A "normal" kick off time today.Well in theory anyway but the squad came out in 1's and twos and it took best part of 10 minutes for them all to get out there. The first 2 were Lescott and Bellers who did a little warm up routine with a physio before others came out. Once there they split into 2 groups as usual and did a series of routines with a fitness coach .Then they got into team shape in their half of the field to pass the ball around within the team shape. I don't think the way the teams were made up gave any clues today as to the weekends team. After that they kept in their two groups and called 2 keepers over and had 15 minutes shooting practice.
Good work for the keepers but the most hard worked the the ball retrievers.At the end nearest to me there was not net behind the goal to stop misses so a couple of the coaches were really chasing around for the stray balls.I offered my services but wasn't taken up.
The final part today was an 11 a side game! Not a regular feature of training sessions so I was interested in how it went. Zaba didnt take part in this as I think he got an injury in the shooting , probably a slight strain or something but it didnt look great. The "game" went ahead with 2 coaches as linesmen ,Fausto as referee and Mancini on the pitch but mostly on one side and Kidd on another.I could hear them from time to time but generally they let the game flow rather than stop it if and when they saw something as i am sure they would have. Bearing in mind every training session if videod they will always be able to look back at things to highlight issues to the players if need be.
This game took place on the pitch in the middle of the field and thus not too near where I was so I couldnt see as much detail as I would have liked. Defences were largely in control I would say with the biggest threat coming from the team with Ireland in the middle and AJ/Bellers in the wide positions. That's not to say Ireland played great but he did look like the one to carry the ball and find the killer pass which he did on one occasion only for Ade to get squeezed at the last minute.
Vinnie actually played full back in one side which I guess might have been because Zaba was missing but I wouldnt read anything into that. The 2 reserves with the group were Cunningham and Ibrahim ( Boyata with the reserves who were also training)
RSC and Tevez lined up together with Tevez playing a little deeper.This put Tevez into Vieira's territory as he was lying deep for the other team and not surprisingly Carlos nicked the ball of him a few times. Not that PV played badly but Carlos was buzzing around as we know he can. The only goal came from a little break by Carlos from deep and a lovely thru ball to RSC running the inside left channel and he slotted it past Taylor.
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