la tradition veut que le vainqueur du Community Shield ne gagne pas le championnat !
dsl les gars !
héhé ! ^^

Manchester United

Tim Howard: Slow to get across for Thierry Henry´s free-kick and looked nervy on a number of occasions. Redeemed himself with Wiltord save in stoppage-time and with a couple of stops in the penalty shoot-out. 6/10

Phil Neville: Foolishly booked in the opening 30 seconds for his rash tackle on Patrick Vieira. Rarely troubled defensively, but provided little attacking threat. 6/10

Mikael Silvestre: Displayed great pace and some impressive distribution as well as popping up to score the first goal. Always dangerous from set-pieces 8/10

Rio Ferdinand: Formed a useful partnership with Silvestre and kept Henry in check while he was on the pitch. 7/10

Quinton Fortune: Showed great pace going forward, though unable to provide any accurate crosses. 6/10

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Had a great shot saved by Lehmann, but struggled to deliver any meaningful crosses. 6/10

Nicky Butt: Solid, if unspectacular and his partnership with Keane in the centre of midfield suggests United will be heavily dependent on Scholes to open up teams this season. 6/10

Roy Keane: As he sprinted back to win the ball back from Vieira and then Pires suggested there is plenty of life in the veteran midfielder. 7/10

Ryan Giggs: Hit the post with a header and several times carved open the Arsenal defence with his pace and skill. 7/10

Paul Scholes: Vision stood out as he did his passing in his efforts to release Van Nistelrooy and Solskjaer. 8/10

Ruud van Nistelrooy: Hit the bar with a header but generally reined in by Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure. 7/10

Substitutes

Eric Djemba-Djemba ( replaced Nicky Butt): Bustled his way to the Arsenal goal, only to shoot narrowly over. Lucky not to be dismissed after leaving foot dangerously high on Campbell. 7/10

John O´Shea ( replaced Quinton Fortune): Rarely tested defensively, though offered little going forward. 7/10

Diego Forlan ( replaced Phil Neville): Not on long enough to really have a chance of getting into the game. 6/10

Man Utd move for Puyol

Barcelona have confirmed that Manchester United have enquired about the possibility of signing defender Carles Puyol.

The Catalan club said no official bid had been received for the player and stressed that they did not want to sell the 25-year-old.

However, Barca press secretary Juanho Castillo said they would consider offers for any of their squad as they bid to reduce debts of about £116m.

" There is no deal," said Castillo. " United are interested in the player but we are not interested in selling him.

" However we will always listen to any offers that are made. No-one at the club wants him to go but everyone is available if the offer is good enough.

" No offer has been made, just an enquiry so we will have to wait to see what happens now."

Puyol has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave the Catalan club for £14m and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is keen to increase his defensive cover, with only six senior players at his disposal.

With Gary Neville and Wes Brown injured, Ferguson is even more stretched and has also been linked with a move for Ajax full-back Hatem Trabelsi.

Transfer news: All the Premiership ins and outs
Puyol said last week that he would move if it helped ease his club´s financial problems.

He told Barcelona´s official website: " United are one of the best clubs in the world and any footballer would be happy to play there.

" If it´s for the good of the club I´ll help out, but I´m happy here and this is home for me."

Puyol and the rest of the Barcelona squad are in Manchester this weekend to play United´s rivals City in the inaugural match in the City of Manchester Stadium.

Sir Alex Ferguson is set to match Chelsea´s spending spree by swooping for four players - Ajax midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, Brazilian Deco, West Ham´s Jermain Defoe and Barcelona´s Carles Puyol. ( Sunday People)

coucou ^^

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39385000/jpg/_39385151_howard_shieldap.jpg

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39385000/jpg/_39385195_keane_get.jpg

Wenger sees red over Jeffers

Francis Jeffers gets his marching orders
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Francis Jeffers fully deserved the red card that cost his side´s chances of liftng the Community Shield against Manchester United.
Jeffers became the 50th Arsenal player red-carded under manager Arsene Wenger when he was sent off 19 minutes from time after kicking out at Phil Neville.

But Gunners´ boss Wenger had no sympathy for the £8m signing.

Wenger said: " The red card was deserved. Francis knows he overreacted and should not have done it."

I don´t think this gives anyone an edge

Man Utd´s Mikael Silvestre

Arsenal´s ranks could have been further reduced had referee Steve Bennett not shown lenience to Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell who also showed a lack of restraint.

Wenger said: " We certainly didn´t want to go down to 10 men in that heat.

" But while the incident with Jeffers was right in front of me, those involving Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell were over the other side of the pitch."

There was little to seperate the giants of English football as they limbered up for the campaign.

Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre denied that lifting the Community Shield gave his side a psychological edge.

Sivestre said: " This is still a pre-season game. We won the Premiership title with a strong run at the end of last season.

" I don´t think this gives anyone an edge."

Silvestre also conceded that Manchester United were still coming to terms with the loss of David Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron.

The French international said: " It´s difficult to not have Becks and Seba around, especially because they were so good at free-kicks and that´s something we have to work on.

" But we have made some good signings. Eric Djemba-Djemba came on and did well and we deomsntrated today that we´re as strong as last season."

Match report: Man Utd 1-1 Arsenal ( Man Utd win 4-3 on pens)

Meanwhile, United´s penatly shoot-out hero Tim Howard does not know if his feat will earn him the number one jersey at Old Trafford this season.

Howard, a £2.3m summer signing from NY/NJ Metro Allstars, saved penalties from Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Robert Pires.

The big American´s all-round performance was a nudge to United boss Sir Alex Ferguson that he can displace Frenchman Fabien Barthez.

But Howard said: " I don´t know whether I will be starting the season, that´s not my decision.

" We have four great goalkeepers and we´re looking to have a good battle all season long."

hello les gars lmarco tu y crois a ses 4 recrues ce serait exceptionnel ! !!!

Defoe possible, Van der Vaart doit être trop cher, Puyol difficile c´est du 50-50 mais ça vaut le coup de se battre pour l´avoir, et enfin Deco me semble pas la piste la plus interessante.

A noter que certains medias anglais annoncaient il y a qq jours la signature de Trabelsi avec un peu trop de zele, mais on continue à l´annoncer à M.U. la semaine prochaine...On verra !

personnellement van deer vart j´y crois , deco est un super joueur . et puyol ca me parait bien engagé finalement . ce n´est pas termine les recrues . Et on a gagné le community shield et ca c´est beau . ..

Du moment que M.U. recrute un lateral droit et un joueur capable d´amener de la fantaisie offesivement et un peu de percussion l´equipe sera alors assez homogène et plutôt bien fournie...

j´ai envie d´y croire parce queavec vandeervart et puyol ou trabelsy on aurait une desplus belle equipe de manchester qu´on est eu . si a ca on rajoute deco ce sera en vaant la musique ! !!!

Oui mais en fait la je crois que nos amis journalistes se sont quelque peu emportés ( ^^) car je pense qu´on pourra avoir qu´un seul de ses joueurs offensifs, et perso je parierai sur Defoe qui correspond bien aux critères definis par SAF, à savoir jeunesse, qualités athlétiques, percussion et vitesse notamment. En plus il est anglais et connait la Premier League !

Van der Vaart searit, tout comme l´a été Joaquin une recrue fabuleuse, mais les imperatifs economiques ne s´effacent pas d´un revers de la main et prendre un joueur à ce prix la si talentueux pour le mettre sur le banc reste une hypothèse peu credible.

Puyol, juste un mot: VIIIIIIIIENNS ^^

Merveilleux MU, je suis très heureux!
Et Howard a assuré sa titularisation!

En tout cas je veux plus entendre de messages defaitistes maintenant, sans Kleberson et avec des joueurs rentrés tardivement de vacances ( coupe des confederations oblige), on a vu un Manchester qui a finalement tenu la route avec, ne l´oublions pas, Quinton arrière gauche !

On peut encore progresser et recruter alors pas de constat alarmiste, les nouveaux ont deja un titre avec M.U. !

Oué, et c´est bien pour eux!

Power to da Mancs !

A demain !

tant pis...