeping with the light session they wanted to have.
I didn't see any signs of injuries in any of the players although Vinnie did break off at the end to doing some gentle running around the full ground with Carminati. Clearly not 100% as confirmed by Mancini who has said the Stoke game is probably a few days too soon for him. No doubt he could play if it was essential as he did against Bolton ( or was it Portsmouth?) which seemed to have been a mistake in hindsight.
After my post the other day about differences in training I was looking out today for fun moments and here's the top 5 I can remember in no particular order. Sorry if they don't come across as hilarious but you had to be there.
1) There were a bunch of photographers around today and at the start Kidd and Mancini were out chatting . Mancini noticed the cameras and made an obvious attempt to get his body across Kidd so that they didnt get a picture of him. Slightly funny but when one guy tried to move to get a better angle for a picture he went arse over and got very muddy for his troubles.
2) During the netball warm up game one of the teams picked SWP as its goalie. Watching SWP as the last line of defence in what essentially was a heading game was comical.
3) Micah's laugh can often be heard above anything else and today was no exception. It really is infectious and one moment when he jumped across people to clear with one header and taking 2 people out in the process all that was left was 3 bodies on the floor with Micah laughing his head off.
4) Petrov was playing in the team with yellow bibs but decided to cheat by lifting the bib over his head so that the other team would pass to him. They did and he thought it was extremely funny as he went the other way and his team scored.
5) The keepers were working away beyond the pitch the rest were on and the loudest voice there most of the time is the keeper coach.( Massimo whatsisname) But from nowhere came the booming sound of Shay's voice screaming you f....ing t..t No idea why but it was really funny in Shay's best Irish accent.
The whole session today was less than an hour and as the majority were going in Mancini was talking closely with Toure and Kompany was still doing a bit with Carminati. The final bit as the keepers finished off was Mancini taking Shay into the goal area where they had previously done the zonal work and he was spending time no doubt explaining what he wants from him against Stoke.
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