So after a couple of months without any real competitive football in England, the winners of the League and the FA Cup convene to contest the Community Shield this Sunday. Manchester United will be defending the trophy after beating Chelsea 3-1 last year and Manchester City will be looking to win the shield for the first time since they beat Aston Villa 1-0 in 1972. This is the first time the teams have met to contest the shield in the last 50 years and although some may regard it as a bit of a friendly without the commitment of a competitive League game, the Manchester derby doesn’t often fail to become a bit of a spectacle.
The teams may give a few squad players a run out, however there have been changes over the summer in both camps. With United losing Paul Scholes to retirement and the debate ensuing over the strength of their midfield, along with the addition of Ashley Young and Phil Jones, it’s hard to call a ‘strongest starting eleven’ at the moment anyway. City on the other hand don’t have Carlos Tevez to deal with this weekend as he has been given an extended leave, but Mancini will also have to make decisions with fans undoubtedly wanting a glimpse of new signing Sergio Aguero. I’m not sure that the game will flow particularly well as both managers will probably take the opportunity of making substitutions (maximum of 6 each) and experimenting slightly with the team. Even so, I would expect there to be a few good passages of play and attempts on goal, with any extra damage done to the opponents only serving as a further psychological blow as the season gets underway.
Both teams have had a pretty good pre-season, with United winning all the games in their American tour, and City recently beating Inter Milan 3-0. In recent years, the winner of the Community Shield has gone on to win the League, with United doing so 3 times, so both teams will be looking to kick-start their season with a piece of silverware to show the rest of England, as well as their rivals, that they mean business. It also gives the players a chance to show that they are ready for the season.
There are a number of fringe players at both clubs that will be looking for more first team football this season and hoping to impress their manager. City have Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko who have looked good pre-season, as well as Aguero who will want some competitive game time ahead of the new season. Ferguson will be without Hernandez, but has to juggle Rooney, Owen, Berbatov and the likes of Macheda and Welbeck who are possibly on the lookout for some game time.
However, it could be in the midfield where the most interesting and competitive battle will take place. When the two teams last met at Wembley, in the FA Cup semi-finals last season, Yaya Toure was the dominant force and made the break through in the second half, after which United were never really able to reverse their fortunes and gain the upper hand, particularly after the sending off of Scholes. Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong also started and helped to protect the defence and break up play. This weekend I would expect a more open game, with slightly different and more attacking formations and tactics being used, probably with both teams using 2 strikers as opposed to one. Hopefully this will stretch the game out a bit more and stop it getting bogged down in mifield or pinning teams down in their own half.
I wouldn’t expect a classic, with both teams perhaps feeling out the opposition for the first half an hour at least, but with the quality on show I would hope to see a few good performances and maybe a goal or four (pre-season optimism). Having said that, with the teams pretty evenly matched and neither side really wanting to lose to their local rivals and give up the chance of silverware early in the season, I can see a penalty shootout on the horizon. For anyone yearning for a prediction, I would put it at 1-1 with the hero probably being one of the two goalkeepers. David De Gea has a point to prove as United’s new number one and Joe Hart is just a quality goalkeeper who you’d back in a shootout against big sides.
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