5 things we learned from the Chelsea-Man City game

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Carlos Tevez of Manchester City is tackled by Jon Obi Mikel of Chelsea during the FA Community Shield match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Villa Park on August 12, 2012 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

The annual curtain raiser for the premier league season saw Manchester City win the Shield after 40 years. The match ended 3-2 in favour of City, but it was Fernando Torres who drew first blood before half-time. The second half was not going to be pleasant for the European Champions as Branislav Ivanovic was sent off due to a vicious tackle on Kolarov before half-time. In a space of 12 minutes, Toure, Tevez and Samir Nasri found the net. Bertrand scored a late goal but things did not get better for Chelsea. Manchester City looked confident in defending their league title as they cruised past Chelsea, but the London based club were down to 10 men for more than 45 mins.

Manchester City are the team to beat

City were dominating. Even when Chelsea had all their 11 players, City had the better possession and were completely controlling the game. Fernando Torres’s goal was one of the few shots that Chelsea had. When the Premier League begins, City will be dominating and with the players they have, expect them to fiercely defend their league title. After a performance like this, can City carry on this splendid form into Europe?

Torres looks rejuvenated

Fernando Torres is once again close to reaching the peaks he had touched at Liverpool. I’ll reserve my opinion till the start of next season, but he scored a splendid goal. Anything less than 20 goals in this season will be a failure for El Nino. His goal against City would have certainly delighted many fans and in my case I was so pleased that he scored, that I didn’t even grumble about the loss.

Transfer market activity means nothing

Chelsea like always have thrown millions in the transfer market to capture players. City on the other hand have surprisingly remained quite – much to Roberto Mancini’s irritation – until they signed Jack Rodwell yesterday. But the win against Chelsea showed that Mancini should have no reason to be stressed. With his current squad, they are fully capable of retaining their title whereas Chelsea have to set a realistic target and a 3rd or 4th place finish would be good enough for the young squad who still need time to gel.

Hazard gives you 2003 Ronaldo vibes..

Those rabona’s, backheel flicks and slick step overs that lead to nothing is what made the crowd jeer Cristiano Ronaldo during his early days at United. Eden Hazard attempted a backheel which resulted in the Belgian tripping on his own legs and drawing jeers from the City supporters. It somehow reminded many of Ronaldo’s failed stepover where he lost his balance, gave away the ball and lay on the pitch embarrassed. Only time will tell, whether Hazard can recreate the magic of Cristiano Ronaldo.

This Premier League is going to be as exciting as the last one !

Last year was arguably the best Premier League finish we would have ever seen. Manchester City snatched their first title in 44 years from their neighbours in the last seconds of the season. Chelsea themselves have considerably reduced the average age in their squad, Tottenham have found themselves a new and exciting manager and Arsenal have landed three terrific signings as well. United after losing out on Moura, have not done bad either. Kagawa and Nick Powell could definitely rise up in ranks under Sir Alex Ferguson. The fact that Chelsea lost only 3-2 with one man down, talks about the quality of the English Premier League. The fight to the top is more competitive now and expect at least 4 teams to challenge for the title throughout the season