Training Friday 19/8

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Another longish but mostly gentle session ( excluding the last part).I don't mean gentle in any negative sense as everything is very organised and planned and the players are put through routines that are obviously deemed appropriate for where we are in the season.Everyone present today as expected without Nigel. Razak and Rekik again fully involved.

Plenty of different routines worked through today including one pulling weights in short sprints (some did that yesterday as well) before they moved into a game played mostly in the middle half of a pitch with the objective of releasing a player into the final 3rd for a "touchdown".Quite entertaining watching the movement and skill with that final ball.

Mancini as ever was the centre of everything.He really does seem to see in great detail what goes on.Often stopping the play to speak with individuals it's not always obvious why but my guess is he sees somebody in a poor position or not anticipating a situation as he would expect.All done in a calm way and I am sure taken on board by the players.

The final part today was a full game on a half pitch and unfortunately a few little injuries picked up.Not for me to say who apart from a very painful one picked up by the boss himself. Flattened by Zaba when he got a little close to the touchline and Zaba trod on his foot and followed through to take him out.Probably a 3 match ban for Zaba.

Golas in the game for Milner,Aguero(sweet finish) Silva and at the other end Dzeko,Yaya ( a rebound from an SWP shot off a post),SWP with a great strike and I think Yaya again.Best moment for me was a battle of strength between Sergio and Micah and there was only one winner.The session finished with Mancini holding court in the penalty box with a discussion on dealing with Bolton's corners and free kicks.Organising palyers into their positions but also asking questions and listening to input from the players.That's what it looked like anyway as I couldnt hear a word but interesting watching all the input and pointing being done and it wasn't a short chat.

[Chinners]

Excellent as always DH

I presume Aguero is looking like hes been here years now. Is SWP still giving 110% with a smile on his face despite the transfer rumours?

[lets all have a disco]

Cheers Dougster lad.

A battle of strength you say i bet Micah went on his arse.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Excellent as always DH

I presume Aguero is looking like hes been here years now. Is SWP still giving 110% with a smile on his face despite the transfer rumours?

He sure as hell looks settled quickly.

Yes SWP is SWP and always giving his best with a smile even when clattered today which is par for the course for him.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Cheers Doug

[There's only 1 city!!]

do bridge, bellers, ade and anyone else who isn't in bobby's plan's still train with the first team??

[Douglas Higginbottom]

do bridge, bellers, ade and anyone else who isn't in bobby's plan's still train with the first team??

No. I have seen most of them training with the EDS group at times with the exception of Ade. Somebody told me today that Weiss has asked to train with the young guns rather than the first team squad. Sounds strange to me,not sure what's going on there.

[There's only 1 city!!]

cheers mate!!

[stevefromdonny]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

[roblues]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I could be wrong here, but did we not score twice around one minute after a Swansea corner had been taken?

[stevefromdonny]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I could be wrong here, but did we not score twice around one minute after a Swansea corner had been taken?

no sorry but you are wrong, first was when Swansea went on the attack, Les got in a bit of a tangle but got ball back and passed to David who went on a run, Johnson shoots and Edin scores from parry from goalie, 2nd was the 18 touches for kun to score at back post, 3rd not sure but didn't there goalie get it wrong with a pass and kun gets ball and passes for David to score, or was that for the last goal as goalie made a mistake and ya ya got ball and passed to kun to score his wonder goal. But my point is we have too many of our players in our own area when we are defending corners and free kicks

[roblues]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I could be wrong here, but did we not score twice around one minute after a Swansea corner had been taken?

no sorry but you are wrong, first was when Swansea went on the attack, Les got in a bit of a tangle but got ball back and passed to David who went on a run, Johnson shoots and Edin scores from parry from goalie, 2nd was the 18 touches for kun to score at back post, 3rd not sure but didn't there goalie get it wrong with a pass and kun gets ball and passes for David to score, or was that for the last goal as goalie made a mistake and ya ya got ball and passed to kun to score his wonder goal. But my point is we have too many of our players in our own area when we are defending corners and free kicks

Your description of the second goal is correct, but the 18 touches followed a Swansea corner. The third I don't remember too clearly, the only reason I posted was that I was replaying full match highlights with the goal times in mind and each time I pressed play for these two goals, Swansea were in the process of taking corners. I checked the BBC live text report to make sure I wasn't going mad (I have deleted the full match highlights from my tv)...

70:08 GOAL - David Silva Man City 3 - 0 Swansea
David Silva finds the net with a goal from close in high into the middle of the goal. Man City 3-0 Swansea.

68:56 Joe Allen takes a shot. Vincent Kompany gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Joe Allen, Wayne Routledge produces a right-footed shot from just outside the box that goes wide right of the target.


67:35 GOAL - Sergio Aguero Man City 2 - 0 Swansea
Sergio Aguero finds the back of the net with a goal from inside the six-yard box to the bottom left corner of the goal. Man City 2-0 Swansea.

66:18 Outswinging corner taken by Joe Allen. The ball is swung over by Kemy Agustien, save by Joe Hart.

Anyway, as I say, it wasn't that I disagreed with your point of view on the tactical issue, in fact I think we are fantastic on the break and should leave players forward. Your post just didn't seem to match up with my memory of the game.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I think I might just let the manager decide what's the best way to defend a corner is,as long as he puts some emphasis on breaking from it very quickly if /when we get possession.

[stevefromdonny]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I could be wrong here, but did we not score twice around one minute after a Swansea corner had been taken?

no sorry but you are wrong, first was when Swansea went on the attack, Les got in a bit of a tangle but got ball back and passed to David who went on a run, Johnson shoots and Edin scores from parry from goalie, 2nd was the 18 touches for kun to score at back post, 3rd not sure but didn't there goalie get it wrong with a pass and kun gets ball and passes for David to score, or was that for the last goal as goalie made a mistake and ya ya got ball and passed to kun to score his wonder goal. But my point is we have too many of our players in our own area when we are defending corners and free kicks

Your description of the second goal is correct, but the 18 touches followed a Swansea corner. The third I don't remember too clearly, the only reason I posted was that I was replaying full match highlights with the goal times in mind and each time I pressed play for these two goals, Swansea were in the process of taking corners. I checked the BBC live text report to make sure I wasn't going mad (I have deleted the full match highlights from my tv)...

70:08 GOAL - David Silva Man City 3 - 0 Swansea
David Silva finds the net with a goal from close in high into the middle of the goal. Man City 3-0 Swansea.

68:56 Joe Allen takes a shot. Vincent Kompany gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Joe Allen, Wayne Routledge produces a right-footed shot from just outside the box that goes wide right of the target.


67:35 GOAL - Sergio Aguero Man City 2 - 0 Swansea
Sergio Aguero finds the back of the net with a goal from inside the six-yard box to the bottom left corner of the goal. Man City 2-0 Swansea.

66:18 Outswinging corner taken by Joe Allen. The ball is swung over by Kemy Agustien, save by Joe Hart.

Anyway, as I say, it wasn't that I disagreed with your point of view on the tactical issue, in fact I think we are fantastic on the break and should leave players forward. Your post just didn't seem to match up with my memory of the game.

as i havnt seen any replays [just went to game] i couldnt see from the far end of the ground, but it wasnt just swansea game, its every game, but thats my view on it, i think that we should have players out of pen area

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Thanks Doug, always a pleasure.

[Alioune DVToure]

Doug, can you ask our manager, why oh why does he put all of our players into the penalty area for corners and free kicks, even against Swansea, when the ball was cleared, it came back in. we really do need to have at least 2-3 players out of penalty area so we can break fast or at least get the ball and wait for other players following up. cheers

I could be wrong here, but did we not score twice around one minute after a Swansea corner had been taken?

no sorry but [highlight]you are wrong[/highlight], first was when Swansea went on the attack, Les got in a bit of a tangle but got ball back and passed to David who went on a run, Johnson shoots and Edin scores from parry from goalie, 2nd was the 18 touches for kun to score at back post, 3rd not sure but didn't there goalie get it wrong with a pass and kun gets ball and passes for David to score, or was that for the last goal as goalie made a mistake and ya ya got ball and passed to kun to score his wonder goal. But my point is we have too many of our players in our own area when we are defending corners and free kicks

Your description of the second goal is correct, but the 18 touches followed a Swansea corner. The third I don't remember too clearly, the only reason I posted was that I was replaying full match highlights with the goal times in mind and each time I pressed play for these two goals, Swansea were in the process of taking corners. I checked the BBC live text report to make sure I wasn't going mad (I have deleted the full match highlights from my tv)...

70:08 GOAL - David Silva Man City 3 - 0 Swansea
David Silva finds the net with a goal from close in high into the middle of the goal. Man City 3-0 Swansea.

68:56 Joe Allen takes a shot. Vincent Kompany gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Joe Allen, Wayne Routledge produces a right-footed shot from just outside the box that goes wide right of the target.


67:35 GOAL - Sergio Aguero Man City 2 - 0 Swansea
Sergio Aguero finds the back of the net with a goal from inside the six-yard box to the bottom left corner of the goal. Man City 2-0 Swansea.

66:18 Outswinging corner taken by Joe Allen. The ball is swung over by Kemy Agustien, save by Joe Hart.

Anyway, as I say, it wasn't that I disagreed with your point of view on the tactical issue, in fact I think we are fantastic on the break and should leave players forward. Your post just didn't seem to match up with my memory of the game.

as i havnt seen any replays [just went to game] [highlight]i couldnt see from the far end of the ground,[/highlight] but it wasnt just swansea game, its every game, but thats my view on it, i think that we should have players out of pen area

Don't give us that, Arsene. Just tell him you're sorry for saying he was wrong and let's all move on.

[JonnyAsh]

Good to see Razak and Rekik again fully involved. In my mind they looked as good as any of the youngsters pre-season, together with Suarez. Wonder if they are likely to be this season's Boyata, if you see what I mean?
Also I would be interested to see if Suarez will feature in future together with Assaulin.

[Beefymcfc]

Cheers Doug. Pity you couldn't give us a clue to the team for our Fantasy League.

Ah well.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Cheers Doug. Pity you couldn't give us a clue to the team for our Fantasy League.

Ah well.

The team he "played" with on thursday wasn't together today although they did different stuff today. I would be surprised if it was the team for Bolton though as there were plenty of changes. Tomorrow's training will probably tell more but sadly I won't be there as cricket calls.

[Beefymcfc]

Cheers Doug. Pity you couldn't give us a clue to the team for our Fantasy League.

Ah well.

The team he "played" with on thursday wasn't together today although they did different stuff today. I would be surprised if it was the team for Bolton though as there were plenty of changes. Tomorrow's training will probably tell more but sadly I won't be there as cricket calls.

Oh I see, cricket's a priority then!

Hope you have a good day mate and I'll have to sort my fantasy team out on my own. I wonder if Nasri's free?