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Bit colder today but all out there except Kolo and RSC I think.Tough to tell early on as so many are so wrapped up it's hard to see who some are. Micah was completely covered with gloves ,balaclava ,hat the full works.

Gentle warm up stuff was followed by a warm up passing game for all but 3 of the players.Tevez,Ade and Zaba were separate and working with a physio but as we are only Thursday before a Sunday game I am sure at least Carlos and Zaba will be fine. After this session they all moved away to do some specific exercises and that's where Zaba and Tevez went in. A lone cameraman took about 10 more minutes before he asked me if Tevez had gone in! He was lost then because although he could still take long distance pictures I don't think he had much of a clue who he was taking pictures of.

After the exercises they started an 11 a side game in half a pitch where nothing much of note happened beyond an excellent Micah goal.Mancini stopped that for some more exercises and then they came back for another session of pass and move.Seemed to me plenty of care being taken on the pure fitness issues as I think Mancini was working very closely with the sports science guys, not just on what they did but on how long each session lasted.

Then to finish it was back to a football game and this one had some real bite to it. Plenty of tackles flying in and bodies going all over the place. First Yaya a knock, Nigel was sent flying, Micah was taken out by Kolarov ( Nigel scored from the pen). I think Yaya took another heavy one but all in all the players were taking it well while I was thinking the whistle should be blown for full time before somebody really got hurt.Mario got a hell of a body check which clearly hurt at the time but good to see hin hit the deck and get up quickly.The final goal came as a result of another free kick given away.It was taken quickly ,deflected onto the bar and there was Micah again to knock the rebound in to the adulation of his teammates.

Unfortunately there was one injury just before the finish and it was SWP>hopefully just a contact injury which settles quickly,Ironically it was a pure accident rather than the result of any sort of tackle ,atleast from what I saw of it.As I left Mario,milner and Kolarov were just setting up for some free kick practice.

Great report as usual Doug! Many thanks!

Cheers Doug. You should have pointed to SWP and told the camerman 'that one's Tevez' for a laugh

Smashing that. Cheers Doug.

Chinners wrote:Cheers Doug. You should have pointed to SWP and told the camerman 'that one's Tevez' for a laugh

He had gone by that time anyway but you are right I should have given him the wrong player.

Micah was completely covered with gloves ,balaclava ,hat the full works.

Are you sure it wasnt Mario?

Nice one Doug. Thanks for the report.

Beefymcfc wrote:[scroll]YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! NIGE SCORES!!!![/scroll]

hahaha yes he did but he does regularly from the spot. Don't think I have ever seen him miss a pen.

Cheers as usual Doug, I do think it's about time that you are let in on a permanent basis through the front door

Thanks Doug.
Hope you've dicovered the remedial qualities of mulled wine (1 min in microwave) on days such as this.
Happy Xmas to you.

Doug you are top notch, I read your posts every day and love this little insight to City I cannot get otherwise living in Northern Ireland. Much much appreciated mate, your efforts are greatly appreciated by me and many others on this forum.

On a lighter note I propose we let you have Christmas Day off.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year. The future is blue.

citoeast wrote:Doug you are top notch, I read your posts every day and love this little insight to City I cannot get otherwise living in Northern Ireland. Much much appreciated mate, your efforts are greatly appreciated by me and many others on this forum.

On a lighter note I propose we let you have Christmas Day off.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year. The future is blue.

Cheers :) I am told they are meeting at Carrington at 3pm Christmas day to travel up to Newcastle.The timing sounds a bit out but I sure as hell won't be there.

Cheers for that Doug.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

citoeast wrote:Doug you are top notch, I read your posts every day and love this little insight to City I cannot get otherwise living in Northern Ireland. Much much appreciated mate, your efforts are greatly appreciated by me and many others on this forum.

On a lighter note I propose we let you have Christmas Day off.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year. The future is blue.

Cheers :) I am told they are meeting at Carrington at 3pm Christmas day to travel up to Newcastle.The timing sounds a bit out but I sure as hell won't be there.

slacker



;0)

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

citoeast wrote:Doug you are top notch, I read your posts every day and love this little insight to City I cannot get otherwise living in Northern Ireland. Much much appreciated mate, your efforts are greatly appreciated by me and many others on this forum.

On a lighter note I propose we let you have Christmas Day off.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year. The future is blue.

Cheers :) I am told they are meeting at Carrington at 3pm Christmas day to travel up to Newcastle.The timing sounds a bit out but I sure as hell won't be there.

That's a bit harsh, no time for dessert; I'd be gutted. At least it gives them chance to open their pressies though.

*Token 'how was MJ looking?' question*

^^^ See above.

twosips wrote:*Token 'how was MJ looking?' question*

^^^ See above.

As it happens i actually think MJ is looking quite fit at the mo.( touching wood). It cannot be far off him getting some time in a game ( resreve game) and possibly a loan so that he can find out where he really is up to and what he is capable of.

Probably hard to gauge, but how does he come across technically? does he still have that graceful powerful stride? That ability to turn out of tight situations and make it look like he always has loads of time on the ball? That deceptive box to box pace?

twosips wrote:Probably hard to gauge, but how does he come across technically? does he still have that graceful powerful stride? That ability to turn out of tight situations and make it look like he always has loads of time on the ball? That deceptive box to box pace?

The one thing he has clearly retained is handling tight situations and keeping the ball. He has good awareness of what's around him and I know pre Mancini how impressed they were at that part of his game. As for graceful stride and box to box pace I cant say as they never practice on anything like on a full size pitch. It's always 5 a side type situations which is why he really needs game to time with the EDS and maybe on loan. I think from what I do see that his stamina has been improving and he has now been full training long enough for the injury to be a thing of the past