Training Wednesday 7/4

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Nice sunny afternoon for a change at Carrington and as it's easter hols quite a few more fans than usual. Sadly a small group of oik scum boys included but there was also a nice group of Carlos fans shouting across to their idol.

They had been out in the morning already but I gave that a miss as it was just power and physical work including a bleep test again.Although supposedly a 2.30 start it was delayed a little for a photo shoot of some kind.It looked like they were all wearing special T shirts for it but I couldnt tell what they were.No doubt it will appear on the main site soon.

Missing today were Petrov,Bellers,NDJ,Lescott,Johnson,Taylor and Richards. I don't have any up to date info on any of them but my guess is Bellers and NDJ are not a problem for the weekend.After going though plenty of routine initial work of keep ball circles and gentle running and stretching they switched to one of the larger keep ball games. The 3 reserves inolved today were Redshaw ,Cunningham and Boyata and later on they were joined by Karius the young german keeper.

Mancini left the keep ball work to go behind the iron curtain and he donned a white bib and was soon joined by all the players. This behind the fencing session was mostly about working on the attacking threat but with the added emphasis of closing down the oppos defence. At the centre of that defence was Mancini! He took the role of sweeper to receive the ball and play it to the full backs to give our attacking 4 somethimng to chase down and then when they did win it M was very keen on them being very sharp and creating a chance.Interesting stuff and Mancini was cool on the ball under pressure.

At the start of this part Nedum and Bridge were working separately with Fausto on receiving the ball in wide attacking positions and getting crosses in.They weren't great but good to see what they were doing anyway.All this was only for about 15 minutes with disgruntled fans thinking about going home as they couldn't see a thing but they finished with a bunch of short and sharp 5 a side games outside the buildings in full view of everyone.This was where Karius the keeper joined in and I was impressed. Big lad and although it was only 5 a side where you expect to make saves he made some very good ones.

Nothing to report on the docs footballing skills today but I forgot yesterday when he was passing the ball around with 2 coaches. No problems with his right foot but that left one needs some serious work. The only notable thing I saw involving him today was at the end when for some reason he was being chased by Massimo the keeper coach.No idea what that was all about.

[BmoreBlue]

Cheers Doug, what are your thoughts on Bridge's prospects at the weekend? Could he make the bench, or even start?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Cheers Doug, what are your thoughts on Bridge's prospects at the weekend? Could he make the bench, or even start?

Bridge to start for me. I did forget another absentee today , Stevie Ireland. He was there though working inside as he passed me on the motorway when I left.

[BmoreBlue]

fantastic news - he was the one injury i was really worried about as we came down the home stretch - we'll need him for sure in the next few games.

any idea when lescott will be back in contention? should be a few more weeks right?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

fantastic news - he was the one injury i was really worried about as we came down the home stretch - we'll need him for sure in the next few games.

any idea when lescott will be back in contention? should be a few more weeks right?

Lescott is doing well and could be training outside next week but after hearing that another physio said that might be too early for him. 2 to 3 weeks sounds right.

[brite blu sky]

great report Doug.. some interesting stuff there by the sounds of it..

barca are the bench mark after all

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Cheers Doug.

[getdressedmctavish]

Great stuff, Doug. I take it you are a man with a substantial inheritence producing adequate investment income for your modest requirements?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Great stuff, Doug. I take it you are a man with a substantial inheritence producing adequate investment income for your modest requirements?

Just a retired old git living not too far away who happens to be a City fan.

[john@staustell]

If Bridge can´t make it d´ya reckon Mancini is a better shout at LB than Garrido or Sylvinho?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

If Bridge can´t make it d´ya reckon Mancini is a better shout at LB than Garrido or Sylvinho?

No I think we would switch to a sweeper system with Mancini as the sweeper.

[Martinez]

If Bridge can´t make it d´ya reckon Mancini is a better shout at LB than Garrido or Sylvinho?

No I think we would switch to a sweeper system with Mancini as the sweeper.

Not bad, then you could say we would use a 1-3-2-3-1 system, fluid but balanced. Imagine the networks trying to put that in their computer graphics ahead of the game

[dazlebluefrog]

thanks for your excellent report doug ,did you used to go to the training when sven was there?(i joined this site at the end of his stay)do some still come over to see you or give a nod of the head to say hi
also since pat's goal has he been training like it's put a "spring in his step"getting back to the player who played for the arse but a little slower due to age

[dazlebluefrog]

thanks for your excellent report doug ,did you used to go to the training when sven was there?(i joined this site at the end of his stay)do some still come over to see you or give a nod of the head to say hi
also since pat's goal has he been training like it's put a "spring in his step"getting back to the player who played for the arse but a little slower due to age

sorry doug the questions are about thurday's training

[Douglas Higginbottom]

thanks for your excellent report doug ,did you used to go to the training when sven was there?(i joined this site at the end of his stay)do some still come over to see you or give a nod of the head to say hi
also since pat's goal has he been training like it's put a "spring in his step"getting back to the player who played for the arse but a little slower due to age

sorry doug the questions are about thurday's training

I did go at the latter end of the Sven reign and then we would get inside the fence to stand 1 yards or so behind lines but at least inside.Nobody really came over to speak then. That evolved with the Hughes during the Hughes time and now it's more like the Sven days although Brian Kidd will always say hello and exchange pleastries.And if I ever have a question for Kidd which maybe I have to shout across he has always answered and at times come across to do it. Plus there are a few of the support staff I know a little and often get a chat with them to find out a few things . As you can imagine they are not likely to tell me any secrets but they do know that I wouldnt divulge anything anyway without an explicit ok from them.

As for Vieira I wouldnt really say that goal has put an extra spring in his step but it wouldn't do any harm would it?.But he was injured when he arrived and will take some games to get to his best fitness levels and maybe, barring injury, we will see the best he has to offer from now on.