An afternoon session today and the first I saw of any action was David Platt trying overhead kicks from crosses by Lombardo.He had been out early setting cones,mannequins,nets etc.Mancini came out later with Kidd and in deep discussion as ever.
When the players came out, missing were Richards,Balotelli,Bridge,Silva,Nigel and Kolarov. The latter was inside doing some work and I was told walking fine now and his recovery was going well but no actual dates mentioned. I didn't get any news at all about Balotelli/ Bridge/Nigel or Silva but Micah did come out later for some 1 to 1 running work.
They split into 2 groups at the start with one lot doing a mini bleep test and the others some fairly gentle ball work and some other fitness routines.It was noticeable that while they were training there were up to 13 coaching /physio staff watching or working with them.The group I was closest too were working in pairs and again SWP was with Vieira and again the banter was excellent.
After 10 or 15 minutes they changed and 4 went to the hill!!! Jo/Ade/AJ and Abdul Razzak had that priviledge whilst another small group did some strength work using the mega elastic bands around the waist .That group was SWP/PV/RSC/JL. Really funny when SWP beat PV in a race at the end.
Whilst all this was going on it was noticeable Kidd was having a little word with individuals and Mancini was also spreading the word that when they moved onto the football next that they should take it easy.So onto some football on half a pitch and an early goal from AJ. Top goal it was too after a quick one two and excellent change of pace. Kidd was full of praise for him and it was noticeable that Kidd was ,to my ears anyway, the most vocal coach of them all during this session.
Ade then scored a great equaliser with a bender that started outside the post and although I wouldnt say today he was a world beater like last week he did look very focussed and working hard.The final goal was set up by AJ and scored by Yaya sliding in at the back post.Then the team from saturday went in and Mancini took the rest behind a fence to work on some attacking plays.
The 10 he had are not likley to be the team for Thursday but were:
Boateng,Razzak,Lescott,Cunningham
SWP,MJ,PV,AJ
Jo,Ade
Interesting watching this short session as it was all about attacking play ,quick passing, good movement and almost always overlapping full backs. Mancini was right in the middle of it all and always asking for pace and regularly talking to individuals about their movement into the box to meet the cross.
Back after that to a 7 a side match ( still 12 coaches) but this included Lombardo who played. Most notable things in this were:
brilliant block by SWP when Jo had to score!
a few brilliant blocks by Cunningham
Jo making missing look easy
AJ getting hurt in a challenge as he shot ( seemed ok after a while)
an unbelievable double save from Stu Taylor ( Montgomeryish for those that remember that far back)
And that was about that. On the far side a panel of the fence had been broken down and a security guy was around before it was fixed and saying that plenty of balls had been disappearing and they were trying to do something about it.They were aware that some scum fans turned up just to nick balls if they could. Apparently either Friday or Saturday two oiks had legged it with a ball and 2 City guys had set off to stop them getting away. The people in the farm spotted what was happening and joined in with a great pincer movement.They got the ball back!
If you remember Brandon ( Les Chapman's assistant in the kit room who did the dance on video last year) he was out there today as ball boy chasing them all over the place so they don't get forgotten and become tempting to anyone behind the fencing.I don't think it was his favourite way of spending an hour.
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