A good start
I’ve always said the Charity Shield is a very important trophy… 👀 but however you view it, meaningless friendly or first piece of silverware of the season, it was against City so it was never going to be a friendly.
We started the game brilliantly, we were on the front foot from the start and just looked sharper than City in pretty much every department and our dominance was rewarded with a well taken strike from Trent at the edge of his box. Matty and I were discussing on the thread that with the positions Trent finds himself in, there’s no reason he can’t start to add more goals this season and I thought his all round play was excellent yesterday.
In attack, Diaz was busy and showed incredible pace at times, as well as some silky skills. I’d like to see him getting in more goal scoring positions though. He was banging the goals in in Portugal so hoping to see him find his scoring boots this season. Bobby was busy as always, pressing brilliantly and linking up play and Salah looked sharp from the off. Showed some lovely dribbling skills at times and expertly converted his penalty.
As is always the way with City, controlling their midfield is imperative and I felt we did that for 75% of the match. Hendo led the press, Fabinho was dominant but Thiago (McMOTM) was sensational. It’s not just his silky passing, he has a physical side to his game that I don’t think he gets enough credit for. He was snapping into tackles and using his body brilliantly to shield the ball and emerge with it from tight spaces. He set the tone of the game and I would love an injury free season for him. What a player.
As for our defence, for all the furore about Haaland in the build up to the game, he was pretty quickly introduced to what the inside of Virgil’s pocket looks like as he got very little change out the Dutchman and didn’t really seem on the same wavelength as his team mates and when a couple of chances did come his way, he fluffed his lines. I’ve no doubt he’ll come good but on yesterday’s showing, City could be in for another slow start, upon which we need to be ready to capitalise.
Adrian… well he made a couple of decent stops but my god he’s a bombscare with the ball at his feet. Hopefully Ali is back next week.
It was around the hour mark however, that everyone got what they wanted to see, with the introduction of our new big money striker and he didn’t disappoint. He was immediately busy, working hard in the press and using his physicality. Seemed almost instantly on the same wavelength as his teammates, as one through ball put him one v one with Ederson, he drifted to the back post and was found brilliantly by Salah where we subsequently won the penalty.
The third goal gave us a glimpse of what our other new signing is all about. Young Fabio came on and I was immediately impressed with how he was demanding the ball from his team mates. Didn’t look overawed at all and played a nice pass out to Salah before the cross was met by a rampaging Robbo and converted by Darwin to round off a perfect debut for the lad. All you can ask of an attacking player coming off the bench is that they impact the game and both our new boys did that but Darwin in particular. Scored one and could have had a couple more, looked threatening as soon as he was on the pitch. That will have done his confidence the world of good and I must admit to being excited to see what he can do this season.
All in all then, a fine afternoon’s work and more importantly we look up to speed and ready to go with the new season, while City still look undercooked. A fast start by us is imperative in my opinion as City tend to get stronger and stronger as the season goes on. This rivalry between us has massively raised the bar on what it takes to win the league and every single point is crucial. On yesterdays evidence though, we look ready. Walk on!
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