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Back again and the first teamers working with the reserves. That's all 6 Garrido/Silvinho/Richards/Ireland/Johnson and Vinnie. Zabba ia back now but having a scan today. Toure is expected to be fit for weekend as are Lescott and Barry. Adebayor isn't playing another match this week so should be back either tomorrow or Wednesday. Bellers got a bit of a dead leg on Saturday but expects to be fit as well.

After initial warm ups they split into 3 teams and worked hard on pass and move in roughly half a pitch. A lot of pressing the ball work included in this to see how the others could create space and shift the ball away from conjested areas. Then they changed into attacking breaks with an intended finish at the end.Some good some not so good but as ever Eddie was shouting at them to be inventive and to always be aware of the importance not just of passing quick and sharp but also of the sort of movement needed when defenders are keeping very tight and also looking to play offside. Very interesting to watch.

One or two really good goals in this part and none better than a header from RSC.Also worth a mention were goals from David Ball ( good first touch then an overhead flick) and general finishing from Nimely. Only training I know but it does look as though the sharpness and quality is coming slowly but surely for RSC.Then it was into real 7 a side games with just 2 touches allowed. Special mention to Micah who I thought trained well today but overall it was good and competitive as ever.


Some afters for a few of the usual suspects. Micah, Garrido and Silvinho working the flanks to get crosses in for RSC, Vinnie and Stevie.Another special mention here for Gunner Nielsen who pulled off some great saves today. Given they are having shots and headers fired in all the time some are inevitable but today he just seemed to be so tough to beat.

Hughes away at a board meeting in Abu Dhabi apparently and Kevin Hitchcock also missing today along with 1 or 2 of the regular fitness guys so the international breaks do have a value.

Benjani still working in one to ones

Good work Doug as always.... cheers!

Cheers as always Doug

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:After initial warm ups they split into 3 teams and worked hard on pass and move in roughly half a pitch. A lot of pressing the ball work included in this to see how the others could create space and shift the ball away from conjested areas. Then they changed into attacking breaks with an intended finish at the end.Some good some not so good but as ever Eddie was shouting at them to be inventive and to always be aware of the importance not just of passing quick and sharp but also of the sort of movement needed when defenders are keeping very tight and also looking to play offside. Very interesting to watch.

Sounds like an excellent drill that should be done more often.

Nice one Doug, I've now been on this forum for long enough to appreciate how regularly you post these updates. Great stuff! Bet most clubs don't have fans scouting as diligently as this :)

Has there been much in the way of learning how to defend set pieces?

Scatman wrote:Has there been much in the way of learning how to defend set pieces?

Was just gonna post the same. We are finally scoring from set pieces only to start defending shyte against them. It seems that when we get one thing right, we start fuckin up on something else.

blootoof wrote:

Scatman wrote:Has there been much in the way of learning how to defend set pieces?

Was just gonna post the same. We are finally scoring from set pieces only to start defending shyte against them. It seems that when we get one thing right, we start fuckin up on something else.

We were poor in defending set pieces last year as well.

Hughes having a board meeting. Interesting, is it too early in the season to start looking at what players will become available in January? Maybe they'll do that next month when the team goes over.

Wonder if the board meeting went anything like this...

[youtube]6M6dzxcNsNc[/youtube]

That was so mental, love craig bellamy's charge with the driver.

Moonchesteri wrote:

blootoof wrote:

Scatman wrote:Has there been much in the way of learning how to defend set pieces?

Was just gonna post the same. We are finally scoring from set pieces only to start defending shyte against them. It seems that when we get one thing right, we start fuckin up on something else.

We were poor in defending set pieces last year as well.

No doubt we are not the best at defending set pieces and part of the reason is that we have quite a small team compared to many. Lescott and Adebayor for certain but then it's Toure who is decent but not commanding , Bridge who just isnt a great header of the ball , Zabba who competes and is brave but is also quite small. If Kompany,Richards and RSC play we have plenty but without them we are short.Also without wanting to be too critical of Shay he doesnt tend to go out catching many crosses does he?

Hence the problem at Villa who had say 4 real headers of the ball and our best 3 headers were given man to man jobs and our 4th best was Barry who got Dunne to mark and the rest is history. And that's the Dunne who virtually couldnt get a header on target for us for so many years.You don't really need to be a great header of the ball to stop Dunne. You just need to be a bit physical and it enough but Barry didn't seem to compete.

Today no great work was done on defending set pieces as so few were there from the first team squad but the carrot today today to not let a goal in was it would have meant a lap for the defending team. Sometimes we hear it shouted that a goal from a corner counts as 2. Little things maybe for a bit of fun but a goal has never been scored when it's been said!

2 guys did make mistakes today which cost goals and they had to do a sprint to the othet goal and back.

Great report Doug,

I am looking forward to going again! Have they mentioned anything about when there favourite ball boy is coming back lol.

Blueboylewis wrote:Great report Doug,

I am looking forward to going again! Have they mentioned anything about when there favourite ball boy is coming back lol.

Strangely they haven't!

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Blueboylewis wrote:Great report Doug,

I am looking forward to going again! Have they mentioned anything about when there favourite ball boy is coming back lol.

Strangely they haven't!

Well thats odd lol, Oh well. Hughes and co are getting on. They must have short memory loss.

Are you sure that Adebayor is not playing on Weds?

Togo have their final World Cup qualifier which is important because they may get knocked out of African nations Cup so I would have thought that they would want him available. is he suspended?

Got subbed at the weekend and I assumed they were trying to keep him fresh for midweek

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Moonchesteri wrote:

blootoof wrote:

Scatman wrote:Has there been much in the way of learning how to defend set pieces?

Was just gonna post the same. We are finally scoring from set pieces only to start defending shyte against them. It seems that when we get one thing right, we start fuckin up on something else.

We were poor in defending set pieces last year as well.

Hence the problem at Villa who had say 4 real headers of the ball and our best 3 headers were given man to man jobs and our 4th best was Barry who got Dunne to mark and the rest is history.

It was Barry who was marking Fletcher too of course. He's obviously not as good at defending headers as he is attacking them. I think there's a limit to how much aerial improvement is possible with the current 1st 11. Of course practice will help but sheer size & aerial ability is lacking in most of that team. If we want a team full of skillful dwarves we'll just have to make the best of it & try to score more at the other end. Otherwise we play Micah,Vinny, RSC in the team. I think we'll find we have to play one of them at least.

marvin wrote:Are you sure that Adebayor is not playing on Weds?

Togo have their final World Cup qualifier which is important because they may get knocked out of African nations Cup so I would have thought that they would want him available. is he suspended?

Got subbed at the weekend and I assumed they were trying to keep him fresh for midweek

Hmm sounds iffy doesn't it if Togo are playing but that's what I was told or at least I thought it was.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

marvin wrote:Are you sure that Adebayor is not playing on Weds?

Togo have their final World Cup qualifier which is important because they may get knocked out of African nations Cup so I would have thought that they would want him available. is he suspended?

Got subbed at the weekend and I assumed they were trying to keep him fresh for midweek

Hmm sounds iffy doesn't it if Togo are playing but that's what I was told or at least I thought it was.

Doug, maybe they're using you for misinformation...?!

Interesting to hear Hughes is in Abu Dhabi, nice one Doug.

Somerset Blue wrote:

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

marvin wrote:Are you sure that Adebayor is not playing on Weds?

Togo have their final World Cup qualifier which is important because they may get knocked out of African nations Cup so I would have thought that they would want him available. is he suspended?

Got subbed at the weekend and I assumed they were trying to keep him fresh for midweek

Hmm sounds iffy doesn't it if Togo are playing but that's what I was told or at least I thought it was.

Doug, maybe they're using you for misinformation...?!

Or maybe I am just a senile deaf tosser.

Maybe Hughes was at Notts County for an interview?