Supposedly 2 sessions today but the first was inside work behind closed doors. All about early season testing I am sure so just the reserves on view in the morning. The latest addition to the keepers is Eric Johansen ( brother of Toby who has now left and got a 4 year contract in Spain I think) Eric is younger but is one big unit and I know has been thought to be quality for some time. There was another big unit in the resreves called Razak. No idea if that's the right spelling or where he came from or where he plays but as Kidd mentioned his name to me I must find out more and look out for him.
When I arrived in the afternoon I was greeted with Shay doing some specific work with the kepeer coach and a physio with a lot of emphasis on his shoulders for obvious reasons. Stretching for balls and plenty of diving on crash mats. Good to see Shay out there.About 10 of the reserves were out working as well under the close eye of Platt/Mancini/Kidd and the rest.Good to see that as well as they will no doubt all be involved in the pre season stuff and they need to know them first hand if possible. The only one I know was missing was Guidetti nursing a slight knock.
The first teamers came out and the other lads moved away and we saw much of the usual stuff with warm up's/stretching routines and a number of keep ball and control drills.Some pure running but not that much. The best part is that it was all taking place right in front of the few watchers with no fences getting in the way.Shame that might not be the case at all in the near future as more fencing was being put up around other areas as all this was happening.Good spirits showed up well amongst the group with a few very funny moments that you just had to be there for.
It all finished with a football game on half a pitch and although just pre season training stuff it was great to see Adebayor looking so good. Some of his interplay with Bellers and Stevie was a pleasure to watch and they created and scored some nice goals. For the other team the one who caught my eye was Caicedo. he doesnt have the touch and movement that Ade has but on a couple of occasions he got it just right and finished really well. One of them was a superb control and turn , selling the defender at the same time which he smashed in off the keeper.I just wonder if Mancini might want a closer look at him to see if he can do it when it really matters.Only Vinnie and Zaba missed the football bit as they weren't quite right with some minor thing.
Mancini had watched a lot of the early stuff very closely and towards the end took small groups to work specifically with them whether on defensive shape and working as a unit or with attackers moving the ball around quickly with a finish at the end.Day one had seen very little if any coaching and was all about the boss and the coaches watching the players shake off the cobwebs and start the fitness process but today Mancini was back at it working/coaching on key aspects of how he wants the team to play even with maybe a dozen key players missing.Platt and Kidd kept all the rest of the session moving and seemd to both be fully involved in all that was going on.
Sorry I am late with this but after leaving at nearly 6 I didn't get home till now.
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