United Takes The Shield In Style

Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Smalling (52), Nani (58, 90)
Manchester City: Lescott (38), Dzeko (45)


Team: De Gea, Vidic (Evans 45), Rio (Jones 45), Smalling, Evra (Rafael 71), Carrick (Cleverley 45), Anderson, Young, Nani, Welbeck (Berbatov 89), Rooney

Pre-season
Before I do this, I have to say that this has been a truely awesome summer. We opened the chequebook and acquired Young, De Gea and Jones as part of our retooling project after the departures of some experienced players, some via retirements and others off the greener pastures. Make no mistake, these players will be sorely missed.

We've also been absolutely a peach to watch during pre-season. All our keepers (De Gea, Lindegaard, Amos) performed wonderfully and worthy successors of Van der Sar's no.1 jersey. The only thing lacking is that little bit of experience that will differentiate them from good to great.

Our strikers were all on form and viaing for the starting position. Hernandez had a sizzling performance in the Gold Cup, while the others (Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Macheda, Welbeck and Diouf) all scored in the pre-season and looked extremely hungry. It's a pity only 2-3 will be used in the regular season.

Even in midfield, where we looked like lightweights, was churning out a surprise. Anderson and Park showed fine form, while Cleveley looks like a real keeper.

Just to emphasize how good our pre-season was, even Obertan looked the part. It seems like he's finally learnt the finer points of playing the wing ie. when to shoot and when to pass. Unfortunately, with the depth in that department, he's been loaned off to the crybabies (Newcastle). If he gains the kind of experience Cleveley and Welbeck did last season, we'd be looking at an awesome player come next season.

Community Shield
Amazing game, amazing result. To add to that, we practically did it with kids. In your face Shitty.

Well against the run of play, we conceded late in the first half after dominating most of the play. After a dumb foul by Evra, Lescott rose the highest to head the freekick into De Gea's net.

To make matters worse, De Gea was found lacking when he allowed Dzeko's rasping shot fly by him. Must have been a nightmare for De Gea, but he proved his worth in the second half with a couple of point blank saves that justified why we paid a princely sum for him.

The second half was when the true United turned up. It wasn't a surprise that the usually ineffective Carrick was replaced by a youthful Cleverley. Rio and Vidic were also replaced and the centre pairing of Evans and Jones did really well.

With age replaced by youth as the theme of the second half, it wasn't a surprise that Smalling stole the thunder when he connected to Young's freekick to direct the ball into the net with the entire Shitty defense napping.

Nani added a quickfire second after some beautiful inter-passing by Rooney and Cleverley set him free. It was all United all day. Shitty struggled to get a sniff of the ball as we passed the ball around the park effectively and efficiently. Cleverley was a marvel to behold. His range of passing and workrate is top notched. If he can play at this level consistently, it seems that our woes in midfield are finally over. Sneijder who?

Just as the game was edging towards penalties, Nani turned defense into attack with a lightning blitz after Kompany failed to clear the danger and sprinted off in the opposite direction, around Hart and gleefully passing the ball into the empty net before the final whistle.

It was a truely wonderful perfomance coming back from 2 goals down to stick the dagger to silience the perpetual noise. It's a very encouraging result with so many new and young players. We once again stamped our authority and once again showed the rest of the league that we're still the ones to beat.