It was a dismal grey day when I arrived at the Riverside. I picked my way across the boggy ground to the fence surrounding the pitch - but where was everybody? Inside in the warm maybe? Ah, signs of life as Karelse, Harper and Given came out and jogged across to the other pitch, being waylaid on the way by various people wanting autographs and photos. One confused punter called Shay Given "Steve", much to the amusement of Mr Harper!

The rest of the lads then made their way out onto the main pitch. Bobby split them into groups of three and had them running around, passing the ball and overlapping each other. The emphasis seemed to be on one-touch passing and running to receive the ball. They worked on corners and it was interesting to see Domi taking them as well as Dyer. I thought that would be Diego's job, but Bobby seems to prefer him in the middle where he can make runs. He spent quite a bit of time working with our Sparrowhawk, speaking to him in Spanish as well as English. He seemed to be pairing him with Dyer and getting Barton to throw the ball in to one of them to pass to the other and get forward and cross or shoot. He was also working on throws with Aaron Hughes on the far side of the pitch and saying "never waste a throw-in". They also worked on turning - think of Dunc's goal against ManU. No sign of Dunc or Kets who were both apparently working in the gym, but Dabizas and Pistone were back and taking part in everything. It's a joy to see Bobby working so closely with the players, laughing with them and even kicking a few balls himself. We must have a lot of injuries as Steve Clark was playing. They also practised free kicks, which seemed mainly to be taken by Shearer and Gavilan. Diego seems to be slotting into Nobby's role - maybe that's bye-bye to our Peruvian? As long as he doesn't go to Manure..

The practice game got underway, and again Bobby was again spending a lot of time with Diego, telling him what he wanted him to do, "play a one-two - uno, dos." After that finished I was pleased to see Shay go to the far end of the pitch with the goalkeeping coach to practice his kicking. It was definitely looking better - hope he gets a bit of confidence back, but Harper seemed to be more at the centre of things - expect to see him in goal tomorrow. They then practised penalties - which Shearer kept missing, or rather, Harper was saving! Stevie kept up a running commentary, "Shearer nil out of threenil out of 4.." Not surprising that he put the 5th over the bar! I commented afterwards that I hoped he wasn't going to take any tomorrow and his reply was, "ah, but I told him where I was going to place them!" Not much chance for photos afterwards as there were loads of kids about and the security guys were worried about them running in front of the cars. However, I did get to speak to Shearer, Bartinho and Shay. Hope to see some of the good stuff I saw today against Leeds tomorrow.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2000

Answers

Great report, Steph. This has raised my mood a bit after listening to Weds throw away 3 points, and seeing the rest of today's depressing results. Let's just hope Shearer doesn't talk to Martyn before tomorrow! And Harper can save Leeds' shots as well as he did Shearer's!

Interesting news on Gavilan. I was just reading the piece on him in the latest issue of Scene @ St James' this morning. Bobby mentions that he has the ability to play in central midfield as well as out wide. Having him and Dyer able to play both positions has to be good for the future.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2000