Man Utd vs Chelsea - Community Shield

[Numeric]

even though it's only a glorified friendly, i'll not be happy if United lose against Chelsea in this fixture, after the disapointment of the FA Cup Final, a game in which United may as well have not turned up, i feel it's important to send a message of intent, also, United have not beaten Chelsea head to head in almost two years, it's time we put on a show and flexed our muscles...

with any luck Hargreaves will feature, also Nani and Anderson...

even though it's unlikely with all the options at his disposal, i hope Sir goes with 4-4-2, like this...

Van der Saar
Brown
Ferdinand
Vidic
Evra

Ronaldo
Carrick
Scholes or Hargreaves
Giggs or Nani

Rooney
Saha (if he's fit) or Solksjear


c'mon United!!

[Insomnia]

Looking forward to this game on Sunday....


It'll be intresting to see the starting 11 for each team, as a neutral i'm hoping for plenty goalmouth action as i couldn't face a repeat of the FA Cup....

I cant see this being a friendly encounter i'm sure there will be a bust up or 2 along the way....

[french_og]

Apparantly Chelsea are playing 4-4-2 this season and are going to be more attacking so hopefully it will be an entertaining game.

It will have no baring on the season - Liverpool beat Chelsea last year and were about 10 points behind them after 5 games.

[LittleMinx]

cant wait for this game, been waiting weeks now for this, cant wait to see the boys in red kick some ass AGAIN this season :cheese:

[Numeric]

word is that Scholes and Saha aren't gonna be fit...

Hargreaves and Anderson aren't expected to feature either...

Nev's also injured ofcourse...

[Microdot]

..... i'll not be happy if United lose against Chelsea in this fixture, after the disapointment of the FA Cup Final, a game in which United may as well have not turned up,


ahh, cmon, utd spanked chelsea in that match, just as they did arsenal a couple of years before, they just couldnt put the ball in the net somehow

[djfase]

Can see this being quite dirty. Both teams trying to put a marker down for the new season.

The cup final was shit, and although i went, the whole day has been forgotten as it was that bad.

I wont watch it today ever, as ive got a game myself this afternoon

[DJCraig Ryan]

Apparantly Chelsea are playing 4-4-2 this season and are going to be more attacking so hopefully it will be an entertaining game.

It will have no baring on the season - Liverpool beat Chelsea last year and were about 10 points behind them after 5 games.


An attacking 4-4-3 with the wingers it is mate. Chelsea to win 2-1

[xes]

I just wish that they both could loose :)

[basslinejunkie]

good shout!!! witha few broken legs on the way

[Insomnia]

Not a bad match 2 very good individual goals, looks like that Malouda will be a hit next season...

Van der sar must be the hero of the day....

Couldn't believe the amount of fans that left before the penalties....

[Numeric]

good game, United did alright, played some nice football, and were the better team in my opinion, Jose reckons Chelsea bossed the game :laughing: few key personel absent for both teams ofcourse, two nice goals as Insom has said...

Evra was class on the left of midfield as he is on Pro when i've played him there :laughing:

to be fair i can understand why some fans left early, a draw would have been a fair result, but Edwin is the daddy, just the tonic for him somin like that today is exactly what was required, glad to see the other players take their penalties so well also...

[french_og]

They probably left early to escape the traffic.

Chelsea have got the injury jinx again - Terry out for a month, Drogba to have a scan.

Thought Wright-Phillips looked very poor again.

[kai]

Yeah but Moaninho can use that excuse all he wants, its bollocks.

Reckons his side controlled the game, which is tosh anyway, and that they had injuries while we were full strength.


Funny - we had Neville, Saha, Scholes, Hargreaves, Tevez and Anderson unavailable for one reason or another, as compared to Drogba, Shevchenko, Kalou, Terry, Bridge and Ballack.... seems to me both teams were far from full strength!

[Numeric]

aye, both teams were missing key players, but i think Chelsea suffered more as they rely on Drogba so heavily, and Terry is their rock in defence...

imagine what United are gonna be like with Tevez, Scholes and Nev back...

we have the best squad in the Premiership without doubt, potentialy Europe if players such as Nani and Anderson develop as they promise...

[kai]

Well thats Moaninho's own fault for building a side that relies so much on two outfield players (and an outstanding goalie) - through I think that the signing of Ban Haim will help cover if they lose Terry at all, still think an injury to Drogba would finish them off as an attacking threat and lead to them dropping lots of point, unless Sheva starts firing them in this season, as dont really see Kalou or Pizarro being good enough to fill his shoes.

Roll on a nice long run in the African Nations Cup for Ivory Coast in Jan lol!

[french_og]

Pizzaro is quality but will have to see if he adampts straight away to the pace of the Prem.

I think Fergie could have a few selection problems this season though. Hargreves or Carick or Scholes for starters. Good problem to have though.

[Numeric]

I think Fergie could have a few selection problems this season though. Hargreves or Carick or Scholes for starters. Good problem to have though.

i'm sure Sir is planning to play different formations and different personel according to who United are facing on the day, just hope it doesn't back-fire...

be interesting to see who starts in the centre against Reading, Carrick has to be first choice due to match fitness, be nice to see Hargreaves alongside him if Scholes isn't ready to return...

[basslinejunkie]

aye, both teams were missing key players, but i think Chelsea suffered more as they rely on Drogba so heavily, and Terry is their rock in defence...

imagine what United are gonna be like with Tevez, Scholes and Nev back...

we have the best squad in the Premiership without doubt, potentialy Europe if players such as Nani and Anderson develop as they promise...

best squad?? offensively yes,overall,no.

[Numeric]

i think it's fair to say overall, we definitaly have better cover for midfield now than any other Premiership team, at the back we're strong for cover also...

the thought of United on the new Pro gets me excited :laughing:

[kai]

I'd say we have - though defensively without Heinze think a lot of cover is gonna be provided by the fact that utility defenders like Silvestre, O'Shea and Brown can play a number of positions in defence. It should be adequate cover, but prob not as well covered there as some teams and maybe signing in left back (like Baines for example) as extra cover would be a good move in Jan.

All well and good and a strong squad, as three payers I rate highly for slotting in, but if we got a few injuries at the back - like we did last season - then can see us having to bring in people like Evans, Pique and Bardsley who have returned from loan. Three good young prospects, but unproven so could be risky and we could end up with quite a shaky unproven back four if key men at the back pick up injuries.

Think thats the only potential weakness in the squad, caused by Heinze being a twat, but overall I'd say we have the strongest squad just about. Only Chelsea and Liverpool could be agued to be stronger in depth, but reckon you could say the same about both of their sides if you carefully removed some key players. Can't think of any side in the Premiership that doesn't have a weak point somewhere in the squad, and we def have the strongest attacking squad in the league now.


Incidentally, hasn't Hargreaves played left back several times for England to good effect? In which case, could possibly be the extra cover we need there now.

[Numeric]

aye, Hargreaves can play at left or right-back...

[Microdot]

sick of hearing about the rent boy's injury problems tbh....whose fault is it when you spend hundreds of millions on star players only to find you lack cover in key areas when you get a few injuries?.........man for man Utd had just as many problems last season.......especially in defence towards the end of the season......it's just that Utd's squad players such as O'Shea and Fletcher performed much better than Chelsea's....

as for the CS, Utd bossed most the game and deserved to be winners after the 90 imo...

[Will]

Nah, Chelsea had worse injury problems last season, as did Liverpool and Arsenal.

[kai]

Bullshit - we had 12 fit players at one point!

[Numeric]

injuries are not a valid exuse for teams such as Chelsea, United and Liverpool, these clubs have so much financial power at their disposal, each should have large enough squads to cope...

[french_og]

True... All three teams have plenty of money and big enough squads!! Injuries are part of the game. Deal with it!!!!

[Numeric]

apparently Chelsea had just 11 outfield players passed fit for training yesterday :laughing:

[Microdot]

Nah, Chelsea had worse injury problems last season, as did Liverpool and Arsenal.


not true.

[french_og]

Come on Chelsea had major players missing last season, Cech, Cudicini, Terry, Robben, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Bridge.

Not sympathising with them as they have spent millions and should be able to cope but they defo had worse injuries than Utd.

[Numeric]

Chelsea did suffer quite badly at key points during the season...

United suffered at the business end of the Champions League, which in my opinion, cost us the competition...

[Will]

Yeah, that and the fact that Milan were too good!

[Numeric]

if United were at full strength for the Milan tie we would have spanked them, and then spanked Liverpool in the final too...

[Will]

You barely avoided defeat at OT and then got spanked at the San Siro so I doubt it.

[Will]

Besides, if Arsenal had been at full strength last season we'd have done the quadruple.

[Numeric]

:laughing:

we should start a new thread, 'reasons why your team failed to win anything last season'...

be a good one for you arse's and kopites :;

[kai]

In both ties with Milan we had the vast majority of our defensive line out.

Of or first choice back 4 we only had Evra available in first leg, and Vidic in second, who wasn't match fit in the slightest but lack of options due to extent of injuries forced us to play him half fit.

That's why we struggled to deal with theit attack in both games.

No guarantees we'd have beaten them with Ferdinand, Vidic and Neville their - but its safe to say that we would have conceded less over the two legs and dealt with Kaka a hell of a lot better.

[Numeric]

word...

[french_og]

Utd would of spanked them with their full strenght side no doubt. Don't even think Milan are a good side, just have one of the best players in the world with Kaka who runs the show and workman like players like Gattuso.

Liverpool woudl of beaten them if Benitez had picked the correct side and not been so negative.

[Microdot]

Gattuso is ****in awesome.

[Numeric]

Gattuso was the differance, as soon as he went off at Old Trafford United started to run the show...

it's a shame Carrick, Scholes or Fletcher couldn't cope with him...

here's hopin that Hargreaves is gonna become the man in the United midfield, and is able to deal with players such as Gattuso...

[kai]

Deffo!!! Gattusso is awesome, but he aint that good - certainly not so good that he should have bossed our midfield so much and if we are getting bossed by midfielders like that then we def need Hargreaves to sort that little issue out for us.


Just wish Keano still played - would have had Gattusso for breakfast!

[french_og]

Think i read somewhere that a Sunderland Players said that he was surprised how fit Keano still is and could still play in the prem!!! Maybe a few injuries to Sunderland this season we may see a Cameo!!!!