Much of the breakfast chatter on day four of our trip concerned last night’s in house game – players and staff relishing a return to a game situation after the long summer off.

It was a slightly later start in view of those exertions so conversation was a little more animated than usual over toast and sausages, with goals dissected and performances scrutinised.

The game ended all square between the EDS and u18s – with Lukas Nmecha and Zackarias Faour on target for

Back out on the training ground, and with the coaching staff waiting for their charges to finish individually tailored programmes in the gym and swimming pool, they instigated a friendly two touch game.

Although, as I’m rapidly discovering, friendly never, ever means non-competitive…

Most of us might think challenging a World Cup winner to anything involving footballing skills would be a foolish idea, and while I would never pretend my own tentative sidefooting attempts were ever a match for Patrick Vieira, no such modesty for Performance Analyst Aaron Briggs.

Luckily, and inevitably, CityTV were indeed on hand to get the footage, airing on mcfc.co.uk tomorrow of World Cup Winner Vieira versus Football Amateur Briggs.

I can confirm the results are definitely worth watching.

Elsewhere, and we sat down with Ashley Smith-Brown and

We were back training in the late evening sunshine after the game. While it was a lower intensity session following the game, there was still plenty to admire from what is a very talented group of young players.

Not least, this gem from Paolo Fernandes.

Yesterday we brought you Aaron Nemane’s sweet strike, but today I reckon Fernandes has outdone him. What do you reckon? This vid lets you compare and contrast.

Take a bow! Class on show with a pair of sweet training ground goals from @FPaolo10 and @AaronNemane11 #edsontour https://t.co/4qJ7ggza26

— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) July 16, 2015

I wandered over to the u18 pitch to see what they were up to after testing their pre-season to date against the EDS and found finishing practice in full flow.

Jason Wilcox was conducting his young orchestra, encouraging them to keep trying for the finish if the move leading up to it didn’t exactly follow the training plan – much like a real game, I suspect!

One of the new u18s is England international Will Patching, who at 16 is already celebrating a decade in blue. I sat down with him for an interview about his exploits for club and country.

I also asked him who his first footballing idol was… just as Vieira happened to wander past us. I’m pleased to report Will did know the correct answer and immediately piped up: Patrick Vieira.