Went along today instead of watching the academy side batter Wolves 6.1. Ah well cant get it right every time but it was a lovely warm,sunny,dry day at Carrington so all's good.A bit down on numbers today with the odd niggle around but good to see Micah out jogging and clearly not far away from coming back.Joe Hart today was wearing some new all black gear which he said kept him very warm. Waterproof as well but it must have been very lightweight stuff.No doubt pictures will appear on the OS as the dedicated Sharon was out there early on getting soaked through.
All ths usual jogging stretching and fitness routines early on.Mario missed a little bit of this as he had to go back into the changing room.Not sure 100% what for but he did have new headgear on when he returned. He had started with a strange looking balaclava type thing but seemingly with only a slit for the eyes.Milner as ever in shorts but today Nedum was also there in shorts.
A short session of pass/move followed and then into another area for more fitness work before Mancini got them out onto a full pitch for some Chelsea preparation. Often this involves setting a team up and working on a mixture of attacking and defensive situations.Today though it was more of working on positional stuff like he had concentrated on so much when he first arrived.All the players ( 16 I think) lined up in their normal positions ,which meant plenty of doubling up,and the whole focus was on listening to Mancini as he had the ball in all sorts of different positions and made sure al the players knew their roles.
I expect it was all about the Chelsea game. It wasnt a long session but interesting to watch even though the ball was basically not used.Then back across for more of the pass/move stuff before the finale of a 9 a side game.Bridge and Nedum had started with the group but then were left out of the tactical session with Mancini and actually went inside before the game started.Included in it though were Suaraz and Roman.
Although a good game I would say it didn't have the intensity I have often seen in the past. Maybe the result was a few more goals than normal. An early gem from Milner might have been the best of the lot but it was good to see Mario looking in good nick but also a ferocious cross shot from Edin finished it all off.Suarez and Roman fitted in very well showing very good control and touch.Suarez played centrally with Roman wide right and both worked well with Silva and Mario.
Just thinking back to the under 18's great win,it was done without probably their best two players (at least) in Suarez and Rekik who was training with the EDS today.
Word on the extra fencing is that it was to up this week but had to be delayed due to the strong winds. Certainly before Christmas though.I still live in hope for a pass for a christmas present.
The mancityfans.net football forum
The BEST FORUM in all the land and all the world
