Community Shield ~ Man United vs Man City
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Mancini knows it's time to deliver title and insists: This year it will be different
Target: Mancini (above) is under pressure to overhaul city rival Ferguson
Manchester United vs Manchester City
Channel 115 mio Tv (Star Sports)
Time: 9:30 pm (Live)
Sunday 7 August 2011
Community Shield
Roberto Mancini is cautious when the question is put to him.
Another season looms and, it is suggested, he will again be expected to deliver silverware or be sacked.
'It is a different situation because last year we won the FA Cup and got into the Champions League,' he responds, as well might a manager who has delivered Manchester City's first trophy in 35 years.
'This year will be different, but we want to improve on last year. We had our targets then and maybe we could have done better in the league because we were in first position [at one point]. But the players were together last year and that's why we will be better this time.'
Mancini knows, though, that, as Sunday's showpiece Community Shield encounter with Manchester United at Wembley launches the new season, this is the year he is expected to deliver the Premier League title.
Sergio Aguero, the £38million arrival, starts on the bench today to complement the likes of Gael Clichy (£5m), Stefan Savic (£6m), Adam Johnson (£7m), James Milner (£26m), David Silva (£26m), Yaya Toure (£24m), Mario Balotelli (£24m) and Edin Dzeko (£27m).
And those are just the signings Mancini has overseen since joining 20 months ago.
Some of the club's transformation had already begun when Garry Cook became chief executive under the old regime in 2008 and arrived to discover there was no personnel department and that information on players to be signed was retained in the memory of the club scouts.
However, many believe that the most decisive changes came about shortly after Sheik Mansour's takeover and were instigated not by the Sheik himself, a relatively minor member of the Abu Dhabi Royal family, but by the current City chairman, Khaldoon al Mubarak, just 35, educated at Tufts University in Boston and the shining star of the Abu Dhabi government.
Power brokers: Khaldoon Al-Mubarak and Garry Cook
Strong interest: Sheikh Mansuor bin Zayed
According to some Abu Dhabi experts, Mubarak's installation as City chairman indicates the real power behind the throne at the club: not Sheik Mansour but the Crown Prince of the country and second most-important man in the state, Sheik Mohammed.
'I think in the beginning City were bought unilaterally by Sheik Mansour as a prestige project,' said Durham University's Professor Christopher Davidson, author of Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond.
'He is quite young and relatively low down the list of the 19 sons of the original ruler, Sheik Zayed, who died in 2004.
'But very shortly after the purchase we have lots of clues that the Crown Prince, Sheik Mohammed, and the government itself started to take a strong interest, which is why you have guys like Mubarak, the right-hand man of the Crown Prince, taking decisions. Whenever he is involved it means Abu Dhabi's national reputation is at stake.
'I think they've realised City will probably never turn a profit and they're probably going to have to sink a lot of money into it, but it buys a lot of status with one of their key trading partners and tourism providers. And there are a lot worse things they could spend their money on. In the past it would have gone almost exclusively on weapons.'
It is, however, of concern to UEFA, Europe's governing body for football who are attempting to impose Financial Fair Play, to avoid teams such as City distorting the football market with their unlimited funds.
Just how they will regulate a state sitting on nine per cent of the world's oil reserves is a moot point.
And there is, says Davidson, a dark side to the transformation of City from running joke to title contenders.
'Abu Dhabi is an autocracy,' he says. 'Any parliament or democracy that appears to exist is purely window dressing. Abu Dhabi is a dictatorship and a very rich one.'
The reality is, though, that not many at the Etihad Stadium are likely to care this season.
For City are title contenders and, in the Premier League, that is what matters.
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I think United may not win this cos they have been playing too many games recently while City have been training hard... Just last sunday they were playing Barce in the US, then wed in Holland then friday Scholes's testimonial...
Anyway, let's hope they can lah... It would be interesting to watch the new keeper too... But I still think he is too young.
And Maradonna's son-in-law as well... Will he be better than Tevez?
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Shebby Singh is back!
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Manchester United starting XI:
De Gea, Smalling, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Nani, Carrick, Anderson, Young, Roney, Wellbeck.
Manchester City's starting XI;
Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, De Jong, Silva, Yaya Toure, Milner, Balotelli, Dzeko.
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What are the odds this match will go into penalties and De Gea turns out to be Hero / Villain? Lol...
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For mi
I hope Man Utd to win it
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hope man utd win. trash man city spirit a tiny. heheh.. but..man utd have been playing too much...*finger cross*
hart has a very proud face hor.
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so where is the commenator?
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Lolx anderson not happy with dzeko sliding
then dzeko push him away LOL earn himself yellow card -
haiz..evra error..and also tio yellow
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2 goals down..sigh
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second goal was savable by De Gea, but he was slow to it. this doesnt do his confidence a world of good.
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De Gal lau ya lah... I knew it, the guy need more experience before he can play at this level week in week out...
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
second goal was savable by De Gea, but he was slow to it. this doesnt do his confidence a world of good.
yea..saw from the replay..cos it really jerking on the screen.hm..bad day for him
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City are now the new Chelsea man... Cos most of their players like very big size like Chelsea last time...
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I hope De Gea doesnt become another Taibi and shipped off to Spain after a few games.maybe it was the jitters debut, but he should do better.
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Berbatov in sub bench....looks like his days at united is numbered.
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actually i dont understand the first goal. hm..why de gea went to the ground so quickly ..where the ball still high?
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Nani scored an exquisite goal after a good one two with cleverly and rooney.
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nice work... we got a pretty young team out there
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Young's crosses into the box is really good...
On the United's 2nd goal, to be honest, I didn't know where the ball was just before it was scored on first watch... lol.
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Cleverley rather impressive... Carrick can be sub very soon... And Welbeck full of energy...
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die die must always wait till last min.. yeah!
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Nani scored the winner after mistake from Kompany. what a revival by united in the second half. worthy winners of the shield.