Tolgay Ozbey joins McDowell Mohun Bagan practice

Tolgay Ozbey attended practice session today along with other McDowell Mohun Bagan players. Though Tolgay was present yesterday in the club tent, he did not participate in the training session because of jet lag.

A total number of 27 players were present in today's practice session which was held in the club ground in morning. The first part of the session was physical training conducted by Mr. Joseph Arnold D'Argus. In between stretching and jogging, there were also some practice with the ball where the players had to pass the ball one touch. While passing the ball, when it raised above the pitch, Chief Coach Santosh Kashyap was heard saying, "Keep the ball on the ground, why are you raising the ball?"

Mr. Kashyap also asked the boys to communicate with each other. "Talk to each other, communicate with each other, enjoy the training," he advised them.

Also there were a few variety of practice where the players were divided into teams and they had to pass the ball to each other before shifting position. Santosh Kashyap is trying to implement the Barcelona model of passing game.

Goalkeeper coach Hemanta Dora was seen practicing separately with the 4 goalkeepers.

There was a fun game and coach announced "Whoever will win, I will reward him." Ultimately, Nirmal Chhetri won the game and Tolgay was the first one to come and congratulate him.

In the 2nd part of the training, the players were divided into 3 teams and match were played between them. Tolgay Ozbey looked in great touch as he scored 2 stunning goals today. The first one came from a direct free kick. The shot had so much power that though Shilton dived to his left to make a save, the ball hit his hand, bounced off the ground and went inside the goal. The second goal came from Tolgay's trademark run down the left flank. He cut in and took a right footed grounder which bulged into the net with goalkeeper remaining stranded in the goalline. Santosh Kashyap said after the practice, "I am very happy with the condition of Tolgay in the very 1st day itself. He looked in good shape today and even scored 2 beautiful goals."

During the match, once when goalkeeper Milton Bhowmick threw the ball towards a defender standing in front of him, Mr. Kashyap at once instructed Milton to pass the ball to the side backs to spread the game. Denson Devadas who otherwise is showing good form in practice missed a sitter. Coach went running towards him and explained to him his mistake and how he should have taken the shot to score the goal.

He urged the players to take shots at the goal during the match. If the shots went out of target, he shouted, "No problem, keep shooting." When one goalkeeper conceded one soft goal, Mr. Kashyap instead of criticizing him said, "Bad luck, next shot you will save." Indeed, that goalkeeper made a couple of great saves soon after.

Regarding the preseason camp, coach Santosh Kashyap said, "Though the ground here is very good, still we will be going to Durgapur for a residential camp. One of the many reasons for the camp is team building. There will be good bonding between the players in the residential camp."

Mariners will be practicing in the club ground for a couple of more days before going to Durgapur for a preseason residential camp.