Blog of Norman Ralph

That time of year again! The new football season is just around the corner and this weekend saw the opening game of the season, the FA Community Shield, between Manchester United and Chelsea. As usual, it was a bit of a disappointment with neither team really getting going. There was the odd bit of brilliance, the odd flash of inspiration, but nothing to really set the game ablaze. Nani was disappointing for Man Utd and Pizarro looks like he might not last the pace at Chelsea though Malouda (signed for £13.5million from French champions, Lyon) looked sharp for the London side, other than that it was a fairly tame affair. Roll on the title chase.

On the face of the game, Manchester probably deserved their penalty win but in all honesty it could have gone either way.