Community Shield - What did we learn?

Well, unfortunately, not very much. I had optimistically suggested a couple of days ago that this match has usually been much more competitive over the past several seasons, and has thus often been a useful pointer to early season form for the teams involved - but this year, with so many injuries (already!) and so many players late back from the summer's international tournaments, we had two pretty makeshift line-ups that probably don't really tell us much at all.

I would say the BIG questions to emerge from this year's game are:

How does ITV win the rights to any sporting event - when their streaming service is so utterly, utterly CRAP??

ITVx has been notoriously dreadful for years now. They waste money on naff rebranding efforts every two or three years, but never seem to do anything about sorting out their massive infrastructure deficit. The service just doesn't have the capacity to maintain an uninterrupted stream for high-demand programmes (even in the early hours of the morning?!): it's often completely unwatchable.  As soon as I see that ITV has exclusive rights to a match, I shrug in despair and resign myself to having to make do with highlights on Youtube.

Well, that was my main question, anyway. I suppose the question that seems to be getting asked most often online in the wake of yesterday's game is....

Is Haaland rubbish?

To which the answer is, obviously, NO.  Sure, he had a very subdued game; that happens with any striker sometimes. But it wasn't as if he missed loads of chances; he just wasn't able to get on the ball much. And with a starting midfield of Lewis, O'Reilly, and McAtee, that's hardly a surprise. He'll be his old goal-machine self once the season starts.

A more pertinent question for many to ponder might be....

Is Gvardiol rubbish?

Again, obviously NO. But he is the lowest-rated starting player in the game on the BBC's match report. And that may give some pause to all the FPL managers who have splashed 6 million on him for their starting squads (usually alongside one or two other premium defenders - which really is crazy).

They should, I think, take comfort from the fact that at least he started, and he did play at left-back. That won't always happen: he's bound to get rotated out occasionally, and he's almost certain to play at least a few games in the centre of defence.

But the real problem with Gvardiol is that, even when he does start as the left-back, most of the time he's likely to be inverting into midfield to form a double-pivot alongside Rodri - to help City build out from the back, and to provide a screen for the back line if the opposition turn over possession. He's likely to be much less productive - little or no chance of attacking returns - when playing like that.

Now, Ederson often steps up between the two centre-backs to form the 'back three', allowing both full-backs to play further forward - and one of them usually to get much further forward down the flank. But that attacking option is almost invariably Kyle Walker (not only because that's his natural game, but more importantly, because he's proven unable to fulfill the demands of the slotting-into-midfield role). The only hope for Gvardiol owners is that Walker may fall from favour this year, and with Stones or Akanji starting at right-back, the left-back may be allowed the more attacking role. But even then, that's mostly going to be linking with Doku or Savinho or Bobb or Grealish down the touchline; he won't very often enjoy either the licence or the opportunity to break into the box himself. (He might well have scored more goals in those three or four games at the end of last season than he will in the whole of this season. He's still a very good defender; but people who think he's going to be one of this year's top goalscorers are delusional.)

Why hasn't Bernardo Silva done any penalty prep?

Really - that was astonishing. He's first in the order, but he takes an absolutely dreadful penalty. Doesn't pause long enough to settle himself, takes a short and almost dead-straight run-up, telegraphs where he's putting it, and then hits a soft side-foot chip only a yard-and-a-half from the keeper...  He did absolutely everything wrong: one of the worst penalties I've ever seen. And, in the modern game, that just shouldn't be happening - ever.

Does Ten Hag not trust Zirkzee??

I don't know, maybe he's not even in training with the club yet. But since the Netherlands came home from the Euros four-and-a-half weeks ago, and Zirkzee didn't even get on the pitch for them... it doesn't really seem like he needed that much rest.

Zirkzee looks to me like an outstanding talent - perhaps the most promising acquisition so far of this transfer window, by any club. And wth a long-term injury to Hojlund, and Rashford still not back from Outer Space, surely this high-profile game would have been an ideal opportunity to at least give him an introduction to the team, to prepare him for a possible starting place as early in the season as possible?

What has happened to Marcus Rashford?

He's always struggled with blowing hot and cold; but for well over a year now, that wind seems to have ceased to blow at all. When he hit a spell of sustained, consistent red-hot form through the second half of the 2022-23 season, we were starting to hope that he'd finally matured into the player we'd all hoped he could be. But since then - in about 95% of his appearances anyway - he's looked completely clueless: not just 'disappointing' or 'below-par' but outright BAD. I fear it's starting to look as though his top-flight career might be effectively 'over' at the age of 26. I do hope not: but he needs to find the way to turn things around very dramatically, and he needs to do it soon. I wonder if moving away from United might help with that...

How are City going to start the season?

Well, it looks like DeBruyne and Silva should be starting in midfield. Bobb looks like more than adequate cover on the wing. And I would guess that Rodri, Foden, Doku and Kovacic should be OK to start too, although probably not fully match-fit after only a week's training at the club.

But yes, City were fairly poor yesterday. After McAtee's early effort hitting the post, United pretty much dominated the game, and could easily have won it about 3-0. Pep will not be happy, I think. It does seem probable they'll be a bit slow out of the blocks this year, somewhat below their best for at least the first two or three weeks. And Chelsea should fancy their chances a lot better now for that opening-weekend clash.

But most importantly of all, we must ASK....

What is that horrendous font City are using on the back of their shirts this year??

That is just an unfathomable, disgusting design choice. I hope they change it!

Addendum: I just found this rather goodl tactical analysis of the game on Youtube.