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A routine session today made special when Beefy arrived for a look. Good to see you there Wayne and to say I was impressed by your tree climbing would be an understatement. Plenty of other watchers too but none with the monkey like talent you displayed! There were 5 in one tree at one point.

Anyway on the training ground Kolarov was out very early and before the others went off to the hill for a little light work.He must be still working on his core fitness because he has been full training now for a while but seemingly not quite ready yet for a start.Mario also out early and to me seems to be raring to go.

Right at the start Mancini got them all together for an initial briefing which is something he does a bit more than he used to.Nothing special in the early work as it was much the same old routines and yet again they seemed happy and having a good time. As ever Mancini took a team away for some work and it was a different 11 to yesterday so he is trying to keep me guessing but he wasn't helped that Nigel finished his session early.My guess is Nigel will be fine though. Mancini went through some standard attacking routines and finished with some interesting free kicks.Whether we see them at Wolves or not will be interesting. ( cant really better Garrido's there last year for me)

All back together after that for a final game on a 2/3rds pitch.Not many goals scored in this with defences mostly on top. Lescott I thought was very good and one tackle on Ade was exceptional but Boyata wouldnt be too pleased with one bad touch that gave Ade a tap in. A few of the regulars stayed out for some more shooting practice ( Ade/Mario/AJ/Kolarov but it didnt last long today as I think they were all off home and then back again for the trip later to the Wolves hotel.

Do u think mario and ade will make a stast as a pair this week?

Thanks Doug.. i wonder if Beefy will be offering a report too?

So was that a completely different 11 today than yesterday, or just some changes?

Also how has Ade seemed this last week.. does he look like he is still pushing to lodge a place?

Cheers doug, I take there was no sign of M Johnson?

Thanks as always Doug :)

Sad to hear Kolarov is not ready yet, was hoping to see him out against wolves, guess we'll see him on top of his game week after:-)

brite blu sky wrote:Thanks Doug.. i wonder if Beefy will be offering a report too?

So was that a completely different 11 today than yesterday, or just some changes?

Also how has Ade seemed this last week.. does he look like he is still pushing to lodge a place?

Changes basically because NDJ wasn't involved.
Ade has seemed ok. I seemed to recall a session a few weeks back where he was unreal and then didnt get selected.This week he has been ok and worked quite well so maybe he will get selected.

broken record question time.....where was the man who is "back in full training yesterday"/howard hughes/sore toe boy

ant london wrote:broken record question time.....where was the man who is "back in full training yesterday"/howard hughes/sore toe boy

Invisible

ant london wrote:broken record question time.....where was the man who is "back in full training yesterday"/howard hughes/sore toe boy

Rumour has it that MJ passed away sometime last year...his ghost has been spotted from time to time in Carrington, Manchester.

Thanks for having me Doug, I enjoyed my day out at Carrington, especially the chance to get back to my youth (if ever I needed to). I've go to say, what a friendly bunch you all are (which I expected) and how switched on you are. As I was walking from the car there was a bloke with 2 kids and a set of ladders who I automatically thought was you, it actually turned out to be DadnLad off Bluemoon and he give me a decent brief on what to expect and where to be positioned for the 'Behind the Scenes' vantages. Oh, and those 5 people in the tree, there was actually 8 of us, me and 7 little whipper-snappers from a local footie team; I held them at bay though and they knew who was 'King of the Swingers', I tell you.

Anyway, it was quite interesting to see the set-up and even better to see how the players interact with each other. Every one of them seem to get on real well but you could see that there were certain clique's within the groups who would mainly shout at each other such as Micah, Mario and Jerome. This was more evident once they moved to the half-pitch continuing the Keep-Ball session where there was a lot of shouting for the ball and I was particularly impressed with Dave's movement and ball control. Also, Mario's greediness to put the ball in the back of the net, nearly everytime he had it he was trying to put it away; funny point was when he tried a couple of shots into an open net from about 25 yards and both went well over, one of them breaching the 40 foot high net which just kept going. I'm sure there was snow on it when it came down! During this was when Nige stopped and had a word with the trainer, he then give it a few more minutes before walking back out of site with a trainer; he didn't seem happy with something but I couldn't say what.

After that, Douglas (with his military planned movement) gave me the nod that they were moving with what was probably the match team to the full pitched enclosed area where I had to dismount from my natural ladder and find a new leafy covering to ascend. I actually thought they'd be playing a game with tactics thrown in but it started off with some set pieces where Mancio set the lads up to try a few new moves. The first one did look good once the players knew their responsibilities and it will be interesting to see if it's used in future games. The second was a little bit more subtle and I'd have thought that most defences would have it covered by their normal protocol's; we'll just have to see eh.

What I did find funny about this was Mancio looking through his play-book to ensure each player was in the exact position he required, looking down at loose pieces of paper thrying to work out which play was which. The lads waiting around looked bemused that he didn't have this one off the top of his head and I can only guess that this routine was formed off what he's seen off the video's from Wolves games. Oh, and what is it about David Platt? Brian Kidd came over and said hello to all the guy's and had a little natter with Doug, yet Platt came over to set the nets and seemed to be wanted to be seen as the Angry Man, not letting on and snapping away at the net fixings as if he wanted to take them round the back and give them a slap.

When they finished that session, I decided that it was time for me to leave as the kids were now getting a little heavy on the ground so I hopped off my purch once the kids had descended and bid my farewell's to DadnLad, couldn't see Doug who had already gone up to watch the final session, so apologies there Big Man, I don't like to come across as ignorant; a think NMT had already left also. So, for my first visit it was a good experience and I'll definatley visit again. Next time I'll take the Vid Camera and try to get some footage for those who cannot make it, the visual experience is sure better than imagining it from Doug's reports (no disrespect to you there Douglas), and hopefully the little gibbons won't disturb my enjoyment of [strike]climbing tree's[/strike] watching the session.

Cheers all.

Wow, a double report today. Well in Doug and Beefy!

Platt's nearly always like that but all the others at least say hello.That was until two days ago when he actually had a decent word but then it was training in the open when he was very close and I actually asked him something direct.

It was weird with Mancini's book of plans and how careful he was with who stood where. He usually does it without referring to his notes.

Two of us there and we both forgot to mention it's time for the yellow balls to be used in matches and they were out for the first time today.Yellow with big black markings.

Thanks to both beefy and Douglas. It is always good to clear out some of the media shit with a good dose of truth. Ta

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Two of us there and we both forgot to mention it's time for the yellow balls to be used in matches and they were out for the first time today.Yellow with big black markings.

I lay the blame firmly at your door there mate, I would have I known? Nice Balls though ;-)

Funny as well 'cos I didn't realise the Red/Pink bib signified that the player could play for both teams, I thought AJ was being singled out to do extra work!

Another thing, I was quite impressed with one of the coaches doing keepy-ups with his hands in his pockets, turned out to be Mancio on closer inspection; should've known really. He reminded me of a little kid near a football, not being able to resist a touch or a few flicks. Quality.

Anyone putting up a poll for preferred report?

DH - classic, hits all points of interest that we would expect from a pro
Beefy - new, exciting raw and almost edgy.

Good work lads. I'm so excited to hear AK is almost ready to take the left back spot and make it his.

Nige wrote:Anyone putting up a poll for preferred report?

DH - classic, hits all points of interest that we would expect from a pro
Beefy - new, exciting raw and almost edgy.

Good work lads. I'm so excited to hear AK is almost ready to take the left back spot and make it his.

Ha ha ha, that's the modern way to write 'Long-winded and Boring' is it ;-)

I enjoyed the experience and was a little excited about putting my memoires down, but alas, I'm now offically retired from report writing and will leave it to the Master. I will however be climbing more tree's in the future, I'd forgotten what I was missing. I might even don the cam gear next time and see if I can blend in without being seen; Predator's got nowt on me you know!

Another funny moment for me was when I was in a tree and a young lad walked underneath and said 'I might have known'. I'd just got him a position with him starting his job on Sunday. God knows what he must've been thinking to himself, hopefully it was 'I want to be exactly like him', but I doubt it!

Beefymcfc wrote:

Nige wrote:Anyone putting up a poll for preferred report?

DH - classic, hits all points of interest that we would expect from a pro
Beefy - new, exciting raw and almost edgy.

Good work lads. I'm so excited to hear AK is almost ready to take the left back spot and make it his.

Ha ha ha, that's the modern way to write 'Long-winded and Boring' is it ;-)

I enjoyed the experience and was a little excited about putting my memoires down, but alas, I'm now offically retired from report writing and will leave it to the Master. I will however be climbing more tree's in the future, I'd forgotten what I was missing. I might even don the cam gear next time and see if I can blend in without being seen; Predator's got nowt on me you know!

Sounds like you would be disappointed if they don't train behind the fences so you don't have to climb trees.