NO CHARITY FOR UNITED

 

Last time round, United opened the season by playing Portsmouth in the Community Shield at Wembley. United went all out against Pompey in the first half and even their attacks turned into United counters, not that we could put the ball in the net though. United continued to dominate into the second half but again, there were no goals, though on two occasions in the match we should have been given a penalty but instead the match cruised into a penalty shootout. United won the shootout 3-1 with Van de Saar doing the business again and collected the first in what we'd hoped at the time would be seven trophies that season - even though we finished short

This time around, we're up against Chelsea and that makes this a rematch of the '07 encounter at Wembley. At the time Chelsea were gaffered by Jose Mourinho but it was United that opened the scoring through Giggsy only for Florent Malouda to level for the Blues. The second half got a bit boring though with Chelsea not really looking to win the match and Fergie not able to do anything about it. Again, level scores in the Shield means a shootout. United won the shootout 3-0 to collect the Shield for the first time since '03. Of course we went on to with the title that year, helped partly by Chelsea's self destruction and Abramovich's impatience.

The latest guy to try the Stamford Bridge poisoned chalice for size is Carlo Ancelotti but it was under Guus Hiddink that they won the FA Cup. United in the meantime picked up the Premiership title yet again. So here we go, the start of another season, another Community Shield at Wembley. Of course both sides have their new guys and it was an early chance to see what shape our old rival were in. With van de Saar injured we had Foster in goal, and the outfield lined up 4-4-2. Nani right mid, Carrick and Fletcher centre mind, Park left mid and Rooney and Berbatov up front. Familiar faces were the order of the day - it was time to see if they could do the business.

Well it was the Blues that had the first serious chance but then United surged forward in the 10th minute, Evra crossed to Nani who buried it in the bottom right. United went on to dominate for a while but then we started running tinto trouble. Our back up goalie has had his uses in the past and is an England international but this time around whether it was nerves or what I'm not sure but he clearly wasn't having the match of his career. Still, he was able to keep a clean sheet till half time and the Blues didn't look that awesome. It was still anybody's match but it was Chelsea that had to find a goal while still getting used to a new style of play.

Problem was, it wasn't long before our defence fell apart. Florent Malouda sent over a 52nd minute cross and Didier Drogba got in the way of our goalie leaving Richard Carvalho with an open goal. After that it was Chelsea running the show and when one of our guys went down injured in the 70th minute, the Blues caught us off guard and Drogba found Frank Lampard to stick it in the net. There looked to be no way back from there and despite the subs, our new big names looked unlikely to find an equaliser. This was a trophy lost with lessons to be learned for the upcoming Premiership season. And yet you never can count United out so when Giggsy, one of the subs launched a ball at Rooney, the England assasin ran on to it and equalised. Again, no extra time so on to the shootout we went.

Chelsea opened the shootout with Lampard hitting the net. Giggsy responded for us though...and missed. Ballack was up next for Chelsea...and he slotted it. Carrick had to get United into the shootout...and he did so! Drogba was next for Chelsea...and he scored. Evra had to respond...nowhere near. Finally we found ourselves at the mercy of Soloman Kalou...and he put us to the sword for Chelsea to win the shootout 4-1.

So, Chelsea are the 2009 Community Shield winners - the first time they have won the shield since '05 under Mourinho. So what does that mean? Well given the injuries we had, I'm not sure. This was certainly one of the Blues's better performances and it's surely given Ancelotti some early credibility. Does it mean that the Blues will be in the title mixer? Probably, if they can get to grips more with Ancelotti's diamond midfield. If we had been at full strength we may well have taken more advantage of their confusion. Bottom line, the Blues have gotten people's attention for now. The question them becomes, for how long can they keep it.

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