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Not a lot today as I decided to do half here and half at the academy match.Only 17 on view today on the first pitch and with one of the curtains down it was good view of that pitch.Immediately after the first warm up and Mancini briefing he took them to another pitch for the pre weekend preparation.

While they were doing that 3 guys were sent over to fix the curtain!! That wasn't nice was it but by the time the team came back over the wind picked up a bit blew the curtain down and all was well. Had to laugh alongside the regular camera guy next to me.The training was regular stuff with big goals for headers only ( Carlos was the only scorer) and the 5 a side nets where Kolarov,Yaya and Sinclair scored the goals.

All competitive stuff without real intensity as you would expect on the day before a game.Then into the game but before that developed into much it was time to get over to Platt Lane for the 18's game.The last thing I saw was Milner and Rodders running around with a physio.The general feeling I got was a team in good spirits and looking forward to the game and from what I saw on the Inside City film that's what came across from yesterday as well.

Sadly we were 3.1 down when I got to Platt Lane and 4.1 with a minute from a soft penalty. Marwood and Vieira watched on and wouldn't have been excited at what we showed.The only saving grace is that we were a very young side but maybe it showed a little more than it should have.We got to their penalty area quite a lot but lacked the power or quality to create real chances while Fulham could easily have scored a few more if Lawlor hadn't made top class saves.

Not a lot of postives for me and the person who stood out most in the game was the ref. He really seemed to like to be centre stage, booked a few people along the way and just seemed an officious git to me.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Not a lot of postives for me and the person who stood out most in the game was the ref. He really seemed to like to be centre stage, booked a few people along the way and just seemed an officious git to me.

Sounds like he'll go a long way. :-)

Thanks for the report, Doug, as always.

What do you think of Lawlor? I have only seen 60 minutes of the rain-sodden Juve game but I liked what I saw from him.

Tokyo Blue wrote:

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Not a lot of postives for me and the person who stood out most in the game was the ref. He really seemed to like to be centre stage, booked a few people along the way and just seemed an officious git to me.

Sounds like he'll go a long way. :-)

Thanks for the report, Doug, as always.

What do you think of Lawlor? I have only seen 60 minutes of the rain-sodden Juve game but I liked what I saw from him.

Actually quite impressed with Lawlor on what I have seen.I think he needs to be louder and the back defending players a little more organised but so far he looks decent.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Tokyo Blue wrote:

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Not a lot of postives for me and the person who stood out most in the game was the ref. He really seemed to like to be centre stage, booked a few people along the way and just seemed an officious git to me.

Sounds like he'll go a long way. :-)

Thanks for the report, Doug, as always.

What do you think of Lawlor? I have only seen 60 minutes of the rain-sodden Juve game but I liked what I saw from him.

Actually quite impressed with Lawlor on what I have seen.I think he needs to be louder and the back defending players a little more organised but so far he looks decent.

I was impressed by what little I saw of him.

Any decent young keeper is not going to spend much time at City though I recon.

It looks to me as if the whole academy is just going through the changeover at the moment, perhaps with individual players being thrown in & evaluated to see if they deserve to be here in the future, as opposed to actually operating in a system.

I have a feeling there will be a lot more players coming in & some of the present bunch going out. Just my impression.

Cheers for the report Doug.

Are our youth teams on the whole a bit shit? Any time I see results from the eds, youth teams etc they seem to have lost or scraped a draw!

Cheers Doug. Is it starting to get a little nippy out there now, flask needed?

HeyMark wrote:Are our youth teams on the whole a bit shit? Any time I see results from the eds, youth teams etc they seem to have lost or scraped a draw!

We don't actually seem to have 'teams' as such at the moment, just different players thrown in for various games at different age levels. I think it's a huge trial to see who stands out.

Ted Hughes wrote:

HeyMark wrote:Are our youth teams on the whole a bit shit? Any time I see results from the eds, youth teams etc they seem to have lost or scraped a draw!

We don't actually seem to have 'teams' as such at the moment, just different players thrown in for various games at different age levels. I think it's a huge trial to see who stands out.

At all the age groups I watch ( 18's,19's and 21's ) they seem to be mostly very young. Some of it at the older end is because we have loaned quite a few out but there are also plenty injured at the moment.All this makes it hard to assess the teams but I would like to think there is good opportunity and development for some.

The key ones for me are Rekik, Lopes ,Pozo, Bossaerts and Ntcham who are all playing well beyond their age.Plenty of the others who have been around for while imo will not break through but are essential for us to even have teams.

Just found out the player I didn't know is Vlad Marin

Beefymcfc wrote:Cheers Doug. Is it starting to get a little nippy out there now, flask needed?

Usually ok at Carrington but something needed at Hyde

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Just found out the player I didn't know is Vlad Marin

A quick search on the internet finds this article, one among many on a similar theme:

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/ ... id-3431241

Cheers Sir.
Could You made up a guess on whether You - not Mancini - You as You were the manager, would give a risky nod at Dave.
I mean, fit but not worth risking is legs, neither for a 2nd half impact, bench and hopefully impact or, a most improbable bet on the starting XI?

apologize for my incoherent wording. funny is that I'm absolutely sober.
just slightly depressed and pissed off.