Today I got to see my first training session in a while. Despite the rain and the wind, it was a good session. The team came out about 11:45 and some were clearly less impressed than others. However, they all came out and all were soon joking and smiling. The warm up consisted of a light jog around a few of the pitches before being split up into pairs or 3's and taking part in various drills. Ranging from a cone slalom to ball control exercises. It was good to see that John Eustace was back, as were Lloyd Doyley and Fernando Forrestieri. After a short time they split into two groups, one group went off and played a game of which I understood little, but it seems to focus on fast paced one touch football all played in a tight square. Whatever the aim, they were laughing and there was a good sense of camaraderie and a good team atmosphere. The second group would then play a 7-a-side game with GZ joining in and showing some silky slick feet of his own. There were a couple on worrying moments when Mark Yeates, the self-confessed old man, was rather late in challenging Ikechi Anya and Anya went down in a heap with a worrying yelp. However, after a brief rest and some magic spray he walked gingerly back onto the pitch and got back into things. Yeates however was swapped to the otherside of the pitch to prevent further damage. Secondly Tommie Hoban took a while to get back up after a tussle and seemed to be limping as a consequence. However, he too got back into the game and managed to finish. All in all it seemed a good session and it was a pleasure to watch, weather aside.
Update. Today the player were out early but I still caught most of the session. They were split up into 3 groups again, this time one group was practicing shooting against a keeper, whilst the other two groups would play a match where they were only allowed 2 touches before they had to pass or shoot. One team was comprised of the first 11, the second team were those players who might make the bench, and the third were players who have not made either. Things were heated and challenges did fly in, Doyley seemed to be on the end of a few of them. But the best was when Neuton sat Zola on his arse with some fancy footwork. There was another worrying moment when Cassetti seemed to take a blow to the head, but he carried on ok.
