Training Saturday 31/10

[Douglas Higginbottom]

A relatively short session today and still without Toure and Ade plus of course Robinho. Not many watching either which was a slight surprise but the play was on the pitch in the middle which is the furthest away for viewing. Not the best time then for 9 Second Legend to come along with family but great to meet him for the first time.

After the warm up routines they moved into some attacking plays in 2 waves with the intention of playing the ball quickly and first time if possible. It didnt always work too well. The 2 things most memorable from this part both involved Eddie N. At times he held a ball in his hands and moved about the middle shouting at the players to close him down and to press the ball as a team. He even invited physical contact as well and it was funny to see players like Petrov and Barry bouncing off him. It seemed to serve a purpose as well as being entertaining.

Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow.Lets hope so. Silvinho finished his session quite early for some reason ( didn't notice an injury) and NDJ got Stevie very e arly on but he ran it off very quickly. Bridge did seem to be flexing his left leg quite a bit and had an unusual strapping on it.

At the end a few stayed back for some finishing practice. RSC at one end with attacking crosses. Bellers and Weiss at the other end working with Bowen on some stuff from the edge of the box. Volleys with both feet with feeds from different positions and others with balls just thrown at then with hopefully a 2 touch finish. Whilst this was happening EN was working with Lescott on a variety of routines. Maybe watching his fitness but more likely just his first touch.

[mr_nool]

cheers doug!

[john68]

Cheers doug.
From reading your reports, I get the idea that this regime seem to do a lot of individual work with players on particular weaknesses of their game. They also seem to focus on particular areas of the team game that they want to develop.
The only other City side I can remember doing this to this extent would be in the 1st Malcolm Allison era.

Am I right in thinking this mate?

[Crossie]

Worries me that we hardly seem to have normal full length training sessions with our main players fit. Must be the 3rd week in a row that Ade has hardly trained and Toure a couple of weeks, only just fit to play, its not good playing with 70% fit players

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Cheers doug.
From reading your reports, I get the idea that this regime seem to do a lot of individual work with players on particular weaknesses of their game. They also seem to focus on particular areas of the team game that they want to develop.
The only other City side I can remember doing this to this extent would be in the 1st Malcolm Allison era.

Am I right in thinking this mate?

Not just weaknesses but key parts of their game. I have seen plenty of work on shooting practice for the likes of Bellers/RSC etc which isn't necessarily a weakness but done on the basis that practice makes perfect and the feeling of striking balls well and beating the keeper you would think would build confidence. I have also seen work done with Micah plenty of times on getting forward and crossing , that one would fit the definition of weakness as also with SWP.

Good to see RSC and Petrov often doing shooting practice with the weak foot , as Stevie often does too.

[john68]

Thanks Doug.
Pass on my regards to the younger Higgi...met him in the Townley before the Scunnie game.

[dazlebluefrog]

cheers doug mate great reading your reports as always but becareful what you say
quote"Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow." you never know who reads theses reports mate maybe young Mr Hart does and he could pass on the info to someone at brum !!! lol

[9secondlegend]

A relatively short session today and still without Toure and Ade plus of course Robinho. Not many watching either which was a slight surprise but the play was on the pitch in the middle which is the furthest away for viewing. Not the best time then for 9 Second Legend to come along with family but great to meet him for the first time.

After the warm up routines they moved into some attacking plays in 2 waves with the intention of playing the ball quickly and first time if possible. It didnt always work too well. The 2 things most memorable from this part both involved Eddie N. At times he held a ball in his hands and moved about the middle shouting at the players to close him down and to press the ball as a team. He even invited physical contact as well and it was funny to see players like Petrov and Barry bouncing off him. It seemed to serve a purpose as well as being entertaining.

Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow.Lets hope so. Silvinho finished his session quite early for some reason ( didn't notice an injury) and NDJ got Stevie very e arly on but he ran it off very quickly. Bridge did seem to be flexing his left leg quite a bit and had an unusual strapping on it.

At the end a few stayed back for some finishing practice. RSC at one end with attacking crosses. Bellers and Weiss at the other end working with Bowen on some stuff from the edge of the box. Volleys with both feet with feeds from different positions and others with balls just thrown at then with hopefully a 2 touch finish. Whilst this was happening EN was working with Lescott on a variety of routines. Maybe watching his fitness but more likely just his first touch.

eddie newton was really bashing into random players off the ball so hes obviously trying to get the players to expect a physical game tomorrow and he was convinced if we play the ball along the floor out wide "we will fu****g kill them"
lescott was training with ben mee at the end in a defensive partnership.
good to meet you doug and bbl it was very interesting.

[craigmcfc]

A relatively short session today and still without Toure and Ade plus of course Robinho. Not many watching either which was a slight surprise but the play was on the pitch in the middle which is the furthest away for viewing. Not the best time then for 9 Second Legend to come along with family but great to meet him for the first time.

After the warm up routines they moved into some attacking plays in 2 waves with the intention of playing the ball quickly and first time if possible. It didnt always work too well. The 2 things most memorable from this part both involved Eddie N. At times he held a ball in his hands and moved about the middle shouting at the players to close him down and to press the ball as a team. He even invited physical contact as well and it was funny to see players like Petrov and Barry bouncing off him. It seemed to serve a purpose as well as being entertaining.

Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow.Lets hope so. Silvinho finished his session quite early for some reason ( didn't notice an injury) and NDJ got Stevie very e arly on but he ran it off very quickly. Bridge did seem to be flexing his left leg quite a bit and had an unusual strapping on it.

At the end a few stayed back for some finishing practice. RSC at one end with attacking crosses. Bellers and Weiss at the other end working with Bowen on some stuff from the edge of the box. Volleys with both feet with feeds from different positions and others with balls just thrown at then with hopefully a 2 touch finish. Whilst this was happening EN was working with Lescott on a variety of routines. Maybe watching his fitness but more likely just his first touch.

eddie newton was really bashing into random players off the ball so hes obviously trying to get the players to expect a physical game tomorrow and he was convinced if we play the ball along the floor out wide "we will fu****g kill them"
lescott was training with ben mee at the end in a defensive partnership.
good to meet you doug and bbl it was very interesting.

Eddie Newton? He's assistant at West Brom. Eddie Niedzwiecki man. 7/10 must do better :-)

[Beefymcfc]

A relatively short session today and still without Toure and Ade plus of course Robinho. Not many watching either which was a slight surprise but the play was on the pitch in the middle which is the furthest away for viewing. Not the best time then for 9 Second Legend to come along with family but great to meet him for the first time.

After the warm up routines they moved into some attacking plays in 2 waves with the intention of playing the ball quickly and first time if possible. It didnt always work too well. The 2 things most memorable from this part both involved Eddie N. At times he held a ball in his hands and moved about the middle shouting at the players to close him down and to press the ball as a team. He even invited physical contact as well and it was funny to see players like Petrov and Barry bouncing off him. It seemed to serve a purpose as well as being entertaining.

Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow.Lets hope so. Silvinho finished his session quite early for some reason ( didn't notice an injury) and NDJ got Stevie very e arly on but he ran it off very quickly. Bridge did seem to be flexing his left leg quite a bit and had an unusual strapping on it.

At the end a few stayed back for some finishing practice. RSC at one end with attacking crosses. Bellers and Weiss at the other end working with Bowen on some stuff from the edge of the box. Volleys with both feet with feeds from different positions and others with balls just thrown at then with hopefully a 2 touch finish. Whilst this was happening EN was working with Lescott on a variety of routines. Maybe watching his fitness but more likely just his first touch.

eddie newton was really bashing into random players off the ball so hes obviously trying to get the players to expect a physical game tomorrow and he was convinced if we play the ball along the floor out wide "we will fu****g kill them"
lescott was training with ben mee at the end in a defensive partnership.
good to meet you doug and bbl it was very interesting.

Eddie Newton? He's assistant at West Brom. Eddie Niedzwiecki man. 7/10 must do better :-)

Laughed at that myself, though I thought it was more that he couldn't spell Needsawitch ;-)

[9secondlegend]

eddie newton??
wtf???
lol

i was trying to type and think to quick!!

[Blueboylewis]

eddie newton??
wtf???
lol

i was trying to type and think to quick!!

Bloody hell mate haha. Dont think to hard, You will blow up. You need that brain for the wii later on lol.

[Blueboylewis]

eddie newton??
wtf???
lol

i was trying to type and think to quick!!

Bloody hell mate haha. Dont think to hard, You will blow up. You need that brain for the wii later on lol.

[Blueboylewis]

eddie newton??
wtf???
lol

i was trying to type and think to quick!!

Bloody hell mate haha. Dont think to hard, You will blow up. You need that brain for the wii later on lol.

[Beefymcfc]

BBL sets a new landmark, not duplicate posts but triplicate. You my friend, are becoming a star ;-)

[Douglas Higginbottom]

BBL sets a new landmark, not duplicate posts but triplicate. You my friend, are becoming a star ;-)

Anything for the extra post numbers.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Thanks Doug.
Pass on my regards to the younger Higgi...met him in the Townley before the Scunnie game.

Will do John , he said he had met you and Spiv

[Douglas Higginbottom]

cheers doug mate great reading your reports as always but becareful what you say
quote"Work was also being done on the movement of the front 2 and at one point EN could be heard yelling if you get the ball down here we will f....g kill Birmingham tomorrow." you never know who reads theses reports mate maybe young Mr Hart does and he could pass on the info to someone at brum !!! lol

Thought about that as I typed it but apart from saying we will be motivated to kill them I don't think I gave too much away.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Worries me that we hardly seem to have normal full length training sessions with our main players fit. Must be the 3rd week in a row that Ade has hardly trained and Toure a couple of weeks, only just fit to play, its not good playing with 70% fit players

Agreed Crossie.Not just those two either as Bridge has his knee niggles and Lescott with his calf. Hard to say but my bet would Toure might miss out if he isn't 100% as Vinnie comfortably slots in.

[Fidel Castro]

Didn't Eddie Newton play for Chelsea?