Unveiling: Roberto Mancini, chief executive Garry
Cook and Brian Kidd
Roberto Mancini has imposed a strict disciplinarian
regime at Manchester City with some players fearful of burnout
after being ordered to do nine hours of training in the new
manager’s first two days in charge.
The Italian has wasted no time putting his players through their
paces, effectively cancelling Christmas as he works frantically on
tactics before his first game in charge at home to Stoke City in
the Barclays Premier League on Boxing Day.
City’s players did double sessions totalling 4½ hours on Monday
and again yesterday as Mancini took a close look at the squad he
has inherited from Mark Hughes, who was sacked on Saturday night
after 18 months at the club.
They will undergo intensive training again today and tomorrow
with a less gruelling session on Christmas Day. The players will
then report to the team hotel in Manchester at 8pm later that
day.
Given the tight schedule of matches over the festive period,
clubs often prefer light training sessions of one to two hours a
day. It is also common for clubs playing at home on Boxing Day to
allow players to spend Christmas Day evening with their families —
rather than stay at the team hotel — after morning training.
The City squad appreciate that Mancini has little time to impose
his ideas. His determination to get straight to work has been
viewed as an encouraging sign, but some players are understood to
be concerned that such rigorous training sessions may be
counter-productive before two games in three days.
After Stoke, City play Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on
Monday and face a total of six matches in 25 days, including the
two-legged Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
Another problem is that, with none of Hughes’s close-knit
backroom staff still at the club, the briefings Mancini has been
given on players are not as detailed or extensive as Mark Bowen,
Eddie Niedzwiecki or Kevin Hitchcock would have been able to
deliver.
Brian Marwood, the football administrator and former Arsenal and
England midfield player, can be consulted, but Brian Kidd, the
Italian’s assistant, joined City only 2½ months ago and was on the
periphery of the first team.
Some players who had significant roles to play under Hughes were
thought to have been reduced to the fringes on Monday as the former
Inter Milan coach worked on specific systems, raising concerns that
he might have preconceived ideas about how and who he wanted to
play.
There is an acceptance, though, that Mancini’s overriding
concern at this moment is to ensure that City beat Stoke and Wolves
and that the time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the
squad will come later.
City’s players were asked to report at 8.45am yesterday and are
understood to have trained from around 10am to 12.30pm and again
from 2pm to 4pm. They must report at 10.30am on Christmas Day for a
1½-hour training session.
There has been speculation that those players who were
supportive of Hughes are considering their futures, but most are
prepared to give Mancini the benefit of the doubt.
Craig Bellamy threatened to quit in the wake of Hughes’s sacking
after the 4-3 win at home to Sunderland, but while he is thought to
have softened his stance, it is unclear what the future holds for
him.
The Wales forward’s dismay at the treatment of Hughes is offset
by the realisation that his career may not be better served by a
move, and that City are still likely to represent his best chance
of a trophy.