Beefymcfc wrote:Eh Doug (see what I did there - ADUG....ADUG, anyway), no need to tell you how much people think of you with regards to these reports and the dedication you show to them and this board, however I do have a question that I would like you to answer with your personal thoughts, if you don't mind:
As you are the man on the spot, and have been for a while now, how as the training changed from the Hughes era and do you think it is better, and more productive?
Cheers in advance our kid.
Someone else asked that Beefy and it really isn't easy to answer. Partly because it's a bit early to say but also because i havent actually watched that much since Mancini came in because of the weather and the fencing.
Taking that into account here's a few thoughts :)
Right at the start he will have been clear that the problem ( from looking at resulats and of course listening to informed opinion) was the defence. So he focussed pretty well all his initial work on the defence. Not rocket science I am sure is the cry but there again how come Hughes hadn't solved it? He didn't from what I saw spend loads of time on the training pitch working at defensive situations , hitting crosses and corners in etc but from what I have seen he has:
1) got the full backs sitting in position more.Hardly at all have we seen the full backs getting far forward and leaving gaps at the back so that when we lose the ball we are still in good shape.
2) He spent a lot of time personally with the whole squad walking around the field with them around him and simply talking to them about shape. About how to press the ball as a team and no doubt how every player in the team is vital to that and not just those nearest the ball. I think Gareth Barry mentioned this approach somewhere.
3) From corners we seem to now have a zonal approach rather than a man marking approach.
Of course it's so far so good. We havent let a goal in yet and not really looked like it either.With the quality we have going forward we have been able to leave it to them to score the necessary goals BUT it's early days and we have only played Stoke ( who were poor on the day) Wolves who basically didn't have an attack on the night and Boro who don't have an attack at all.
Plus we have had some good fortune along the way with deflected goals , contentious off side decisions and a Benjani goal ( maybe that last one being the luckiest of all!)
I don't think for a minute Hughes told the full backs to race forward and leave gaps at the back.No doubt at all that when some race forward others will have had instruction to cover the spaces but the bottom line was that it hadnt' worked very well as we all know. Add to that players were making crazy individual mistakes that havent happened in the last 3 matches or should I say we havent been punished for. Again I say lets wait a little longer before we go OTT. I would like to see us play better teams and beat then too and teams with more ability from set pieces to see how we cope with zonal defence.
I have seen us work on the training pitch on 2 occasions on defending corners with Mancini. Maybe he has done it 10 times though and talked about it a lot as well , I wouldn't know.
2 other things on the training specifics. First they don't seem to do the same amount of warming up and stretching before getting into anything serious. Plus there have been many times I have watched as players have been out there in freezing conditions but doing virtually nothing. Again I stress I haven't been there anything like all the time they have trained but this has been noticeable to me.I am no fitness coach but it made me fear they might get a few strains and the like.
The other thing is how little competitive , intense training they have done with a ball. Mancini's priorities were in defence so this wouldnt be a great surprise but it is something that has stood out to me. Apart from 1or 2 brief ( 1 today) exercises there has been little competitive football played when I have been there.
Is it better , more productive some will say look at results so clearly yes to a point but we will know better in a month.