Training Wednesday 8/12

[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.

[Ted Hughes]

Thanx Doug, great report once again.

'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.'

I recon Carlos could have a 2nd career as a absolute top midfield player when he gets older but it sounds like he'll just retire instead. Pity.

Is Ade actually injured for real or is there a posibility we're just keeping him out of trouble for a Jan transfer?

[Brad]

Brilliant post as usual Doug, thanks for taking the time to update us, great too know Toure was there, and MJ, and also great to know Super mario was having fun, hopefully he can bang a few in at Westham.
Cheers Doug

[edgeley blue]

Maybe there were no cameramen, but the journos would have read your piece Doug, so expect the back pages tomorrow to be about mario and Micah fighting for over 5 mins.

Keep up the good work, I always enjoy reading your posts, cheers mate

[trout man]

Thanks Doug, great report. I firmly believe that Mancini is really beginning to get things right in reference to the mentality of the squad and the tactical application of his methods both in training and during games. Very excited about the rest of the season. Good to hear that MJ is taking a full role, how does he look?

[brite blu sky]

terrific report Doug and great news all round. Sounded like it was real fun to watch today too. Something about the Micah Mario dust up sounds like a top turn of events. Im trying for the life of me to imagine MJ somehow involved in that.. throwing snowballs was he?

The defensive routines sound well good.

[Kladze]

Micah and Mario were fighting and rolling around.

Glad I wasn't there - that would have been all to weird for me :-D


Doug, this might seem a daft question, dunno, but do the players give the impression that they enjoy the training sessions?
I don't mean in the "They have a laugh" way, I mean also do they seem to be absorbed by what they're being taught? and do they appear to totally respect the coaches / Mancini?

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Thanks Doug, great report. I firmly believe that Mancini is really beginning to get things right in reference to the mentality of the squad and the tactical application of his methods both in training and during games. Very excited about the rest of the season. Good to hear that MJ is taking a full role, how does he look?

In terms of touch and ability MJ fits in very well as you would expect.He needs some matches to find out about his stamina and how he copes with the real thing with tackles coming in.I would have thought a few reserve games and then possibly a loan to find out what he has got and if all that goes well who knows.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Maybe there were no cameramen, but the journos would have read your piece Doug, so expect the back pages tomorrow to be about mario and Micah fighting for over 5 mins.

Keep up the good work, I always enjoy reading your posts, cheers mate

I am sure they won't be or else they will have my lawyers on them:)

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Thanx Doug, great report once again.

'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.'

I recon Carlos could have a 2nd career as a absolute top midfield player when he gets older but it sounds like he'll just retire instead. Pity.

Is Ade actually injured for real or is there a posibility we're just keeping him out of trouble for a Jan transfer?

Don't know for sure about Ade but ny guess would be he has an injury.

[Thai]

Great report Doug, thanks for the trouble - a good read as always.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Micah and Mario were fighting and rolling around.

Glad I wasn't there - that would have been all to weird for me :-D


Doug, this might seem a daft question, dunno, but do the players give the impression that they enjoy the training sessions?
I don't mean in the "They have a laugh" way, I mean also do they seem to be absorbed by what they're being taught? and do they appear to totally respect the coaches / Mancini?

Not an easy question to answer.Would you expect me to say they don't respect the coaches even if I thought it?

As for actually enjoying them I would say it's a tad mixed. Mostly they enjoy them but quite a bit of that is in the competitive sense as it appears they actually enjoy the games they play in as long as they win.They are truly competitive.Today a goal was scored from a cross from Kolarov but Vinnie was incensed as he thought Kolarov was offside.I would say it was a full 2 minutes before the game restarted as the arguments went on about the decision.I don't actually know what the end decisiion was but I got the feeling the real problem was that there were 2 linesmen, one on each side , and they disagreed with each other.The point though is that they really enjoy the competitive games and the bvragging rights when they win.

Mario won one of the 1 on 1 battles and scored an he was off to celebrate towards me trying to pull his shirt over his head as they do.I say trying as he could pull it up and over due to having a few layers on.

When they do all the warm ups they often have a laugh amongst themselves but they don't ignore what they are being told to do.The key in some of that is for the coaches to vary it enough so it isn't too boring.

When Mancini was taking the defensive work they were very clearly taking in everything he was saying and asking questions as they went along. Mancini was very vocal during this and shouting , almost screaming at times if he ever felt they were not doing things at the right tempo. All very good from what I could see.

[Kladze]

Micah and Mario were fighting and rolling around.

Glad I wasn't there - that would have been all to weird for me :-D


Doug, this might seem a daft question, dunno, but do the players give the impression that they enjoy the training sessions?
I don't mean in the "They have a laugh" way, I mean also do they seem to be absorbed by what they're being taught? and do they appear to totally respect the coaches / Mancini?

Not an easy question to answer.Would you expect me to say they don't respect the coaches even if I thought it?

As for actually enjoying them I would say it's a tad mixed. Mostly they enjoy them but quite a bit of that is in the competitive sense as it appears they actually enjoy the games they play in as long as they win.They are truly competitive.Today a goal was scored from a cross from Kolarov but Vinnie was incensed as he thought Kolarov was offside.I would say it was a full 2 minutes before the game restarted as the arguments went on about the decision.I don't actually know what the end decisiion was but I got the feeling the real problem was that there were 2 linesmen, one on each side , and they disagreed with each other.The point though is that they really enjoy the competitive games and the bvragging rights when they win.

Mario won one of the 1 on 1 battles and scored an he was off to celebrate towards me trying to pull his shirt over his head as they do.I say trying as he could pull it up and over due to having a few layers on.

When they do all the warm ups they often have a laugh amongst themselves but they don't ignore what they are being told to do.The key in some of that is for the coaches to vary it enough so it isn't too boring.

[highlight]When Mancini was taking the defensive work they were very clearly taking in everything he was saying and asking questions as they went along.[/highlight] Mancini was very vocal during this and shouting , almost screaming at times if he ever felt they were not doing things at the right tempo. All very good from what I could see.

That's the bit I wanted to read :-)

[Fesan]

Thanx Doug, great report once again.

I recon Carlos could have a 2nd career as a absolute top midfield player when he gets older but it sounds like he'll just retire instead. Pity.

He practically is a midfielder allready, where he spends atleast 50% of his time on the pitch:P Striker with most goals outside the box... last season too;-)

[jono1978]

Nice one class info as always mate gives us all a proper insight into the team. About time the mods sent u a woolly hat for ur outstanding efforts.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Top report as always Doug, cheers mate.

[circumspect]

V interesting again Douglas, many thanks.
In your view is it likely that Lescott will be LB v W Ham or is Bridge sharp enough to play?

[ryanmjo]

V interesting again Douglas, many thanks.
In your view is it likely that Lescott will be LB v W Ham or is Bridge sharp enough to play?

Yikes! I hope that's not the choice.

What about Zabba on the left?

[Beefymcfc]

V interesting again Douglas, many thanks.
In your view is it likely that Lescott will be LB v W Ham or is Bridge sharp enough to play?

Yikes! I hope that's not the choice.

What about Zabba on the left?

That's the one. I can see Lescott on the left of Vince with Micah and Zab covering right and left respectively.

[Goataldo]

Quality stuff, much better than yesterday's report!

Mario manning up, Boateng looking like a mint defender, and MJ in the thick of it.

Makes me feel confident about us at Upton Park.