United continue to set the standard

I don't normally watch the Community Shield (not since Arsenal were last in it, at least!), but my hunger for the football season to start was such that I had to tune in for the early season Manchester derby today.

And what a game, City going 2-0 up with two quickfire goals before half-time, before a great comeback from United with a thrilling stoppage time winner from Nani.

Do these pre-season games really tell us much about how the season will go? Not necessarily, but if I feared United and had my doubts about City when I wrote my season preview yesterday, my claims feel slightly more vindicated now.

Sure, it's not technically a competitive game, but I'm not impressed that from 2-0 up, the supposedly defensively-minded City went on to lose to their local rivals. Especially considering that they played pretty much their strongest team, and despite their endless supply of money, they still quite clearly have a weaker squad than United, who fielded plenty of promising youngsters in this victory.

Of course youngsters are unreliable, as us Arsenal fans well know by now, but the difference at United is these players know they have to fight for their place to get ahead of their more experienced counterparts. No such competition exists at Arsenal, because we don't have experienced players, and our overpaid youngsters have been deluded into thinking they're too good to be on the bench, and leave at any sign of trouble. See Denilson and Bendtner.

Whereas today, United were without Giggs, Fletcher, Park, Valencia and Hernandez, as well as Carrick and Vidic for the second half. The likes of Wellbeck, Cleverly and Smalling knew this was a chance to stake their claim for a first-team place, and that competitive spirit that United have was too good for the artificially assembled team of City.

And at the end of it all? These young players now know the feeling that so many of their players in the past know so well - winning a trophy.

Ferguson knows they were lucky to win the league last year, and admits they were humbled by Barcelona in the Champions League final, and he's improved his team a lot. They now look streets ahead of their challengers, and will have received a big confidence boost from the nature of their comeback today.

That said, young goalkeeper De Gea did badly on City's two goals. It's only his first game, but he is young and there's always hope he will be shaky and concede goals that van der Saar wouldn't. Of course, the goals he conceded today, a set piece and a long range shot, are not the kind of things Arsenal will trouble him with when they play in a few weeks time, so it's a shame we won't take advantage of that.

Also worth noting that Clichy did his usual trick of running away from the ball for United's stoppage time winner. Shocking play as usual by him, which is good news for Arsenal in some small way.

Meanwhile, we lost 2-1 to Benfica last night. Squillaci and Fabianski at fault for the goals. Yawn.

Wenger says we're not close to signing anyone. Great. Like me, he suspects we're safe for a top three or four finish and will not break the bank to try for more. It's a shame that there's so little to write about in regards to Arsenal and I've had to concede the vast majority of this article to United's current dominance. A real shame.

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