This year's FA Community Shield pitted Man City (FA Cup Winners) against Man United (Premier League Champions). Often this match has the feel of a friendly to it, not the feel of a regular season match or the intensity of a Cup Final. Well, adding the Manchester Derby to it upped the intensity this year quite a bit.
Last year about this time, City were in the process of closing down a major spending spree over the summer transfer window. Going into the new EPL season, they were a trendy pick as a dark horse to take the title from Chelsea. Well, we know how that turned out. Sir Alex compared the blue side of Manchester to "Noisy Neighbors," United took the league, and only the fact that City prioritized the FA Cup at the end kept them from going without any trophies to show for their funding. So both sides have something to prove. City wants to show that they're legit contenders, not just an all-star team, and United wants to show that they're still top dog.
If you were to look at the score line on this match, it might seem like a tale of two halves, but that wouldn't be quite true. United dominated for the most of the match. It was a very lively and chippy match, with 5 yellows handed out in the first half alone. However, as so often happens in soccer, United didn't capitalize on their work and chances and it bit them in the ass.
In the 38th minute, City capitalized on some of their only good possession of the first half. David Silva put a free kick into the area, and the United Defense plus De Gea just kind of stood ball watching as Lescott came in and flipped it into the net to make it 1-0. City added one more before the half, when Dzeko bombed a shot in past De Gea from distance to make it 2-0, and end both the first half and a rocky spell for the new United 'keeper.
Coming out of half time, you could tell United wasn't interested in conceding the shield to City at the 2-0 score line. In the 51st minute, Smalling got on the end of an Ashley Young free kick and flicked it past Joe Hart to make it 2-1. Then just a few minutes later Cleverley, Rooney, and Nani tore apart the City defense and earned the equalizer scored by Nani. 2-2.
Things looked to be headed to penalties, but City screwed themselves in the 94th minute. Rooney hit a clearance out of the United box, but Vincent Kompany totally misread it at the back. A hustling Nani stormed onto it, juked Hart out of his boots, and calmly slotted home the game winner, 2-3 to United. It was a bad blunder by Kompany and a great hustle play by Nani.
In the end, I thought United played the better match and deserved the result. However, De Gea looked a little rocky in goal. After all, he is only 20. We'll see how that goes through the EPL season.
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