Manchester United have beaten Chelsea 3-1 at Wembley to win the first silverware of the season. Antonio Valencia opened up the scoring, that was followed with a comical goal from substitute Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez. Chelsea pulled a goal back through Salomon Kalou but Dimitar Berbatov put the game to bed with a injury time goal.

It was a lively first half with the first goal coming just before halftime. Scholes, who had an excellent game, floated a long ball to Wayne Rooney who delivered a quality ball into the penalty area for and it was an easy finish for Valencia.

Second half and three immediate substitutions were made by Sir Alex Ferguson. Hernandez, Berbatov and Luis Nani were all brought on for Michael Owen, Rooney and Ji-Sung Park.

Scholes had a brilliant game, he was picking out some inch perfect passes, Valencia was given a lot of space down the right and was also impressive. Chris Smalling replaced Fabio Da Silva, he had a tough test against Chelsea sub Didier Drogba.

With 14 minutes of the game remaining, Man United’s second came after Antonio Valencia’s ball in from the right was met by Hernandez, he slipped and his shot hit his face and rebounded into the back of the Chelsea net.

Daniel Sturridge had a brilliant opportunity to score for the London side but Edwin Van Der Sar made a great save. A minute later (84 mins in), Kalou did score after the Dutch keeper could only parry Sturridge’s shot into the path of Kalou.

Minutes earlier Michael Carrick and Scholes had been substutited with Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher replacing them. After those substitutions Chelsea had more of the ball, they were going for the equaliser and we had a frantic end to the game.

Two minutes into three of injury time Berbatov’s superb lob over Henrique Hilario made sure that it was Manchester United who lifted the trophy.

Apart from the short period after the Chelsea goal, Chelsea never really troubled United. It may only be a ‘friendly’ game but it’s a great start to the season and hopefully this will spur United on to more trophies this season.

Man United’s Nemanja Vidic and Wigan’s Hugo Rodallega clashed during Man United’s 5-0 thrashing of Wigan. Rodallega claimed that Vidic elbowed him but replays showed that he didn’t elbow him but he did put his hand in the face of Rodallega.


Referee Howard Webb didn’t see the incident but he has looked at replays. Webb told the FA that the pictures won’t totally clear and he wouldn’t have sent Vidic off if he had seen it. There were worries that Vidic could possibly have been banned for three matches after that incident but luckily he won’t have to serve a three match ban.


Man United are also in the clear after Man United players surrounded the referee in the Community Shield match against Chelsea. There is a new rule that clubs can now be charged for instances where three or more players surround the referee in a confrontational manner but referee Chris Foy insisted that he didn’t feel pressured or under threat.

It looks like the reaction to Chelsea’s second goal in the community shield could result in Man United being charged with something.
I think we all know by now why Man United’s players were protesting (if not click here) and a decision should be made today whether or not Man United will or won’t be charged.

After the goal went in Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia and Patrice Evra were a few players who went upto the referee to complain. FA rules state clubs can be charged with failing to control their players if ‘three or more’ players approach the referee ‘in a confrontational manner’.

The FA have already confirmed that Chelsea’s Michael Ballack won’t be charged for deliberately injuring Patrice Evra.

The Man United players shouldn’t have surrounded the referee like that but it is alright to make rules like that but in the heat of the moment the players can’t help themselves.

The Community Shield fallout continues, Sir Alex Ferguson claims that Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack should have been shown a red card.

Moments before Chelsea's second goal, Ballack blocked Patrice Evra off with what looks like an elbow, Chelsea went down the other end and scored whilst Evra was still down.

Man United manager Sir Alex believes that, that 'challenge' on Evra should have seen Ballack being sent off.

"If the referee sees it properly, it's a red card," Fergie told The Guardian.

"He's elbowed him clearly. The referee's in line and had a clear view so Ballack's lucky. But he's made a rod for his own back. He'd stopped the game twice already: when Nani was down and on a second occasion when Ballack went down. We've seen that before with him.


"I spoke to the referee [about that previous incident] and he said it was serious and Ballack needed treatment, though he was up straight away.

"The least he should have done is stop the game. When players are acting to get the game stopped, when they lose possession and lie down. It's an area I'm concerned about.


"We've got to find a solution to that. You see it all the time when teams attack and then the other side go on a counter, so a player lies down in the penalty box to try and get the game stopped. It's not right.


"The referee didn't get it right today. You have to be consistent and he blew twice but not the third time."

When I saw that challenge I thought it would be a yellow card but looking back at it, it should have been a red. The referee had a good angle and he should have seen that.

Not long after, Patrice Evra was shown a yellow card for a clean tackle on Ballack.

Yesterday Man United lost to Chelsea 4-1 on penalties but all the attention has fallen onto the referee. I am going to try not to moan too much about the referee but it will be hard.

The game was a lot better than I expected, there were more goals, the teams didn’t cancel each other out and it was entertaining to watch- apart from the penalties.

Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, John-Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka all started for Chelsea.

Ben Foster, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea, Ji-Sung Park, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Luis Nani, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov all started for United.

Chelsea kicked off the 2009 Community Shield and it was Drogba who had the first shot, only minutes in he decided to unleash a 30-yard strike but Foster blocked the ball and picked it after it bounced in front of him.

Chelsea were given a needless corner when Ferdinand’s back pass went out of play for a corner, from Lampard’s corner, Ivanovic’s shot was headed by Evra onto the top of the crossbar and away.

Nani gave Man United an early lead only 10 minutes in when he went straight past Ivanovic (when he had done quite easily throughout the first half). Nani took the ball on the left side; he came in on the right and unleashed a stunning low ball with his right foot, which went past Cech.
Nani then did his trademark back flip which I am sure Sir Alex Ferguson would have told him off for doing.

Minutes later United should have had their second, United broke away from their half with Park, his ball to Berbatov was stopped by Terry but the ball rebounded back to Park, he got the ball to Berbatov who was down Man United’s right. Berbatov crossed the ball into the left side of the penalty area to Rooney who headed it towards Park and Park couldn’t quite hit the ball past Cech.

A few minutes later and Man United were at it again, Berbatov played a one-two with Park who put him through on goal, Berbatov tried to chip Cech but Cech stayed tall and managed to knock the ball away for Chelsea. Park nearly managed to get through but Cech was there to get the ball.

Foster had one or two nervy moments in the first half, at one point he had to hit Carrick’s back pass into Drogba to get the ball away. Not long after that he did exactly the same thing when his first touch was awful and again he kicked the ball off Drogba.

Chelsea did have one or two slight chances in the first half, Anelka’s ball in from the left was deflected off Ferdinand for a corner but it wasn’t too far from going in for an own goal.

Man United had a few more chances in the first half, Nani’s corner was knocked to Carrick who had a shot and Cech had to knock it over for another corner.

Second half and United got us underway. Chelsea made a substitution at half time, Jose Bosingwa was brought on for Ivanovic who had a terrible first half against Nani.

Man United had an early free kick just yards outside the penalty box when Mikel brought down Berbatov. Nani took it but it was headed away by Drogba.

Throughout the second half, Chelsea grew in confidence and started to put a few more moves together. Chelsea’s equaliser came when Evans’ clearance was picked up by Malouda on the left, Malouda got the ball to Lampard who was surrounded by red shirts but he got the ball back to Malouda who crossed the ball into Drogba. Foster came off the line to knock the ball away but it only fell to Carvalho and he headed the ball into an empty net. Chelsea had equalised 52 minutes in and Foster should have done better.

That understandably gave Chelsea more confidence and we saw players like Anelka and Drogba draw more saves out of Foster.

There was a worrying sight for Man United fans when Antonio Valencia had to come on for Nani who had his arm in a sling, which he made out of his shirt. First thoughts were that Nani had broken his collarbone but it still not known what the problem is. Chelsea also brought on Michael Ballack for Mikel.

This substitution was going to prove to be controversial, not because of the sub but because of the player. Ballack and Evra were going to have a few moments and the first came when Ballack had only been on the field for seconds. Ballack went in on Evra who had the ball, Evra stayed up and Ballack fell over and he then claimed that Evra had trodden on him, replays showed the he might of slightly but it was only accidental. Ballack stayed down but he got up as soon as the referee had blown his whistle. Ballack and Evra then had a few words.

Minutes later then were then at it again, this time it was an off the ball incident, Evra got the ball to Rooney and he carried on running forward, Ballack decided to what looks like elbow him in the face and Evra stays down. Chelsea clear the ball (at this point Evra is still down with what looks like a head injury). Chelsea keep hold of the ball and Drogba and Anelka run with the ball towards United’s defence who are a man down. Drogba gets the ball to Lampard (who Evra would have been marking if he hadn’t been down injured) who scores. Foster gets a hand to the ball but it still goes into the back of the net.
Minutes earlier the referee had stopped play for Ballack but Ballack clearly fouled Evra and he didn’t stop play. That is what everyone is irritated and annoyed about this morning. Chelsea’s second goal came in the 71st minute which didn’t give United long to try and get an equaliser.

After that goal, Fabio da Silva, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and Ryan Giggs were all brought on to try and get United an equaliser. O’Shea, Berbatov, Fletcher and Park were all taken off. Chelsea also brought on Deco for Malouda.

Things weren’t over between Evra and Ballack, Evra went in and cleanly got the ball off Ballack but the referee decided to book him. Evra did play the ball but he still decided to give him a yellow. Ballack did get up and get on with it so I don’t know why the ref booked him.

With not long left Chelsea brought on Salomon Kalou for Anelka. The game hadn’t finished and United were really trying to get an equaliser, which looked like it was never going to happen.

Three minutes were added on for stoppage time, they had nearly run out but Giggs put Rooney in on goal, Rooney ran past Chelsea’s defence and he put the ball past Cech. The game finished 2-2 and we went into penalties.

There is not much to say about the penalties apart from we were awful. Penalties are always luck of the draw and we didn’t have the luck yesterday.
Lampard took the first penalty and he scored, Giggs took United’s first and Cech saved it. Next up was Ballack who was never going to miss and he didn’t. Carrick took United’s second and he scored to make it 2-1 to Chelsea.
Drogba scored Chelsea’s third and poor old Evra had his saved for United. Kalou then stepped up to take the winning penalty and he scored.

Overall I am not too disappointed, it isn’t an important trophy it is one of those trophies, which is nice to get. I am disappointed with the referee but now we can look forward to the start of the season next week.

Ahead of the Community Shield match between Man United and Chelsea this afternoon, Chelsea captain John Terry says he is fed up with United's success.

"I'm fed up with seeing United win trophies," Terry told the News of the World.

"It's killed me personally as I'm ambitious. I want to push on as a player and win so many more things for Chelsea."

"I want to win the Champions League. I swear to God, I'm desperate to win it. But I'm desperate to get the title back. Going three years without the Prem isn't where we want to be."

"We've got the Community Shield, which will be great to win. OK, it's not the be all and end all, but it would be so nice to beat Manchester United."

This coming from a Manchester United fan (or former Man United fan, I'm not sure which one). Terry is just going to have to get over it, if Chelsea want to win then they are going to have to buck up their ideas.

When Chelsea were being managed by Jose Mourinho they raised the bar, over the past few years Man United have raised the bar again. If Chelsea want to win then they will have to do that, no point moaning about it.

On the other hand, new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has said that it isn't important that Chelsea win a trophy this Sunday.

When asked if not winning a trophy would mean failure, Ancelotti said: “No, this is not my [measure] – for the season is not all important to win, it is important that Chelsea do the maximum of the team's possibilities.”

“It's a very competitive championship, there are a lot of great teams that can win it,” said the Chelsea boss.

“The [quality] of the team is not any one player but their teamwork. United remain a great team without Ronaldo.

“I think there remains very good players there – Giggs, Scholes, Rooney, Berbatov. They are all great players.”

This Sunday Man United take on Chelsea in the Community Shield and Man United midfielder Anderson has spoken about it ahead of the match. It is great to hear that Man United players are ready to show everyone the Manchester United after Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United beat Portsmouth on penalties to win their 13th Community Shield, quite how it went to penalties, I don't know.

Yesterday the Community Shield (Charity Shield) was celebrating it's 100th birthday which was contested between Manchester United and Portsmouth, the first Charity Shield was also contested by United, who beat Queens Park Rangers (QPR).
It was the first time since 1996 that the Community Shield wasn't being contested by two of the 'top four' teams- Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

The United team news was that Garry Neville was fit and it was his first competetive match since March 2007. Carrick was on the bench after recovering from a virus.

United started off at a fast pace, Nani purst through Portsmouth in the third minute which had to bring James to the edge of the box to clear it.
A minute later and Nani was threatening to break though again.
Both Tevez and Nani were looking bright and it was looking like it was only a matter of time before United were going to score.

It was great to see Gary Neville play in a competitive match again especially when he was sending in some great crosses.
United had a good chance to go 1-0 up in the 15th minute when Fletcher pulled the ball back and Tevez' header went wide.
Portsmouth had their first good chance in the 21st minute but Diarra's shot went sky high.
United had a few more great chances in the first half, Giggs' shot was parried away by James, Fletcher had the best chance of the first half when all he had to do was touch the ball which was crossed in by Nani but he slipped at the wrong time and slid onto the ball, which did result in someone asking if he was wearing John Terry's boots.

40 minutes in and Nani was at it again, he lifted the ball over Campbell and chipped it over James, but Distin was there to head it away for a corner, a bit more power on it and I think it would probably have been a goal.

44 minutes in and Vidic received a yellow card for wrestling Defoe onto the ground and then protesting about the decision, I would like to point out that these yellow cards do count in the Premier League season, so Vidic has a yellow card already before playing a Premier League match.

Second half and United carried on the way they finished, Nani took and early United corner which resulted in James coming off his line, Fletcher's on target shot was tipped onto the bar by James and the rebound went to Tevez, who headed the ball straight into James' hands.

64 minutes in and I heard an interesting fact, at this point Tevez had touched the ball 52 times, whilst Defoe had only touched it 13 times.

United had some more chances in the second half, Giggs had a scuffed shot which was easily claimed by James. Nani shot but it was straight at James, Tevez' shot resulted in a fantastic save by James who mananger to tip it around the post for a corner.

There was a bit of a contentious decision in the 74th minute when Tevez was pulled down in the penalty area by Hreidarsson. Hreidarsson was on the ground and pulled Tevez down by holding onto his leg, we should have had a penalty but just like the FA Cup match we didn't get a pen against Pompey.
Tevez did react to what Hreidarsson did by holding his throat, which I cannot condone at all, United should have had a penalty and Tevez should have been sent off.

The longer it went on without United scoring, the more I thought that Pompey might just get a goal but it went on and finished 0-0.
Time for penalties.

Pompey went first, Diarra stood up and skied it right over the bar. Tevez took the first United penalty, just like he did in Moscow, Tevez scored 1-0 to United.
The second penalty taker was Defoe and there was no doubt in my mind that he wasn't going to miss, he didn't 1-1.
Giggs took United's second he took it and scored 2-1 to United.
Mvuemba was Portsmouth's third penalty taker which was saved by Van Der Sar's legs, it was still 2-1 to United.
Carrick was United's third penalty taker and he scored it, 3-1 to United and the next Portsmouth player had to score.
Johnson stood up to take the penalty and he missed it, which means that Manchester United have retained the Community Shield.

United had loads of chances throughout the match but it showed that we definetly need to bring in a striker especially with Rooney and Ronaldo ill and injured.

Today is the "Premier League Curtain Raiser", in other words, it is the Community Shield match between Manchester United and Portsmouth.



I am really looking forward to todays match, it is when I really get excited about the new season. It will also be a change to have a different team to play against, normally Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal play each other but this time we have Portsmouth, who will be a strong opposition, especially now they have Peter Crouch playing alongside Jermain Defoe.



United are without some key players such as Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves and ofcourse- Cristiano Ronaldo. But there is some good news- Nani is fit, Michael Carrick and Gary Neville have travelled. Neville has had a slight injury and Carrick has had the same virus that Rooney has had.

Sir Alex Ferguson

"It's always a game we never quite use as a do-or-die thing, we use it as a barometer for fitness,"
"At this particular time, we are not in the best position fitness-wise but it doesn't concern me unduly.
"There is a great quality in the squad and a great enthusiasm. A lot of them are exhilarated by winning the European Cup last season."

"They (Carrick and Neville) need some minutes on the clock before the start of the season,"

"The Community Shield is a prestigious match but I have used players in it who were not quite fit and we are more or less in the same situation again."

"Portsmouth are always a difficult team to play against,"
"They had a great season last year and now Harry [Redknapp] has brought Crouch into the squad, the partnership of Crouch and Defoe will be a handful for anyone now but hopefully we can cope with that."
"Sunday is going to be a really difficult match, but we will be fit and ready and hopefully we will give them a good game," said the England striker. "It's the first game of the season and all the new signings are out."

Tony Adams

"Alex? He's outstanding. The way he consistently produces great teams and has developed players as well as bought them, I have the utmost respect for him,"
"He is a great man at a great club but there is just something about him and them that I love beating.
"If I'm honest, I think I love beating them more than I would love beating even Arsenal. It's just something that's there - just like Alex always wants to beat Liverpool, maybe. "