"Looking forward to game today. No such thing as friendly against city. We want to win." This was reeled off by Wayne Rooney when giving his prematch thoughts prior to the Community shield.
“Whenever you are wearing the sky Blue shirt and playing against United, whether it is a under 15s game, an under 18s game or an FA Cup Semi Final , there is a special edge to it,”
The Community Shield is normally billed as a curtain raiser, a showpiece even for charity. However Rooney's quotes and events on the pitch displayed otherwise.
Manchester United started the match in superb rhythm . Immediately pushing City back, defending from the front, hustling Manchester City. This performance was very similar to those of Barcelona's, Manchester United pressured City into mistakes. David Silva was marked out of the game for the first twenty minutes, the towering Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli conquered by the defensive pair of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
United were slick and precise in the opening stages however for all their dominance they failed to seriously test Joe Hart.
City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.
However eight lightning minutes, Manchester City turned the game on its head. James Milner surging run was halted by Patrice Evra on the edge of the box. David Silva who until then had been uncharacteristically quite much due to the brilliance of the United defence swung in a beautiful cross for Jolean Lescott to nod into the net.
Questions will be asked over David De Gea. The young spaniard had an opportunity to command his area and catch the ball however he decided not to and that enable Jolean Lescott to glance in a header.
United were hard done by but one cannot appreciate Manchester City's brute strength in midfield. Rio Ferdinand was also to blame for letting Lescott to head the ball in the first place.
Eight minuted later Edin Dzeko found space an struck a thundering shot past David De Gea. Nemanja Vidic allowed Dzeko far too much space which was gleefully accepted. Once again De Gea should have stopped it, reacting late to the 25 yard bullet which was not placed in the corner of the net.
United were shellshocked they were the far superior team however they were trudging into the tunnel two goals down. The blue moon rose, sadly for City fan's it was eclipsed by United "winning mentality". The phrase that so many managers place an importance on. The Red Devils never give in, every United player when they give an interview always state the word "believe" . Nani summed it up by saying this. "“This is United – we always believe until the last minute,”.
Ferguson sent on new signing Phil Jones and Jonny Evans to replace Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic at the back, and introducing Tom Cleverley into his midfield. The transformation was clearly visible.
Cleverly who has a bright future ahead of him injected pace and forward movement into United's midfield. noticeabale difference between Carrick's who was substituted and Cleverly is that Carrick's passes the ball and is stagnant whereas Cleverly passes and moves.
United picked up where they left off in the first half in the ascendency. Smalling reduced the deficit from close range when Young's free-kick evaded Lescott and, six minutes later, Nani levelled when he rounded off a quick-fire passing move involving Rooney and Cleverley.
United were knocking at City's door time and time again however credit to City they held firm. Kompany marshalled his defence well until the dying mininutes of the match. Dzeko missed a golden chance to win the match but he missed his header, the ball fell to Rooney who hooked the ball forward. It bounced just before Kompany and Clichy they both hesitated allowing the superb Nani to nip the ball past Kompany and around Joe Hart to send the United fans in into ecstasy.
A new United but the same old story. Manchester United win the Charity Shield belting out a clear message to their rivals, that they are well and truly up for the fight.
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