Posted by Brendan Morris

It would be hard to argue that today's Community Shield, annual curtain raiser to the EPL season, was not the most anticipated one in years.  Quite possibly ever.  There's always fireworks expected and a massive media hype build up around any derby match involving the red and blue halves of Manchester but this one was pretty special.  No matter how much either manager attempted to dismiss any kind of importance or implications surrounding the result of this match in the week leading up to it, we all knew for a hard cold fact that such comments were complete and utter bollocks.  In grand tradition, these sides properly hate each other and would love nothing more than to start the season with a leg up on their crosstown rivals.  Competitively meaningless and purely psychological as that leg up may be, they both wanted it. Bad.  For me though, it was clear that only one of those sides really came into this game like they were going to take it.

At no surprise to anyone, United and City both put out strong, "we mean bloody business" lineups, and they were going hammer and tongs from the start.  United in particular was tearing into their sky blue opposition in the first 10 minutes, and the Blues were extremely lucky not to concede in that early stretch: Ashley Young being the greatest offensive menace on the attack.

The Reds continued to dominate the majority of play in the first half, certainly creating more quality chances and maintaining the lion's share of possession, only to have it all fall apart in the dying minutes.  A well taken corner from David Silva soared just over Vidic's reach to meet the head of Joleon Lescott who unfortunately easily put the ball into the back of the net.  Well played no doubt, but it did leave you wishing for a bit more from Rio who was in front of the ball as it fell into the box.

The first goal coming against the run of play seemed to unhinge the United defense so much so that they quite shockingly allowed City to add insult to injury and go 2-0 up during first half injury time.  Edin Dzeko took a, lets face it, not a great strike from distance that manged to find it's way past new boy De Gea.   Admittedly our new much hyped keeper should've done a lot better with the somewhat awkward shot from the big Bosnian, I'm going to go ahead and chalk it up to nerves during his first match on a big stage.  He's going to need time to settle folks, no need to get worked up here just yet.

United started the first half by making some interesting, and really pretty ballsy changes swapping Smalling and Evans (!) for Vida and Rio and Tom Cleverly for Michael Carrick.  These almost questionable changes just gave further credence to the old United fan creed "In Fergie We Trust" because boy, what a difference it made.

Our Reds came absolutely roaring back and we're all level inside of the first 13 minutes.  The combination of the young defenders going forward and the incredible pace and on and off the ball sharpness of Cleverley gave the squad just the kind of shot in the arm it needed.  The sheer speed of the buildup play was something to behold, and was some of the best I've seen from United in some time.  The best part of all, CITY JUST COULDN'T COPE WITH IT!!

The first goal came when Young placed a fantastically taken dead ball into the penalty area for Smalling to receive in mid-air and put a sort of clever side kick on it to put it past Joe Hart.  It was due credit to Smalling who managed to make his attacking presence know throughout the match having taken one threatening shot on goal already.  Six minutes later though, the next goal was truly a thing of beauty.

The gorgeous team play I was waxing on about really came together for this one when Nani put in a great pass to Rooney just off the box, Roo then placing a slick back heel pass to the feet of Cleverley who then tipped the ball sideways into the path of Nani chipping it coolly over the oncoming Joe Hart. 

Rooney and Nani are always standout performers of course, and their play there was nothing short of just that, but Cleverley was the part of that equation that really made me take notice there.  Having already mentioned the instant impact he made upon his substitution, I was doubly impressed to see him so easily reading the play and fitting right in with the big boys.  Do we really need Wesley Sneijder? Hmmm.....

City were clearly worn down and rattled by these 2 goals in quick succession, and they never did really grab a hold of the match again.  Substitute Adam Johnson was definitely the most lively of the bunch in the second half, and put in their best chance with a laser strike from distance around the 75th minute which was fortunately well blocked by De Gea. 

As the minutes wore on I always felt the winning goal was coming, even as we blew a few late chances I knew this game wasn't going to go to spot kicks.  Besides the fact that United have that well earned reputation of making our own luck and getting the result in the dying minutes, It was a feeling also born of the fact that City themselves were already playing like they were beaten.  Roberto Mancini made a quite surprisingly bold statement earlier this week claiming his squad had something of a "mental weakness" that needed to be overcome before they can be real title contenders.  Well, Bobby Manc was cerainly right about that as they couldn't even keep it together at 2 goals up, always looking like they were expecting the death blow.

That death blow lovely and beautifully came in the second minute of stoppage time when a truly (que up S1TV Wayne Rooney voice) shambolic error from Vincent Kompany gifted Nani a one on one position wth Heart in LOADS of space.  Nani approached quickly, slowed as he reached Hart, easily wrong wayed the City keeper and put the winner into the net.  It was as slick and cool a goal as any I've seen from most top strikers in the game.  Call me an arrogant United fan, I don't care, but it was always going to happen that way.
Besides the complete breakdown of defence that allowed the 2 city goals at the end of the second half, the positives to take away from the match are absolutely fantastic and set a quite serious statement of intent for this nearly upon us EPL season.
 
- Ashley Young: Looks to be a top drawer signing to say the very least.  His crosses are precise and superbly consistent, and he drifts off the wing into a support striker role at will to a very effective degree.  He's going to be a big player for us, mark my words.

- Danny Welbeck: To the chagrin of many a United fan I've never been a huge fan of the young Englishman, but coming back from his loan spell he seems a completely different player.  All that pace and power has been matched with some much needed maturity in his vision and decision making and it seems he's going the potential to be quite the explosive package this season.

- Tom Cleverley:  I've said quite a bit about the lad already, but good Lord he's earned it.  I think it was always in the back of a lot of supporters minds for the last several seasons that he could well be the replacement for the inevitable retirement of Paul Scholes and today he did more than well to stake his claim as such.  I'm not saying a creative midfield signing should be wiped off the cards as of yet, he's still a young player that needs a lot more game time.  But hey, if Chicharito had the season he had last year, why not Cleverley?  I can not wait to find out.

- Our Up And Coming Defenders:  Smalling, Phil Jones, Rafael and Jonny Evans were impressive as all hell today deputizing for Rio, Vidic, and Evra.  There were a few shaky moments there, but I have all and absolute conviction that the next generation of a powerful and resolute United backline are firmly and well in place.  Even Evans who had a very rough year last term seemed to show a return to the form that granted him so much success during the '09-'10 season standing in for an often injured Ferdinand.

- General Team Play and Morale:  We had a wonderfully successful preseason of scoring goals for fun against admittedly weaker opposition, but it seems that we brought the bond and high spirits of the tour into this match.  The boys look confident as can be and for as well as they're playing they damn well should.  Like I said, it's been some time since I've seen them looking so sharp.  If only they could've managed it in a certain Champions League Final. 

Granted it's VERY early days yet and I'm not going to get too carried away, but we really couldn't be in a better positon for the start of the league next week.  With Arsenal on a steady decline, Chelsea appearing to have all the same short comings they did last season, and Liverpool still re-constructing their squad, City could arguably be our closest competition this year.  After today's display I've got to admit I'm feeling pretty damn good about the whole thing.  They came from behind and TOOK that trophy away from City.  That's the resolve of Champions.