• This Saturday, the 2024 Community Shield is on the cards.
•Of particular interest is the Manchester derby between City and United.
• And here are 5 things to watch for in this clash at Wembley.
Boat door…change it and change it?
Amidst the unpreparedness of the Blue Ship warriors who made it to the Euro 2024 finals. Such as Rodri, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and John Stones. It is said that the starting 11 that Pep Guardiola is preparing to put on the field will come out looking like a “mixed team” with some starters and some substitutes and young stars such as Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis inserted as well.
But one of the most interesting team arrangements may be the “goalkeeper” position.
Ederson Moraes, who has played 332 games for the team in 7 years is said to be dropped from the main team, not just to give Stefan Ortega a chance to play in the cup every now and then like last year. But also because
1. Ederson has made it clear he wants to leave the Etihad Stadium for a new challenge and cash-rich campaign in the Middle East. With multiple reports suggesting he was open to offers from Al-Nassr and later Al-Ittihad. But both deals fell through due to Manchester City’s exorbitant £50m valuation.
2. Continuing from the first point, it affected the “dispersed concentration” of the 30-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper. Causing his form to not be very good in pre-season games. Such as the match in which he was defeated by AC Milan 3-2 or when Barcelona scored 2 goals, and Pep chose to immediately take him off at the beginning of the second half. Before the game ended with a 2-2 draw.
And 3. Ortega is the new “number one” for Pep!
Because in conjunction with the “weakened” standards. Including the occasional injury problems of the Samba goalkeeper. It was Ortega who took over the role. A total of 20 matches in all competitions last season, and it can be said that the 31-year-old. German goalkeeper “passed the test” with flying colors, without any worries.
In particular, the superb save prevented Son Heung-min from breaking away (Spurs 0-2 Man City), which was said to be the “crucial moment”. Causing Pep to show signs of inclination from that moment on.
When the transfer case arose and Ederson’s poor form this summer, Pep has made a firm decision that Ortega is the new number one goalkeeper for City.
Starting from Community Shield onwards
Yes or no…wait and see.
Andre Onana
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s gap between the posts is equally interesting.
It’s not a matter of change, when the earth shakes, storms come, the sky falls, the earth collapses, Erik ten Hag will never change his mind about Andre Onana. It’s annoying for Altay Bayindir , I don’t know why he moved, after a year has passed and he has played exactly 1 game.
But it was Onana’s own performance.
A few days ago, “The Content Man” loudly and clearly announced that this new season. He will be “taking risks” , risking life and death, taking even more risks.
…It’s funny that instead of saying that he will improve his skills, be more solid, make more saves, and be more reliable for defenders, and not be as direct as in the first year, he said that he would play more risky and create more excitement.
Importantly, if Manchester City are awarded a penalty during the game, or the game ends in a penalty shootout after 90 minutes, will Onana dare to use his “Shoot here, my friend” stunt again, after drawing huge commotion and laughter in the pre-season game against Arsenal (lost 1-2 in the ทางเข้า ufabet https://ufabet999.app game, won the penalty shootout 4-3) at the end of last month?
Keep your eyes peeled at Wembley for anything good from Onana.
Farewell game for Alvarez
103 matches, 36 goals, 6 trophies
From a bargain £14m purchase, he is now set to leave for €75m+20m.
It’s clear that Julian Alvarez is a “super deal” that Man City have successfully completed, both financially and financially.
According to Fabrizio Romano and other outlets, it is now just a “countdown” for the Argentine to agree personal terms with Atletico Madrid , which will then stamp the “OFFICIAL” , which is the more advanced version of “HERE WE GO!”
As for why Manchester City agreed to sell Alvarez, despite Pep’s insistence that the player remains an important part of his plans, the answer is simply money. Making multiple profits and bringing money into the club to balance FFP rules .
Man City may have lost a versatile attacker who can play as a finisher, winger and central midfielder, but that doesn’t mean they can’t bring in a “new one” to replace him — even spending a chunk of money to buy a new striker (to back up Erling Braut Haaland) shouldn’t be too difficult.
So this Saturday can be considered a farewell game for Julian Alvarez.
No name Alvarez, both in the starting lineup and on the bench!
Count One with Circe
On the contrary, in the red corner, the forward position is also a point to watch.
The first question is who will start as the center forward, with the current trend leaning towards Jadon Sancho as an emergency option with Rasmus Hojlund out injured and having to rest, while Marcus Rashford is no longer good at this position and has become a full winger.
With the return of the kiss with Ten Hag and the difficult test of Man City’s back line, how well will Sancho do?
And two, when the game gets to the right time, it will be the opportunity for “new striker” Joshua Zirkzee to be sent to play for the first match with Man U.
Despite having just started training with his new team for a while. The £36.5m Dutch striker did not travel to the United States for the pre-season tour as he had just finished Euro 2024, similar to former Red Devils Bruno Fernandes, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot.
Cerci only reported and trained at Carrington and did not travel to the US. As he wanted to build up his fitness level to be ready for the new Premier League season.
So, Cerci’s first game in the Red Devils’ shirt is this Saturday.
It remains to be seen whether the 193cm former Bayern Munich product, who scored 12 goals for Bologna last season, will fare well in the short or long term. But it is likely to work out under former goal-scoring prodigy Ruud van Nistelrooy.
But this Saturday, if he gets injured and repeats the same thing as Leni Yoro, then it’s every man for himself.
This cup City doesn’t want it?!?
- Community Shield winners of the last 10 years
2014 – Arsenal (3-0 Man City)
2015 – Arsenal (1-0 Chelsea)
2016 – Man Utd (2-1 Leicester)
2017 – Arsenal (won Chelsea on penalties)
2018 – Man City (2-0 Chelsea)
2019 – Man City (won Liverpool on penalties)
2020 – Arsenal (won Liverpool on penalties)
2021 – Leicester City (1-0 Man City)
2022 – Liverpool (3-1 Man City)
2023 – Arsenal (won Man City on penalties)
The curse that has always been known for the Community Shield is that the winners of this charity shield often fail to reach the Premier League championship in the end.
This story may actually be interpreted as just a coincidence, since the difference between a 90-minute game and an 8-9-month league game is obvious without explanation.
But when looking at the appearance of the champions in the past, it also “falls into” this coincidence.
The important thing is that Manchester City themselves have lost all three Community Shields in the past three years and then finished as Premier League champions at the end of each season.
It may not be that Pep Guardiola ordered his team to lose. Last season, they almost won against Arsenal, but were stunned by Leandro Trossard ‘s goal in the 90+11th minute of stoppage time, forcing them to go to penalties and then lose 1-4.
It was not intentional to lose…but even so, it was not emphasized much. Man City valued this event as just another “pre-season” game.
Pre-season is for testing tactics and players, and the results are not important.
Whether this story is true or not, let’s find out this Saturday.
And even if that curse doesn’t exist, if Man City lose this game — and go on to clinch the league title as they have in the past —
Pep and the City fans will probably welcome it with a smile.