The Moon of Liberty

FA Community Shield, Sunday 5th August 2007 - Kick off 3.00 pm

Venue - Wembley Stadium 

Manchester United V Chelsea

The traditional start to the season, the Community shield, took place this afternoon with Champions Manchester United stong favourites as Chelsea were struggling with major injury problems to the point they had to draft in youth players to the bench.

United manager Alex Ferguson has described this United squad as the best he has ever had, they certainly started the stronger of the two sides with Chelsea's depleted side offering little up front for most of the first half.

Ronaldo and Rooney both had chances for United, but it was another United hero who would open the scoring. After a deflected free kick from Ronaldo came to nothing, Patrice Evra set up a smart one two, he then pulled the ball back from the touchline for Ryan Giggs to guide the ball home with a wonderful finish, as he had little to aim at. This gave United a dserved lead

GOAL - 34 Minutes - Giggs - Manchester United 1 Chelsea 0

After this Chelsea got a degree more possession and hit back just before the break. A long ball over the top caught Ferdinand out of position, and Malouda ran on with it, brushing aside Ferdinand and moving into the penalty area. From a tough angle he smartly put the ball past Van Der Sar for an equaliser they had scarcely deserved.

GOAL - 44 Minutes - Malouda - Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1

There was little time left and they went in all square after at the break. The second half began pretty much the same way. Chelsea were trying long balls over the top towards Wright Phillips while united were playing the better football. Chech made a fine save from Ronaldo on 55 minutes. From there the game began to peter out towards a penalty shoot out.

Neither side looked like winning it in the last 20 minutes as substitution came and tiredness at this early point of the season began to hit. The game ended a draw accoridngly and after a short break we moved to penalities, both managers seemed pleased with what they had seen over the ninety minutes.

In the shoot out United keeper Van Der Sar was the hero saving all three Chelsea penalties. It was left to Wayne Rooney to score the winning penalty and seal the first bit of silverware for United. Overall they deserved to win the game, but given Chelsea's injury problems they will be pleased to have gone 90 minutes and come away with an equal scoreline.

RESULT

FA COMMUNITY SHIELD FROM WEMBLEY

Manchester United      (1) 1 (Giggs 34)

Chelsea                         (1) 1 (Malouda 44) 

Manchester United win 3-0 on pens 

Manchester United win the 2007 Community Shield                                                                                     

 

New Prime Minster Gordon Brown has had a pretty good first few weeks. His job has been made easier by many mistakes during that same period by his opponents, but still Gordon himslef has run a steady as she goes regime so far, and he has not frightened the horses in the way many thought he may.

He dealt with the Terrorist attacks with a calm, reassuring manner that impressed many. His brave decision to promote the MP for Redditch, Jackie Smith, has been welcomed by many, and vindicated in the way she has dealt with the position so far. His honeymoon period has allowed him to turn the polls around for Labour from a minor deficit to a lead of around 6%. There are signs however the these polls are stabalising and you would expect some edge to come off that lead in due course. So if the honeymoon is coming to an end, could things now begin to go wrong.

The answer is of course that this will depned on what events get thrown up. He has controversial decisions to make over new anti-terror laws. His support for ID cards and wanting to increase the detention period without charge could lead to opposition. His early release scheme for prisoners has come under fire, so has his decision to rule out a referendum on the new EU treaty. The ecomomy is also not as strong as it was, and if that continues, the man who has run it for the last 10 years, Mr Brown himself, could get the blame. So there are many pitfalls that could cause problems on the horision.

We do however live in an age where often perception and image are sometimes as important as reality. So for all the policy areas I have just mentioned, Brown's biggest danger maybe more of the sort covered by this article in the Mail on Sunday documenting what Gordon has had to deal with in his short time as Prime Minister. First a terrorist attack, then floods and now foot and mouth disease's return. None of these are issues that the opposition can make any capital out of directly, to try would actually damage them, but the image of Gordon Brown's regime following one crisis after another could become a big problem for the Government.

Gordon could be in danger of becoming a victim of circumstances through no fault of his own. If people begin to link his Governemnt with crisis after crisis, the view that something different may be needed to stop the rot may become subconciously prevelent in the minds of the public. There is only so long the media can begin with the words 'And Gordon Brown is facing another crisis today' before Gordon Brown and crisis become inextricably linked. If this happens, Gordon could find himself in danger dispite having done nothing worng personally. He must surely hope nothing else out of theordinary happens for a while, or he could become 'Crisis Man,' which will not help him fight a furture election anymore easily.