FA Community Shield

[Guest]

Today we see Man Utd meet their old rivals Man City in the Community Shield.
How do you see this one going?
Will the new signings make an instant impact?

[Adam D]

Ii have a feeling that Man City will want to put down a marker over their closest rivals.

[Crimey]

I agree with Hobo. I can see City taking this a bit more seriously than United and going full out for the win as a victory over United would mean a lot more to City and would be a huge boost to their confidence pre-season while a loss for United won't really have any effect.

I can see Ashley Young making an impact but I reckon Aguero won't do anything special.

[Guest]

You are correct, Aguero is set to be on the bench.

Team news:
Manchester City's record signing Sergio Aguero is set to be on the bench for Sunday's Community Shield against Manchester United at Wembley.

The Argentina striker has had blistered feet since his move from Atletico Madrid but is now training as normal.

Fellow new signings Stefan Savic and Gael Clichy will also feature.

United midfielder Michael Carrick is set to miss out after picking up an Achilles problem in Edwin van der Sar's testimonial on Wednesday.

Fellow midfielder Darren Fletcher and full-back Rafael are all back in training for the Red Devils following knocks in pre-season, but Sunday's game could come too soon for them.

Winger Antonio Valencia has also returned to training after recovering from the ankle injury he suffered while playing for Ecuador at the Copa America and could play a part at Wembley.

However, Javier Hernandez will miss the game and the start of the season after he suffered a concussion last month.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14420151.stm

[Crimey]

Yeah I heard about that, I think they'll bring him on for 20-30 minutes.

[Guest]

Be interesting to see him.
I haven't seen much of him previously, but for the cash spent you would think (hope) he is worth it. I've got him in one of my fantasy footy games.

[Crimey]

It's a big risk I think, he could be a Carlos Tevez or he could be a Diego Forlan.

[Guest]

Forlan has always been a mystery to me. Flops in the UK but scores for fun in Spain.
Speaking of Tevez, do you think he will start the match?

[AberdeenSteve]

Tevez isn't even on the bench. He is still on leave following the Copa America mate

[Guest]

Gotcha

[AberdeenSteve]

Don't how much we'll see of Aguero either. He might get a ten minute cameo as he is supposedly struggling with blisters. Poor soul.

[Guest]

p.s.
I voted Utd

[Guest]

MUFC team: De Gea, Smalling, Rio, Vidic, Evra. Nani, Carrick. Anderson, Young, Rooney, Welbeck.
MCFC: Hart, Richards, Kompany (c), Lescott, Kolarov, De Jong, Yaya Toure, Silva, Milner, Balotelli, Dzeko.

Based on this I'm going to go for Man City to win 1-0.

[Guest]

Still a strong United side, not too dissimilar to that of the first half team against the Cosmos on Friday, which I was at, and they looked very good and hungry.

United 1-0.

[Davie]

City to win 3-1

[Crimey]

Smalling at right back?

[Fernando]

1-1 united win in e.t

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

Anyone been watching? De Gea looks like shrewd piece of business. And people are saying we've overpaid on players. Conceded the most goals outside of the box in La Liga last season with 11. Do you think Sir Alex knew this statistic?

[Guest]

This should probably be merged with the orignal Community Shield topi; but I thinkfor the first goal Ferdinand should have challenged better in the air. Second goal he dived down late, but you have to question the way Ferdinand and Vidic both backed off Dzeko.

[Crimey]

Threads merged.

[AberdeenSteve]

Very harsh to criticise the young goalkeeper when he was left horribly exposed by his supposed more experienced centre backs. He was at wrong for the second game but WHERE WAS THE MARKING?? Awful defending.

Bets on Fergie having chucked something in the dressing room at half time?

[AberdeenSteve]

Cleverely looks a fantastic wee player!

2-1 and back in the game

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

11 goals from outside of the box is bad. Nearly as bad as Robinson.



Given for £3.5mill looks a bargin and probs be signing of the season

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

What goal by Utd


Sadly

[AberdeenSteve]

2-2, boom!!!!!!!!!!

Fegrie without a doubt battered them into submission at half time. The man is a genius!

[AberdeenSteve]

Tom Cleverley, he seems like a new signing. Brilliant link up play for that last goal!!

[Crimey]

Game brought level so Mancini takes off a striker and puts on the crab Barry....

[Guest]

Game brought level so Mancini takes off a striker and puts on the crab Barry....

Perhaps he is playing for pens already!?

[AberdeenSteve]

What is Mancini thinking taking off Ballotelli and taking on a midfielder? Does he actually have any tactical savvy?

City will never challenge for major honors.

[AberdeenSteve]

How on earth is Adam Johnson not a starter for City? Quality player!

[AberdeenSteve]

City have no showed this second half. Brilliant performance from United.

Money cannot buy you success;

We are still top dogs in Manchester!!

[Guest]

Awful mis-communication right at the end. Good to see Fergie using quite a few younger players near the end. Will echo what others have said, Cleverley looked good.

[Guest]

Cleverley was fantastic!

Brilliant comeback, bring on the new season!!

[AberdeenSteve]

After that second half performance, does anyone actually see City challenging for the title this season?

They seem like a team that doesn't want to fight for anything, let alone the most important thing.. each other. Too many egos IMO for them to challenge.

[The Galveston Giant]

Good game, nice result for United.

[Guest]

Not a lot of Man City's lot looked fully fit. With Kompany, Richards and Hart in the defence they should always look quite solid, especially with De Jong and Toure in support. I think they just miss a creative spark in the middle to set players like Silva, Balotelli and Dzeko free. It's quite possibly Aguero will be able to do that.

Anyone else agree that Welbeck looked better than Cleverley? The attacks that he was involved in seem to flow very well.

[sodhat]

Jones, Cleverly, Welbeck and Smalling are all good, young players who can do brilliantly at United. I hope they all get more and more chances at the club this season because cleverly made a real difference when he came on.

Hope Welbeck gets chances with Hernandez and Berbatov, he doesn't need to bench warm all season.

[Davie]

Cleverly looked badly out of place amongst his more illustrious team mates, Stupidly, Aggresively, Moronicly, Lazily, Uglily, Show-Ponyly and Twitterly

[Guest]

Disagree Davie.

He added some much needed verve and incisiveness to United's midfield in the second half and wasn't afraid to get involved. Bags of potential!

[Guest]

Is it safe to say that Man City and more to the point Mancini lost City this game more than Utd actually winning it?

[Guest]

what happened to balotelli? did he throw a strop after being subbed again?

[Fernando]

he went got changed and then came and sat on the bench

[sodhat]

Disagree Davie.

He added some much needed verve and incisiveness to United's midfield in the second half and wasn't afraid to get involved. Bags of potential!

Agreed, he offered more creatively than the other united midfielders did, and his role in the second goal was sublime.

[The Pugilist]

Cleverly will be this year's Jack Wilshere in my opinion, he's going to shine if given the game time. He had a few skyward shots, but, apart from those his control of play was far superior to what you'd expect for somebody of his age and experience. Huge potential, great talent. If United make no more signings this summer - he'll be the reason why.

[BigPhil]

I'm so happy, living in Stockport, the only place where Manchester City have fans in great numbers I've once again got the bragging rights!

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