Are we ready?

[Soulboy]

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

 

[redmizzle]

In terms of the players we need to get in and those we need to move out, we may not be quite ready yet but i feel we're ready mentally, especially on the back of yesterday's defeat.

 

[blueinsa]

So many questions......

Big week coming up in that new arrivals have to happen and the squad has to find the 50% fitness/attitude that was missing yesterday.

Despite Mancini wanting all business done early, the reality of the situation re the type of players we are after always meant that it would go right down to the wire for some of them and because of that, you are always playing catch up at best, and left with egg on faces and still short of players if you miss out.

I have no concerns that the attitude and fitness will be on show next Monday but i worry that we will still be short in key areas.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

I think your OP raises all our concerns, the real disappointment is that as a club we have made a lot of progress over the last 2 seasons and yesterday was like watching 'typical' city of old, as supporters none of us want to go back there. I don't mind the defeat yesterday, but that utterly gutless abject performance was sad to see.

 

[Blue Elmo]

You could only answer the question as to whether we are ready to take glory and win the league , when we are fully fit and half way through the season . If you ask the same question again in December , you will get a more certain and accurate answer.

 

[u2fme2]

no, we lookded a good yard shorter than them yesterday

 

[BobKowalski]

Yep pretty much.

Some of the players will get some more gametime on Weds and with us not playing until Monday it gives us a bit more time to prepare for the first game. Squad looks pretty tight. Pre season seems to have gone well aside from a nasty kick in the pants yesterday which will have banished any cockiness and reminded everyone that to win games you need to be on it 100% for 90+ minutes so yeah feeling pretty good about the season right now.

 

[Anonymous]

There's a couple of things here for me.

Firstly, as fans, we hugely underestimated them yesterday. I can remember chuckling to myself when Jones & Cleverley came on and thinking "bag of wank, game over!" How fecking wrong can you be?

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of old would have took this defeat into the season and crumbled like so much old, white dog shit. However, we are a new City now and are made of much stronger stuff than that. Yes, we fucked up royally yesterday, but I am so confident in the team and the manager after what I saw as a whole last season - along with the signing of Aguero, Savic and Clichy and whoever else may come in - that I genuinely believe yesterday was an untimely and nasty blip.

I honestly cannot envisage those mistakes being repeated in the season proper, so am not overly concerned.

 

[Mugatu]

No, we're absolutely not ready. It's clear that players are tired and / or lacking fitness, they look like they need more work on the training ground to get back into the swing of things, Mancini still has some work to do on formation, and new players coming in will need time too.

I think it will be a good season but I'm foreseeing a slow start unfortunately, and you can't afford that in the Premier League. I see us finishing second or 3rd due to that slow start.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

I really thought we looked coherant and sharp after the previous friendly, but there's no doubt Sunday was a shock. We had 11 players out there with miles more quality than the 11 they had, yet they made us look second best. I'm disappointed that the confidence I sensed throughout the club has taken a big knock.

All the old problems were there. Same old same old. A team greater than the sum of their parts beating a team lesser than the sum of their parts. A manager seemingly unable to put right the problems on the park. And very worrying the players looked tired. That would suggest poor preperation.

It was only a dress rehearsal, and I don't think we could play much worse to be honest. The important games are yet to come. I'm really hopeful it was a blip.

 

[zeven]

There's a couple of things here for me.

Firstly, as fans, we hugely underestimated them yesterday. I can remember chuckling to myself when Jones & Cleverley came on and thinking "bag of wank, game over!" How fecking wrong can you be?

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of old would have took this defeat into the season and crumbled like so much old, white dog shit. However, we are a new City now and are made of much stronger stuff than that. Yes, we fucked up royally yesterday, but I am so confident in the team and the manager after what I saw as a whole last season - along with the signing of Aguero, Savic and Clichy and whoever else may come in - that I genuinely believe yesterday was an untimely and nasty blip.

I honestly cannot envisage those mistakes being repeated in the season proper, so am not overly concerned.

i agree with all you said except the bold! better it happend now than when it matters. now the players are well grounded on earth again and might fight to their death in ALL games forward.

 

[Anonymous]

There's a couple of things here for me.

Firstly, as fans, we hugely underestimated them yesterday. I can remember chuckling to myself when Jones & Cleverley came on and thinking "bag of wank, game over!" How fecking wrong can you be?

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of old would have took this defeat into the season and crumbled like so much old, white dog shit. However, we are a new City now and are made of much stronger stuff than that. Yes, we fucked up royally yesterday, but I am so confident in the team and the manager after what I saw as a whole last season - along with the signing of Aguero, Savic and Clichy and whoever else may come in - that I genuinely believe yesterday was an untimely and nasty blip.

I honestly cannot envisage those mistakes being repeated in the season proper, so am not overly concerned.

i agree with all you said except the bold! better it happend now than when it matters. now the players are well grounded on earth again and might fight to their death in ALL games forward.

Nasty and untimely as it was at Wembley and against the swamp donkeys.

 

[Blue Tooth]

Based on the game you would have to say no we are not...not yet...that said I think Utd are more ready this year than in previous seasons...i think fergie is pushing for a flying start to the season because he knows how competitive it will be...will that affect their normal end of season push?? or will it make them the team to catch?? I think we will be fine 3 or 4 games in and if we can keep pace with Utd for the first 10 games or so we'll do fine.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

The day after we beat Bolton and the season finished in May I thought about what we needed to improve for next season. The number one thing I thought we needed was another creative/attacking midfielder, someone who had pace and could take us from defence to attack on a quick counter attack (espcially for away games against top teams where we struggled to have shots let alone pick up points!), someone to take the burden off Silva, somone who could work with Silva to push us to another level, someone who wouldn't leave us lost when Silva is not on the pitch. Samir Nasri is that player for me, moreso than Sneijder. Nasri is younger, quicker, stronger, not as injury prone and has played in the Prem. I didn't - and still don't - think we'll challenge for the title without this player because we are too slow, too predictable and too unadventurous against the other top teams to take points off them (mainly away from home).

I also thought we needed a left back (got), and number two (don't know a jot about who we've signed tbh, but got).

Oh and also to desperately get rid of the deadwood, the trouble causers/moaners and the constantly injured (Bellamy, Adebayor, Tevez, Jo, Santa Cruz, MJohnson... the younger players who aren't good enough). We haven't really done this neither.

Plus I was alarmingly concerned about the level of match fitness we showed in the Community Shield! I couldn't believe the lack of speed off the mark, lack of recovery after sprints, lack of sharpness of control and in the mind, the lazy and lethargic sticking legs out to control the ball and lunges into tackles instead of quick steps on the toes to move quickly across the ground, the lack of movement around the pitch... we looked like we were in the middle of pre-season, not 8 days away from the start of the season!

I look back over pre-season and we played three American teams early on which would have been good work-outs in full match situations. But from there we had the Dublin tournament against a NorthernPremier/IsthmianLeague standard Airtricity XI and an Inter team bereft of first XI players and who were three weeks behind us in terms of pre-season; then yesterdays game at Wembley. For me, we needed another game in there against a fitter and sterner opposition. Or to have spread the Dublin tournament out over three days and played the first team Friday and Sunday (I don't see why the EDS had a game, they'd had a string of pre-season games themselves). I'm actually glad there are internationals this week as it's another game under the belts of the players, and I'm usually strongly opposed to this game in the week leading up to the start of the season!

I can't fathom how we'd be so unfit with 8 days to go. I was actually shocked! I know we're a slow and methodical team in the middle of the season but that took it to another level!<br /><br />-- Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:40 pm --<br /><br />

There's a couple of things here for me.

Firstly, as fans, we hugely underestimated them yesterday. I can remember chuckling to myself when Jones & Cleverley came on and thinking "bag of wank, game over!" How fecking wrong can you be?

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of old would have took this defeat into the season and crumbled like so much old, white dog shit. However, we are a new City now and are made of much stronger stuff than that. Yes, we fucked up royally yesterday, but I am so confident in the team and the manager after what I saw as a whole last season - along with the signing of Aguero, Savic and Clichy and whoever else may come in - that I genuinely believe yesterday was an untimely and nasty blip.

I honestly cannot envisage those mistakes being repeated in the season proper, so am not overly concerned.

But do you not remember Cleverly when he played for Wigan last season with that McCarthy in midfield, we won 1-0 but they were the better team in the second half and them two were the best players on the pitch that day. and do you not remember when Chelsea last won the title but played Blackburn away and lost, Phil Jones was the best player on the pitch that day. I certaiy didn't underestimate these lads and cringe when I see threads in here where people slag the Rags off for making shit signings this summer. Some people are clueless!

 

[cibaman]

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

I really thought we looked coherant and sharp after the previous friendly, but there's no doubt Sunday was a shock. We had 11 players out there with miles more quality than the 11 they had, yet they made us look second best. I'm disappointed that the confidence I sensed throughout the club has taken a big knock.

All the old problems were there. Same old same old. A team greater than the sum of their parts beating a team lesser than the sum of their parts. A manager seemingly unable to put right the problems on the park. And very worrying the players looked tired. That would suggest poor preperation.

It was only a dress rehearsal, and I don't think we could play much worse to be honest. The important games are yet to come. I'm really hopeful it was a blip.

It might suggest poor preparation for the CS, doesnt mean its poor preparation for the season. Could just be that United eased off in training last week whereas City kept the conditioning work going for a few extra days.

 

[Soulboy]

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

The day after we beat Bolton and the season finished in May I thought about what we needed to improve for next season. The number one thing I thought we needed was another creative/attacking midfielder, someone who had pace and could take us from defence to attack on a quick counter attack (espcially for away games against top teams where we struggled to have shots let alone pick up points!), someone to take the burden off Silva, somone who could work with Silva to push us to another level, someone who wouldn't leave us lost when Silva is not on the pitch. Samir Nasri is that player for me, moreso than Sneijder. Nasri is younger, quicker, stronger, not as injury prone and has played in the Prem. I didn't - and still don't - think we'll challenge for the title without this player because we are too slow, too predictable and too unadventurous against the other top teams to take points off them (mainly away from home).

I also thought we needed a left back (got), and number two (don't know a jot about who we've signed tbh, but got).

Oh and also to desperately get rid of the deadwood, the trouble causers/moaners and the constantly injured (Bellamy, Adebayor, Tevez, Jo, Santa Cruz, MJohnson... the younger players who aren't good enough). We haven't really done this neither.

Plus I was alarmingly concerned about the level of match fitness we showed in the Community Shield! I couldn't believe the lack of speed off the mark, lack of recovery after sprints, lack of sharpness of control and in the mind, the lazy and lethargic sticking legs out to control the ball and lunges into tackles instead of quick steps on the toes to move quickly across the ground, the lack of movement around the pitch... we looked like we were in the middle of pre-season, not 8 days away from the start of the season!

I look back over pre-season and we played three American teams early on which would have been good work-outs in full match situations. But from there we had the Dublin tournament against a NorthernPremier/IsthmianLeague standard Airtricity XI and an Inter team bereft of first XI players and who were three weeks behind us in terms of pre-season; then yesterdays game at Wembley. For me, we needed another game in there against a fitter and sterner opposition. Or to have spread the Dublin tournament out over three days and played the first team Friday and Sunday (I don't see why the EDS had a game, they'd had a string of pre-season games themselves). I'm actually glad there are internationals this week as it's another game under the belts of the players, and I'm usually strongly opposed to this game in the week leading up to the start of the season!

I can't fathom how we'd be so unfit with 8 days to go. I was actually shocked! I know we're a slow and methodical team in the middle of the season but that took it to another level!

-- Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:40 pm --

There's a couple of things here for me.

Firstly, as fans, we hugely underestimated them yesterday. I can remember chuckling to myself when Jones & Cleverley came on and thinking "bag of wank, game over!" How fecking wrong can you be?

Secondly, and more importantly, the City of old would have took this defeat into the season and crumbled like so much old, white dog shit. However, we are a new City now and are made of much stronger stuff than that. Yes, we fucked up royally yesterday, but I am so confident in the team and the manager after what I saw as a whole last season - along with the signing of Aguero, Savic and Clichy and whoever else may come in - that I genuinely believe yesterday was an untimely and nasty blip.

I honestly cannot envisage those mistakes being repeated in the season proper, so am not overly concerned.

But do you not remember Cleverly when he played for Wigan last season with that McCarthy in midfield, we won 1-0 but they were the better team in the second half and them two were the best players on the pitch that day. and do you not remember when Chelsea last won the title but played Blackburn away and lost, Phil Jones was the best player on the pitch that day. I certaiy didn't underestimate these lads and cringe when I see threads in here where people slag the Rags off for making shit signings this summer. Some people are clueless!

Spot on.

I still wake up in the night with sweats at the thought we didn't sign Phil Jones.

Possibly the best prospect in English football at the moment, and when he signed for the rags we were looking at Cahill at Bolton!

I read the same shite when Young signed for them. These are good pacy players... just what we are crying out for. The English game is about pace. We need some!

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Based on the game you would have to say no we are not...not yet...that said I think Utd are more ready this year than in previous seasons...i think fergie is pushing for a flying start to the season because he knows how competitive it will be...will that affect their normal end of season push?? or will it make them the team to catch?? I think we will be fine 3 or 4 games in and if we can keep pace with Utd for the first 10 games or so we'll do fine.

I think Ferguson will want to win the title more this season than any other. To be the first English team to 20 titles will be a huge achievment. In Italy you get a star abovethe badge for every ten, it's like the round figures are the milestones. So this season more than any before United will be the team to beat.<br /><br />-- Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:53 pm --<br /><br />

With only a week to go to the start of the season, are we as ready as we should be for what might well be the most eventful season in the history of the club?

We've not signed the midfield players we are still crying out for, the half dozen deadweights have still not been moved on, and watching yesterday's game clearly showed we are sluggish, lacking sharpness and, surprisingly, looking unfit.

Have we played enough friendlies this time around? Have they been the right ones?

I'm sure the manager realises that we need to get out of the blocks quick-style otherwise the media will ratchet up the pressure even more, as well, no doubt, the Bluemoon doubters, of which there are many! ;-))...

I genuinely feel that the manager has not been supported sufficiently by other areas within the club, and I hope that this does not come back to bite us on the arse.

I really thought we looked coherant and sharp after the previous friendly, but there's no doubt Sunday was a shock. We had 11 players out there with miles more quality than the 11 they had, yet they made us look second best. I'm disappointed that the confidence I sensed throughout the club has taken a big knock.

All the old problems were there. Same old same old. A team greater than the sum of their parts beating a team lesser than the sum of their parts. A manager seemingly unable to put right the problems on the park. And very worrying the players looked tired. That would suggest poor preperation.

It was only a dress rehearsal, and I don't think we could play much worse to be honest. The important games are yet to come. I'm really hopeful it was a blip.

It might suggest poor preparation for the CS, doesnt mean its poor preparation for the season. Could just be that United eased off in training last week whereas City kept the conditioning work going for a few extra days.

I went to the training session on Wednesday and wanted to see some intense conditioning work. But all they did was a lap of the pitch jogging; flexibility; some warm-up drills; flexibility; some keep-ball in small groups; some keep-ball in larger groups; a full size XIvXI game; a half-pitch XIvXI game; then some flexibility and a warm-down. I thought it was a very very relaxed and un-intense session. I'm not saying all their sessions were like that last week but by the looks of yesterday...

There's still a week to go, and a week when you're at their level of fitness is a lot becaus ethey can fine tune certain things in just a few days (where the everyday man may take a month). I'm hoping Capello and the other Int' managers give them some hard training this week.

 

[Anonymous]

But do you not remember Cleverly when he played for Wigan last season with that McCarthy in midfield, we won 1-0 but they were the better team in the second half and them two were the best players on the pitch that day. and do you not remember when Chelsea last won the title but played Blackburn away and lost, Phil Jones was the best player on the pitch that day. I certaiy didn't underestimate these lads and cringe when I see threads in here where people slag the Rags off for making shit signings this summer. Some people are clueless!

That's exactly my point.

When they took off camel and cheat at centre half, I thought we would be ok as they were bringing on a very expensive kid at centre half. I thought about the 'big move' he'd made, the 'price tag' which may weigh around him and how surely, he was overrated. So I did underestimate them.

They also brought on the Northern Irish defender who was royally raped by Weiss during an international so was not worried about that. In fact I was glad he was coming on to the field as I thought "magic, more of the same".

As for Cleverley I saw him in a very poor Wigan side who only just managed to stave off relegation. I honestly don't recall him against us in that win (not being smart, just simply memory loss due to strongbow) and again, I under estimated him.

As for Ashley Young, yes, aware of his pace and such but during the latter stages of his Villa career there were plenty of question marks over him (fitness, temperament) and again in this one game he turned up and turned us over.

Not looking for debate, just an honest holding up of the hands. I feel sure a lot of us (including the players) at 2-0 up probably thought the same and we became very blasé hence the outcome.

Importantly, what I am confident about is we won't make the same mistake again as it underlines Manicni's 'concentration' mantra.

I'm also not too concerned we did not go in for Young/Cleverley/Jones as what we have and what we've bought will be enough to deal with them in games when there is fundamentally more at stake.

 

[BobKowalski]

Based on the game you would have to say no we are not...not yet...that said I think Utd are more ready this year than in previous seasons...i think fergie is pushing for a flying start to the season because he knows how competitive it will be...will that affect their normal end of season push?? or will it make them the team to catch?? I think we will be fine 3 or 4 games in and if we can keep pace with Utd for the first 10 games or so we'll do fine.

I think Ferguson will want to win the title more this season than any other. To be the first English team to 20 titles will be a huge achievment. In Italy you get a star abovethe badge for every ten, it's like the round figures are the milestones. So this season more than any before United will be the team to beat.

-- Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:53 pm --

I really thought we looked coherant and sharp after the previous friendly, but there's no doubt Sunday was a shock. We had 11 players out there with miles more quality than the 11 they had, yet they made us look second best. I'm disappointed that the confidence I sensed throughout the club has taken a big knock.

All the old problems were there. Same old same old. A team greater than the sum of their parts beating a team lesser than the sum of their parts. A manager seemingly unable to put right the problems on the park. And very worrying the players looked tired. That would suggest poor preperation.

It was only a dress rehearsal, and I don't think we could play much worse to be honest. The important games are yet to come. I'm really hopeful it was a blip.

It might suggest poor preparation for the CS, doesnt mean its poor preparation for the season. Could just be that United eased off in training last week whereas City kept the conditioning work going for a few extra days.

I went to the training session on Wednesday and wanted to see some intense conditioning work. But all they did was a lap of the pitch jogging; flexibility; some warm-up drills; flexibility; some keep-ball in small groups; some keep-ball in larger groups; a full size XIvXI game; a half-pitch XIvXI game; then some flexibility and a warm-down. I thought it was a very very relaxed and un-intense session. I'm not saying all their sessions were like that last week but by the looks of yesterday...

There's still a week to go, and a week when you're at their level of fitness is a lot becaus ethey can fine tune certain things in just a few days (where the everyday man may take a month). I'm hoping Capello and the other Int' managers give them some hard training this week.

Seriously? You think Capello and others will make the players train hard? Are you insane? Do you think Capello is insane? Do you think any club would release any players if they were going to get worked into the ground a few days before the season kicks off?

Actually they are playing golf...

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Based on the game you would have to say no we are not...not yet...that said I think Utd are more ready this year than in previous seasons...i think fergie is pushing for a flying start to the season because he knows how competitive it will be...will that affect their normal end of season push?? or will it make them the team to catch?? I think we will be fine 3 or 4 games in and if we can keep pace with Utd for the first 10 games or so we'll do fine.

I think Ferguson will want to win the title more this season than any other. To be the first English team to 20 titles will be a huge achievment. In Italy you get a star abovethe badge for every ten, it's like the round figures are the milestones. So this season more than any before United will be the team to beat.

-- Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:53 pm --

It might suggest poor preparation for the CS, doesnt mean its poor preparation for the season. Could just be that United eased off in training last week whereas City kept the conditioning work going for a few extra days.

I went to the training session on Wednesday and wanted to see some intense conditioning work. But all they did was a lap of the pitch jogging; flexibility; some warm-up drills; flexibility; some keep-ball in small groups; some keep-ball in larger groups; a full size XIvXI game; a half-pitch XIvXI game; then some flexibility and a warm-down. I thought it was a very very relaxed and un-intense session. I'm not saying all their sessions were like that last week but by the looks of yesterday...

There's still a week to go, and a week when you're at their level of fitness is a lot becaus ethey can fine tune certain things in just a few days (where the everyday man may take a month). I'm hoping Capello and the other Int' managers give them some hard training this week.

Seriously? You think Capello and others will make the players train hard? Are you insane? Do you think Capello is insane? Do you think any club would release any players if they were going to get worked into the ground a few days before the season kicks off?

Actually they are playing golf...

I once worked for a Super League club. I also have good qualifications in Sports Studies, Personal Training and Sports Massage Therapy (I'm very tempted to do a Masters in Strength and Conditioning, but it's just the cost and the time - anyway...). I've also designed a pre-season training schedule for a mates footy team.

The last two weeks of pre-season training before the season starts are the hardest two weeks. They include highly intense training sessions. I'm talking going out to't hills and doing hill sprints [10 lots of 20 second sprints up very steep hills - some sports clubs, especially in American sports, have their own purpose built hills](until some are literally throwing up with legs BURNING!); 10 x 30 second track sprints (some still throw up, it's that intense); bleep tests; medium weight resistence training until failure and 1 rep max resistance sessions in the gym... as I say, not the early pre-season style, relaxed knock-about style session I witnessed last Wednesday at the Etihad. And if they're not doing intense sessions with Capello then they are wasting this final week of pre-season!