Manchester United came up short in the Community Shield on Saturday, losing on penalties to Manchester City.
In the traditional curtain raiser, Manchester United looked impressive but will be kicking themselves over not taking the shield back to Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag had the perfect game plan and his team almost executed it perfectly. United gave away few opportunities while creating more than Pep Guardiola’s side managed to.
It was a performance which deserved a win, but ultimately it will just go down as a solid work-out for United ahead of the real season beginning next Friday.
That being said, there were plenty of positives to take from the game – so here are five we noticed.
Alejandro Garnacho looks ready for a stellar season
Positive number one to take from the game is that Alejandro Garnacho is ready to become a superstar for Manchester United. The Argentine winger was a constant threat when he came off the bench and ultimately scored the goal that we all thought was a winner.
He looked bigger and stronger which suggests he could be ready to start dominating full-backs, but also looked far more dangerous – while the end product was also sublime although it is a small sample size.
Garnacho could be ready to put the club on his back this season and break the 20-goal contribution mark this season and we cannot wait to see this – hopefully, he can make it two goals from two next Friday.
The defensive structure finally fixed
During the 2023/24 season, the biggest issue for Manchester United was the defensive structure and more importantly the gaps between midfield and defence which meant Andre Onana was facing 20 shots per game minimum – already Ten Hag appears to have fixed this.
Just eight shots faced against what is seen by many to be the best team in world football is quite a feat – even more so when you consider that Jonny Evans and Facundo Pellistri ended the game in defence.
This bodes well for the coming season, all United need to do is learn how to finish chances – of which there are plenty.
Casemiro looked better
Centre-midfield has been a priority all summer, yet United have not added anyone to the ranks just yet to partner Kobbie Mainoo in midfield.
But the pressure of making an addition here could be eased by a renaissance from Casemiro – although we are not 100 per cent convinced that this is what has happened just yet.
Casemiro was solid against City as he created chances, dominated off the ball and looked far better than we had become accustomed to over the past year.
Created more expected goals than City
While it would have been nice to win, ultimately the performance tells us that United are in store for a much better campaign than we saw last year.
United had more than double the expected goals of City, and played some excellent football which left City chasing shadows at times.
To play so well against City means we should have no problems creating against the likes of Fulham should in theory be no problem. Initial signs are that we are in for a good season – now we can just wait and see if this excellence can continue.
Still top players to come into the team
Most impressively of all, this performance was accomplished all without the strongest team United could field and also a team far from being match fit.
United were without; Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro, Luke Shaw, Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee did not play.
Five players who will be either starting or strong options from the bench this coming season – with De Ligt of course still needing to be finalised.
All of this is exciting and are real positives to take from Friday – roll on next Friday and the start of the Premier League.
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