Motherwell continued their preparations for the forthcoming season with their second day on the east coast of Spain.
It was an early rise after what seemed like a much-needed sleep. Not only had the players worked exceptionally hard during their first session last night, it was a long day with many up as early as 4am.
The breakfast was everything you would imagine, being on the continent and for footballers. Healthy cereals and fruit everywhere you looked. The milk was an acquired taste though, Goat’s milk according to the in-the-know East Anglian John Sutton.
That was the calm before the early-morning storm with another intense session. Although it kicked off at 9am (local time), it was scorching hot with temperatures at that point tipped the 30 degrees Celsius mark. The pitches are actually about an eight to ten minute walk for the players, which served as a part of their warm-up.
After the traditional John Porteous / Kenny Black starter, the players were glad to see the footballs coming up. A number of drills focused on possession, passing and dribbling were interspersed with little neat games to keep the players interested. A fascinating aside is thst most of training is done in competition, with Stuart McCall always keen on small-sided team trials with players going head to head… The loser, inevitably, is on ten press-ups.
The real test was yet to come with another gruelling running session. Marked out with cones round what looked like a 400m track, it was about fifteen to twenty minutes of constant running with movement variations you would expect to see in a football match i.e. on a whistle, players checking in to specifically position cones then back again to continue their marathon.
If any of the lads had anything left in the tank after the first part of the session; that was enough to zap it.
The cool-down after training was a little different to last night; instead of utilising the pool facilities at the base, JP had the lads up to their chests in the Mediterranean Sea. It wasn’t quite Baywatch, but some of the locals were certainly taking an interest.
Lunch was nice – the Couscous proving particular popular, apparently.
The afternoon shall be spent in the gym (to try and let the sun cool down just a little bit) for 60 minutes then back out onto the pitch again at 6pm.
The session was based around a game with three 20-minute thirds. Stuart McCall took part himself, showing the touch and passing ability, if not the pace, that made him a 40-times capped Scottish International. There was a lot for ‘Well fans to be excited with – Paul Lawson and Gunnar Nielsen in particularly excellent form.
The games were close but a late, late Bob McHugh goal made sure the non-bibs were victorious.
The evening was for the players to have some vital downtime ahead of a more tough training session tomorrow.
Keep up to date with additional information via Twitter and some behind-the-scenes pictures on Instagram. Action shots from training can also be found on our official Facebook page.
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