FantasyIreland
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- 29 Oct 2008
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by Douglas Higginbottom » Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:28 pm
A full normal session today starting at noon. First out was Kolo just working 1 to 1 with a physio but hopefully a good sign for weekend.Then the keepers were out and working just in front of me. Just Shay was missing apparently having injections today which he has every 6 months.
Of the rest the only missing one I think was Adebayor.Plenty of early jogging and simple warm up routines as they split into 2 groups before Mancini took the defenders aside for some special work.This was really all about working/moving as a unit and responding to wherever the ball went on the field.Mancini swapped the back 4 around during this session so they all got used to working with different players.Whilst this was going on the midfield/attackers just played pass and move.Mancini then organised a spell where a full team attacked against just 4 defenders.Really hard for the defence but they did brilliantly.
Then they switched at both ends to do some attack v defence.Starting with 1 on ones it really favoured the attacker who was always on the run as the situation started. Vinnie lost out to both SWP and AJ early on and was mega unhappy.It really showed what a competitor he is.Inevitably he got better as the session went on.Probably the best at this was Boateng and Micah was pretty good too.When they did it as pairs defending the defence started to get the upper hand.It was really competitive though with no quarter given.Mancini was very hands on throughout all this , stopping things at times to give specific pointers if he thought a defender was getting it wrong.Seeing Carlos at the other end as a defender was quite funny but he was very good and as you might imagine very hard to shake off.
The final part today was a game on half a pitch and I am sure Mancini started with a be careful warning to the players, presumably wanting to avoid any injuries. Within 5 minutes or so there had been a few shuddering challenges by Kolarov,Vinnie and Jerome.Each time the player hit was helped up ,brushed themselves down and just got on with it. One of those was Mario.
All in all I thought it was a really good session today and I would expect Mancini to be pleased with all he saw.No photographers around at all as I heard Joe Hart mention. ( win games and no photographers was his comment) Had there been any today they would have had a great opportunity today when Micah and Mario were fighting and rolling around. It was all in total fun as they wrestled around like kids in a playground. Like twins in fact!Great to see them messing around.
MJ was there today and fully involved in everything.
Douglas Higginbottom
A full normal session today starting at noon. First out was Kolo just working 1 to 1 with a physio but hopefully a good sign for weekend.Then the keepers were out and working just in front of me. Just Shay was missing apparently having injections today which he has every 6 months.
Of the rest the only missing one I think was Adebayor.Plenty of early jogging and simple warm up routines as they split into 2 groups before Mancini took the defenders aside for some special work.This was really all about working/moving as a unit and responding to wherever the ball went on the field.Mancini swapped the back 4 around during this session so they all got used to working with different players.Whilst this was going on the midfield/attackers just played pass and move.Mancini then organised a spell where a full team attacked against just 4 defenders.Really hard for the defence but they did brilliantly.
Then they switched at both ends to do some attack v defence.Starting with 1 on ones it really favoured the attacker who was always on the run as the situation started. Vinnie lost out to both SWP and AJ early on and was mega unhappy.It really showed what a competitor he is.Inevitably he got better as the session went on.Probably the best at this was Boateng and Micah was pretty good too.When they did it as pairs defending the defence started to get the upper hand.It was really competitive though with no quarter given.Mancini was very hands on throughout all this , stopping things at times to give specific pointers if he thought a defender was getting it wrong.Seeing Carlos at the other end as a defender was quite funny but he was very good and as you might imagine very hard to shake off.
The final part today was a game on half a pitch and I am sure Mancini started with a be careful warning to the players, presumably wanting to avoid any injuries. Within 5 minutes or so there had been a few shuddering challenges by Kolarov,Vinnie and Jerome.Each time the player hit was helped up ,brushed themselves down and just got on with it. One of those was Mario.
All in all I thought it was a really good session today and I would expect Mancini to be pleased with all he saw.No photographers around at all as I heard Joe Hart mention. ( win games and no photographers was his comment) Had there been any today they would have had a great opportunity today when Micah and Mario were fighting and rolling around. It was all in total fun as they wrestled around like kids in a playground. Like twins in fact!Great to see them messing around.
MJ was there today and fully involved in everything.
Douglas Higginbottom