Those who didn't start were out today with 5 EDS players making up 17 outfield players.The 5 being Suarez,Assulin,Rekik,Helan and Scpuzzi.AJ not there but Nigel was even though he didn't take part in the full session. Looked like Nasri had no bandage of any kind on his left hand which was good to see.Yaya was wearing the same boots as Aguero ( same colour anyway)and when he limped out early I reckon he had the same blisters as Aguero got as well. Soon sorted and he was fine.
After an initial jog around they had a drill all about first time passing,short and longish which showed a very good touch throughout.Then onto a team pass and move session which is where Nigel left the group to concentrate on his own one to one with a coach. The EDS lads left for a while as Mancini took the team for a work out and spent quite a bit of time working them in formation.I don't know what he was saying but I expect quite a bit about issues from the Fulham game,how they happened and how to make sure they don't again.
Plenty of passing and moving the team around ,keeping the right balance and shape even as they went for goal. They struggled to score though as Stu taylor was in great form.One or two very specific things worked on as well which may show up in matches soon.I will be watching.Right at the end of this part Mancini did a little extra work just with the defenders before the full group had a match which was 9 a side. And it was a very competitive game.
A few stood out for me,Edin with some very good running and even though he didnt score his touch was really good and he did set up plenty of great situations.From one Asulin will still be wondering how he didnt score but at least he made up for it by scoring a more difficult one just after and again it was from great work by Edin. That equalised a good goal by Milner.It followed great work from Suarez but it was mostly about Milner's great movement and first time finish.
Plenty of close things but defenders mostly winning the battles and none more so than Rekik. I still cant believe he is only 16 (2/12/94 is that real?) Plenty of quality moments but not many goals and then ,when I think it was golden goal time, Silva wriggled free down the left,his shot was blocked and a rebound came off the post for Barry to knock it in but it was fiercely disputed.I am not sure whether it was for offside or the ball going out but the goal was given by the refereeing coaches.
As one or two walked off the rest gathered around a video camera that had been filming the whole game and at ground level with a good angle on what had happened.It took a little while but I think it clearly showed the defending team were correct and the goal should not have stood.No doubt there will be plenty of ribbing going on about that one for some time.I got the feeling that the winning team were not very gracious in their success! Really funny to watch but it does reflect that the training games are taken seriously even if it's just for bragging rights for a short while.
All training sessions are videod but today I think there was at least one extra camera so I wondered whther something might appear on the OS in the near future.
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