Charity Shield!

I thought that we were going to lose the plot in the second half, but to the players' credit, they dug in, and was rewarded with the win. Scoring in injury time was just rubbing it in, but as the penalty shoot-out neared, that seemed almost inevitable. United was just relentless.

I knew, it was only the Charity Shield, but the match was played at high tempo, and it was the most competitive Charity Shield match I have seen in years. Galvanised by the fact that it was essentially a derby - between a true champion and an upstart!

We were down by a couple of goals. Our new young keeper should have done better on those goals. So, what did Alex do during the break? Replace the first-choice centerback partnership with a new young combination. I thought Claverley and Jones impressed in the game. We already knew what Ashley Young can do, and he did not disappoint.

On the whole, I thought that it was a good results, especially judging from the level of fitness of the players. They were clearly fitter than the Citeh player by the end, and the mistake that Kompany made I was sure was down to fatigue and loss of concentration. He was otherwise a consistently sound defender. All of this clearly bode well for the new season.