Reaction and analysis
So that’s about us - thanks for your company. Bye!
Here’s Amy Lawrence’s match report...
It’s been a while since a team retained the Premier League - the last was Manchester United 2007-2009. And they started brilliantly in 1997-98 only to fall away, likewise Arsenal in 2002-03 - but they were bested by sides far better than than those seeking to outstrip City. The thing with City is that the way they play and the firepower they have, it’s very hard to see them dropping many points against the less good teams, even if - and it’s a big if - the better ones can beat them one-on-one.
Hey Jude is playing and the City team are singing along as the trophy goes down the line. Ilkay Gundogan is sporting an extremely severe haircut.
Mike Summerbee is very happy, and will present the trophy to Fernandinho, captain for the day ... er, and Vincent Kompany, club captain.
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I wonder where Guardiola will use Foden - will he be a midfielder or a wide player? And when, if at all, he’ll bin someone proper from his starting XI to accommodate him.
Chelsea have already been up, and now here come City to collect the Shield.
Oh, and they’re also really happy. Mahrez looks especially happy, and Aguero receives the man of the match champagne from the McDonald’s mum of the year. It’s extremely moving, I can tell you.
Riyad Mahrez thinks it was a good win. Sergio Aguero thinks the most important thing was to win the trophy. They really do.
He says City will take it game by game and if they play in the same way as today they’ll see where they get to.
He also says Foden was ready for the Premier League last season, so is even, er, readier now and it’s good to have a player with such talent, all the more so a homegrown one.
Pep Guardiola is happy his team did so well given how little prep City have had, and how hot it was.
The Chelsea players are applauding empty seats.
That was as easy as could be for City, who played with their usual enterprise and speed; Foden and Mendy were particular pluses. Chelsea, who just couldn’t live with them, have a lot of work to do - and even then.
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Manchester City win the Community Shield!
Full-time: Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City
90+4 min Gomez, who has impressed Guardiola a lot this pre-season, replaces Stones.
90+4 min City have had chances to win this by six, and there’s another, the ball going out to the right then back over to the left, where Diaz megs Azpilicueta in passing to Jesus. He’s in front of Caballero, back to goal, and when he can’t turn on it it goes back to Bernardo, whose shot is poked away by Rudiger.
90+3 min Willian robs Otamendi, who immediately robs him back. City break and within seconds, Walker has put the lively Diaz in. But Caballero, who’s been decent, it out sharply, stands up well, and blocks the shot with his body.
90+2 min Sergio Ageuro is announced a man of the match; can’t argue with that.
90+1 min Chelsea want to go home. They’re tired and they want to go to bed. They consumed an alcoholic beverage 60 minutes ago and it’s penetrated the cerebellum. Wherever they may perambulate, on land or sea or atmospheric vapour, you will always hear them chanting this melody, indicate the route to their habitual abode.
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90 min There shall be four additional minutes.
88 min One pass sets Barkley away down the right, and his low cross is decent, seeking Abraham. Bravo, though, is out well, smothering the shot, and the spin on the Rick O’Shea means that Moses can’t simply prod home. Chelsea have to content themselves with a corner, which of course comes to nothing.
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87 min Laporte has hurt himself, so Otamendi comes on.
86 min Chelsea fans are streaming to the exits. The lure of the Tube queue is a difficult one to resist.
84 min Here come City yet again, this time with Diaz and Jesus, who rinses Luiz and should pass, but instead unloads a shot that Caballero beats away. This second half in particular hass been a chastening one for Chelsea.
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83 min Sarri is making a lot of notes. I wonder if “must play better” is one of them.
82 min Unai Emery is in the crowd; City play Arsenal next week. Good luck with that one. In the meantime, the lively Diaz runs at the Chelsea defence and tries another low shot, which Caballero shoves away.
81 min City knock it about with apparent effortlessness.
80 min A change apiece: Moses for Pedro, and Kompany for Aguero. As such, Stones is now playing in midfield.
79 min Still all City, Mendy again burrowing forward and finding Aguero, who opens his body and slides right for Diaz. He does really well to trick past Alonso on the outside, but with men in the box, opts to fire high into the side-netting.
76 min “I agree with you in that City have by far superior players in certain positions right now, but this Chelsea squad is still finding a way,” reckons Trishanu Borah. “Two weeks into Sarri’s new system, while City has been under Pep for what, 2 years now? The midfield indeed looks far from impressive, but we are missing 2 players called N’golo and Kante. As for the attack, Hazard and Willian will soon be slotting in!
My only concern is the club not willing to spend on a properleft-back, (though Emerson can come good I guess), Alonso, as great as he is on the goalscoring front, has much lacking to be a left-back in an attacking system depending on a high line.”
Sure - Chelsea will be better with Kante and Hazard - I’m just saying that 4-3-3 doesn’t strike me as the best way to get the best out of this squad, and if Sarri isn’t getting money to spend, maybe he should prioritise his players over his principles.
75 min Foden, who’s been good, is replaced by Diaz.
74 min “Aguero is underlining what the Argentine national team should have done in the World Cup,” emails Rick McGahey, “have him attacking in the box to free up space for Messi drifting in behind into the open spaces created. Aguero’s aggressive forward play, constantly moving and challenging the back line is a great strength for any team and it is mysterious why Argentina didn’t use him more.”
They didn’t seem to have any plan - not even how best to use Messi - just a lot of good attackers to chuck at things and hope.
72 min In comes the free-kick, and though there are far more defenders than attackers in the box, City still find an overload at the back post and Luiz has to head behind. The corner goes to Gundogan on the edge, and he curves a first-time pass over the top ... and again, Aguero is in aeons, hooking a hard volley that Caballero has to beat away.
71 min Jesus nips the ball around Rudiger out on the left and is duly fouled. Worse than it looked, reckons McManaman, “to be very honest”. Because plain old honesty just won’t do.
69 min Chelsea resolve their lack of striking presence by introducing Abraham ... in place of Morata. I don’t know; it looks like Sarri is prioritising theory over reality, because two men up would at least give City something about which to think.
68 min Jesus replaces Hiyad Mahrez.
67 min Chelsea cannot play a line this high without pressure on the ball, and they get away with another one when Rudiger steps up as Aguero darts in behind. he flag goes up, but I’m not so sure.
66 min So here come City again, Mendy prominent down the left and Mahrez cracking a low shot just wide.
66 min But Morata is involved as Chelsea get the ball out to Pedro, who comes inside on his left foot and fades a soft shot just wide.
64 min City look far more likely to score again than Chelsea do to sneak a livener. Morata really needs some help; to play up front on your bill, you’ve got to be special, and the best at it tend to have an imposing personality. He does not.
62 min “The idea that Chelsea ‘don’t have the players’ seems to be a very modern mindset, and not one I particularly like”, emails Souradeep Sengupta. The old-fashioned approach, which Sarri himself agrees with, is to improve players on the training ground. Sure, Drinkwater will never be Pirlo, but if he can help Hudson-Odoi and Barkley, both of whom have looked promising in this match, to reach their potential, Sarriball could be a reality. It’s not that strange a philosophy, verticality and a high line.”
Chelsea aren’t as good as City, and the reason Conte put them in that 3-4-2-1 was because it best suited the players he had - in particular, Luiz and Hazard. Sarri can coach players, it’s true, but into better versions of themselves, not different iterations entirely.
60 min Pedro catches his knee on Laporte, but seems to be fine immediately afterwards.
60 min Before we kick-off again, two changes for Chelsea: Hudson-Odoi and Fabregas off, Willian and Drinkwater on.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Manchester City (Aguero 58)
This is ominous for the rest. Stones intercepts, Gudogan carries on through midfield, and finds Bernardo, who slides a reverse-ball into the box for Aguero. This time there’s no messing and he snaps his usual finish under Caballero.
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57 min Decent long pass from Luiz, putting Hudson-Odoi in a race with Walker, but the bounce helps the defender and allows him to intervene.
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56 min City are so purposeful in their passing, always looking to go forward and to where their opponent is weakest. Chelsea, on the other hand, are sluggish, though chasing the ball in the heat is not best preparation for whatever it is they’re trying to achieve.
53 min After an outstanding year as a hypeman, Mendy is enjoying himself on the pitch. He’ll make City a lot better, though if Fernandinho gets injured for any length of time, they’ll have a problem. But here comes Azpilicueta, finding space outside him and hitting a cross on the run which forces a corner. It comes to nothing and City quickly counter, but make nothing of it.
52 min It’s all very well, Sarri trying to impose his system, but if Chelsea don’t have the money to buy the right players, how is that going to work? In the meantime, City incur down the right, Bernardo finds Foden, and his low shot has Caballero scrambling to stop.
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50 min WHAT A MISS! Aguero runs in behind Luiz, found by the excellent Foden, and with Gundogan to his left opts to round Caballero to his right ... before whacking high into the side-netting! Chelsea won’t play City every week, but have loads of work to do. I wonder if Sarri might revert to three at the back, a formation which suits his players, no I don’t.
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48 min Willian is warming up, in that Rubix snake-style training top.
47 min Again, Jorginho is robbed in a dangerous position – though Pedro’s pass didn’t give him much leeway. Anyway, Aguero dashes towards the box with Luiz retreating, and he tries an early low shot that again he pulls wide.
46 min Off we go again. City have replaced the slightly knocked Sane with Gundogan. Chelsea are as they were, but I’ve not sure what they expect to change; that midfield just isn’t up to it. Perhaps Drinkwater might come on, and they can push Fabregas closer to Morata or somesuch.
Back come our teams...
Half-time: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City
City have been much better than Chelsea, moving the ball with intelligence and precision. If Sarri doesn’t work out what needs changing, his team will probably lose by another one or two.
45+1 min Alonso wedges a hopeful one over Walker and Hudson-Odoi, so Bravo comes out to catch; naturally the ball pitches and leaps over his head. He has to turn, chase and snatch before Morata catches up with him.
45 min There shall be two added minutes.
43 min Silva eases through midfield with a lovely drop of the shoulder and the ball makes its way through Foden and out wide to Mahrez, who does Alonso with a chop and drop but can’t find a decent cross; Alonso did really well to get back at him.
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42 min Steve McManaman says “some of the games really suited” John Stones at the World Cup. Er, yes - the opponents were rubbish. The first good team England played, he lost concentration, thereby giving away the crucial goal.
39 min Morata eases into possession and sweeps a pleasant pass out to Pedro, who looks to return the compliment and complement with a cross. But, though it looked nicer because he did so first-time, he needed to hang on til Morata arrived and did not, so Bravo cleaned up.
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37 min Kyle Walker is wearing white polka dots on his blue socks. And Hudso-Odoi is growing into this, running at him and dragging back; he should then cross but opts for the crowd-pleasing stop and go, and when the ball eventually comes in, it’s too close to Bravo.
36 min Bernardo jogs at Luiz and as he prepares to tackle slides a perfectly-weighted pass for Mahrez, who opens his body to curl first time towards the far corner, but doesn’t get it right and the chance goes.
34 min But these last few minutes have been a bit better, Hudson-Odoi cutting inside and away from Walker before he’s even got close, and with the centre-backs running away, a shooting lane opens. He opts for a sidefooter when laces were required – and even then, Bravo could only shovel clear, lucky that the ball eluded the men following in.
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33 min Chelsea need to change something, because they’re getting Morata no kind of service. I wonder if he’s considered playing 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1.
31 min For the first time, Chelsea get a break, Fabregas playing into Morata, who knocks off for Barkley. He squares to Hudson-Odoi, and this time he comes inside to try a curler, which wafts over the top – but that’s a bit better from him and his team.
30 min More possession for Hudson-Odoi, but he doesn’t look as confident as in the past few games - every time he gets the ball he moves it back inside, which I’m sure is not why he’s in the team.
29 min Mahrez, found by Foden, puts a ball into the box and Aguero fights for it on the edge. He shoots, and Fabregas deflects it behind for a corner, which comes to nowt.
28 min “Here’s what I think,” emails JR.
- I like it when Claudio Bravo plays. The feeling that anything could possibly happen is exciting.
- You can tell how important this game is by the fact that both Sarri and Guardiola look to have worn their pyjamas today.
- Can Jon Moss really last another season? He appears to be far away from peak physical condition. And he’s built like Gonzalo Higuain.
- Do you reckon Aguero will take this opportunity to attempt to cripple David Luiz again? I’m keeping my eye on those two.
- I’m just watching this to kill time until Bielsa’s debut.”
26 min And that’s drinks. Chelsea need a stiff one.
25 min Walker megs Morata 25 yards from his own goal but Fabregas is around the other side to roll back to his man. He cuts inside, making the angle for a delicious curler into the far top corner, Ronnie Whelan-style, then whacks high and wide.
24 min Poor from Jorginho, whose bum pass allows City in! Very quickly, Sane is racing into the box, but a heavy touch allows Caballero to dive at his feet and smother. That ought to have been a second goal, really.
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23 min Rudiger steps out from the back and when he’s brought into the play, he immediately looks to make a cultured switch out to the left; beautiful! Except Walker heads it away before it reaches Hudson-Odoi
21 min Silva finds Foden, who goes wide to Mahrez. He retreats towards his own goal then turns back down the line, totally foxing a befuddled Alonso before crossing; Luiz heads clear.
19 min Chelsea just can’t get hold of the ball in midfield, which is no great surprise. They struggled against Arsenal the other night after the first half-hour, and now they’re playing City. On the plus side, Morata is still exceedingly handsome.
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18 min A long, straight ball finds Aguero alone up front - that is poower from Chelsea, as my gran would’ve said. He ducks inside as the men catch up, and with support alongside, drags a low shot that’s easy enough for Caballero to field.
17 min Chelsea win a free-kick 35 yards out, on the left, which Fabregas curls in; Bravo comes a long way to punch clear.
16 min Chelsea win a corner down the right and cunningly take it short; nothing comes of it but they force another, which goes into the box towards Luiz at the back post where Walker does enough.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City (Aguero 13)
This is so simple, yet so difficult. Foden runs at the Chelsea defence, just right of centre, and with no one mithering to challenge, squares for Aguero. He feints to come back inside, moves outside instead, and from the edge of the box drives hard with his left foot, low through Rudiger’s legs and across Caballero into the bottom corner. It was so obvious he was going to score there, yet the finish was neither tap-in nor anything close. That’s his 200th City goal; he’s quite good.
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13 min City are dominating possession, and Chelsea have done pretty much nothing so far.
11 min Hudson-Odoi made absolute mincemeat out of Hector Bellerin the other night – my favourite dish – but has just turned down another chance to go at Kyle Walker. It’s true that he’s matched for pace and outmatched for strength, but might still trust his footwork and ability to create space for others.
10 min Mahrez slides a pass to Aguero, who’s on the right of the box, and he tries a trademark early, from round the back of the arse cross-shot, but pulls it wide and plenty.
9 min “You said there was much pre-match prayer,” emails Mike Nagle. “I’m not surprised as Moses, Abraham and Jesus are there. I hope ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ was sung before the match started.”
I think Jesus is still on holiday.
8 min Fernandinho gives it away and Hudson-Odoi has a run, checking when confronted with Walker and allowing the Brazilian to redeem his error.
6 min Bernardod diddles Jorginho with a drag back, accepting the inevitable foul. Mahrez wastes the free-kick.
6 min Aziplicueta is caught out of position by a long ball - perhaps the change from three to four at the back - and Bernardo slides Sane in down the line. But with the men in the middle awaiting a pull-back, he drives across the face and the chance goes.
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4 min “As an American Liverpool supporter working in London in 2002, I took the opportunity to order two tickets online to the Community Shield match in Cardiff v Arsenal, the second ticket going to a Scouse officemate, emails CS. “We travelled out to Cardiff on the day, got to the gates, and handed over our tickets. A steward overheard my friend’s accent and mention of thrashing some Gooners, explained our seats were in the Arsenal section, and with a stern face, immediately took us and the tickets to the management office. We thought we were going to be tossed out, miss the match, and have to drive home. After fumbling around in his desk for a moment, the overworked man in the stadium office produced two replacement tickets for ours and told us to be on our way. Exiting the tunnel and into the stands, we found we’d been swapped into the press section, sitting almost at field level a few rows behind Garth Crooks, close enough to smell Stevie G’s hair wax.”
He uses wax? I’d always assumed he was born with that same head he has now.
3 min Mahrez rams a shot into Alonso, then Sane drsgs one wide; both attacks were characterised by Mendy laifing down the left at some pace.
2 min Anyone seen Saburra? I recommend it with every fibre of my being, but also, Sarri reminds me a little of Samurai.
1 min Football! Peace be upon you, assalamu alaikum, shalom aleichem.
There is much pre-match prayer, but we’re just about ready to go.
“An anthem that resounded around Russia in the summer.” Darren Fletcher really said that, he really did.
Time for the national anthem; when isn’t it, what.
The guests of honour are Mike Summerbee and Tore Andre Flo. Summerbee looks pretty calm for now.
Here they come! “No sky blue for City, but sky blue sky over Wembley.” Choking up here.
Fernandinho will captain City; John Terry Cesar Azpilicueta will captain Chelsea.
The players are tunnelled...
Anyone got any Charity Shield stories? Two thrillers from my personal annals:
In 1998, I ran out of gas on the North Circ, had to shift the car onto the kerb, leave the key in and have my dad go and pick it up, then take my then-girlfriend’s young brother and hitch a lift to the ground.
In 2001 in Cardiff, a mate was late to arrive, so me and another mate were caught outside as the bottles and bricks were flying. We then got in the ground, Liverpool scored after a bit, and it wasn’t til half-time that we realised that was their second goal, as the roof was on.
Yes, film rights have been optioned
As for City, though they welcome back the heroic Walker and Stones following their heroic World Cup heroics, there remain questions about the unit. Mendy, if and when he gets fit, is excellent, and even he is not really proven against the best. The problem opponents have is getting enough of the ball to create pressure, but it’s not quite as it was when Guardiola was at Barcelona and had the best midfield of all-time plus Messi.
Something I wonder about Chelsea: how their back-four will work. Alonso doesn’t really strike me as a player good enough to defend a decent winger on his bill, not that there are many of them about, and Rudiger has a lot of work to do. They’ll be hard to get at, but beyond that they might have a problem.
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In case you’re seeking to kill a few minutes before we get going...
Salve the World Cup-shaped hole in your soul with this on the 1954 final between Hungary and West Germany, and the role of football in building nations https://t.co/Qj6LxW85UR
— Daniel Harris (@DanielHarris) July 16, 2018
Rio Ferdinand reckons Bernardo will eventually take over from David Silva, and, he’ll be ecstatic to learn, I agree with him - Bernardo is as similar as it’s possible for a player to be without actually being him. I was slightly disappointed with him last season, given the ability that he has, but I’m sure he’ll be better this.
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Bernardo Silva has just confided in BT that City will try and win all the competitions that they’re in this season. More news as I get it. And here it is: he calls Mahrez “Hiyad”. The Gracie family no doubt approve.
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I just saw an ad for anti-perspirant Lynx; whatever happened to the simple body spray? What on earth is going on? I was Marine, now that you ask.
Guardiola says he knew he’d have to adapt without so many players, so he has. Most of the players have only played six training sessions, so he’s not sure how it’ll go; Mendy plays because Delph isn’t ready yet after his World Cup exertions.
Not really. Chelsea are still without Kanté and Hazard, but will be interesting to watch nonetheless. Sarri is the latest to reckon he’s the man to make David Luiz a defender; the ability is there, so maybe he is. Otherwise, they look a bit short of presence in front of Jorginho, though if Fabregas gets the passing going and Barkley rediscovers himself, that will be a great three to watch. Up front, Morata will continue to be extremely handsome.
City, meanwhile, include Foden– a serious talent – and Mahrez. They’re without David Silva and De Bruyne, their two best players and probably the league’s two best players too, but still have plenty going on.
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So what does it all mean? That’s a rhetorical question, it’s a friendly.
Grafters and Bit-doers
Chelsea (a Contephobic 4-3-3): Caballero; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Alonso; Jorginho, Fabregas, Barkley; Pedro, Morata, Hudson-Odoi. Subs: Bulka, Christensen, Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Moses, Willian, Abrahams.
Manchester City (a balding, fraudulent 4-3-3): Bravo; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; Fernandinho, Foden, Bernardo; Mahrez, Aguero, Sané. Subs: Ederson, Kompany, Gundogan, Otamendi, Jesus, Díaz, Gomes.
Preamble
Really, this space should be blank. It’s August the 5th, the World Cup is barely cold, the major Test series of the summer has only just started, the sun is on fire, the sound of children playing fills the air and blatantly we’ve all got better things to do.
Have we eck as like! Football is back, in all its awful glory! Behold!
Already this weekend we’ve had all sorts, but this afternoon we have the traditional curtain-raiser to the traditional curtain-raiser to the traditional curtain-raiser to the season: people talking about people talking about people talking about people talking about the phrase “traditional curtain-raiser to the season”.
After which, 22 men will take the field to kick a ball and each other about it, and we will extrapolate revelatory profundities based largely on the words “YES!”, “NO!”, “EFF!” and “CEE!”. Isn’t that just like life?
When contemplating who might win the league, it’s hard to look beyond Manchester City. More than anything, their team just works, and they also have options for when it doesn’t. On the other hand, so good were so good last season and so poor was everyone else, that they hardly had to rely on their defence or perform under pressure – and when they did, against Liverpool in the Champions League and Manchester United for the league, they lost. It would be far from surprising if they rinsed it again, but in the meantime, their lack of commanding personalities to underpin their commanding talent offers minor hope for the rest.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are harder to assess. It is a curious mark of our time that a manager with Maurizio Sarri’s career has his surname attached to the suffix “ball”, but at the same time, the prospect of a side who play like Napoli is an enticing one. A midfield base of Jorginho and N’Golo Kanté certainly gives them licence to attack, and over the last few weeks, Callum Hudson-Odoi has shown game intelligence as electrifying as his pace; the question is whether Álvaro Morata can bring himself to bin the pliers and rubber boots.
Kick-off: 3pm BST
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