Carlo's Chelsea Surrender Shield

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 3

Manchester United regained the Community Shield from Chelsea in front of a crowd of over 84000 at Wembley with a 3-1 win in the official curtain raiser for the new season. A first half that very much retained the feel of the traditional friendly-like nature of the match ended with Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in front after man of the match Paul Scholes played a delightful cross-field ball to Wayne Rooney who put it across for Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia to finish. Although there were no debutants from the start the Red Devils changed their front two at the interval with new signing Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov replacing English duo Rooney and Michael Owen. Chris Smalling, signed from Fulham, also came on to make his bow for United whilst Israel captain Yossi Benayon made his first official appearance in a Chelsea shirt.

Though the Blues pressed more during the second half, improving their use of possession vastly on the first forty-five minutes they found themselves two down inside the last fifteen minutes. Valencia’s cross was turned in by Hernandez who will not be proud of the finish but relieved he found the back of the net as his miskick hit him on the head and crossed the line, having Ashley Cole’s adventurous style. Although the otherwise disappointing Salomon Kalou pulled one back for the Stamford Bridge outfit, tapping in the rebound after substitute Daniel Sturridge’s shot was parried by Edwin Van Der Sar, Berbatov sealed the game with a cool chip over the advancing Hilario completing a slick twenty pass move.

Chelsea seemed to lack a cutting edge today, with talisman Didier Drogba only getting half an hour off the bench. Of their forwards Sturridge was most impressive drawing a couple of saves out of the United keeper. One positive Carlo Ancelotti can take from today is the threat that Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic, playing at centre half instead of right back, poses from set pieces. Twice in the first half he got the better of the Red Devils defence, on the first occasion beating national team mate Nemaja Vidic in the air by some distance.

Only four of the players on show today could feature at Wembley again on Wednesday when England face Hungary in a friendly. One encouraging sign for Fabio Capello is an improvement to the much-maligned pitch which was reportedly a perfect playing surface according to those who contested the Shield on it this afternoon. The Italian has named five uncapped players in his squads, including first time call-ups for Fulham frontman Bobby Zamora and promising Arsenal youngsters Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere.