It isn’t just pre-season friendlies taking place this weekend – the FA Community Shield played out on Saturday, too.
In a repeat of May’s FA Cup final, the two Manchester clubs met at Wembley.
Here are some of the key takeaways from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective.
Premium Members can see official Opta data from the FA Community Shield, featuring all the usual stuff like team statistics, player stats and heatmaps, via this link here. Some are included here in this article.
MANCHESTER CITY 1-1 MANCHESTER UNITED
- Goals: Bernardo | Garnacho
- Assists: Bobb | Fernandes
PEP ON BOBB
Oscar Bobb (£5.0m) sits in around 85,000 FPL teams at present, his pre-season performances and returns tempting some Fantasy managers into an early-season punt.
It goes without saying that the concern is more about game-time in the medium term. Once City’s internationals are up to speed, there will be as many as six players competing for two winger slots. Phil Foden (£9.5m) and Bernardo Silva (£6.5m), who we’re counting amongst that group, can of course play centrally.
Bobb is certainly doing his best to keep hold of his shirt. He was bright again against United, teeing up Bernardo for City’s late leveller. He’d earlier jinked his way through before blazing over and set James McAtee (£5.0m) up for a shot that hit the post.
Above: Oscar Bobb was the leading City player for expected goal involvement (xGI) on Saturday
Pep Guardiola offered the qualified praise he usually reserves for when the hype is threatening to get too much.
“They have the standards that we have, they have it.
“I know them, especially McAtee, from a long time ago. We saw Oscar last season. They have… the confidence from their mates, from the squad. They adore them. They can rely on them, that is the most important thing.
“Oscar make a fantastic game, like all pre-season. McAtee’s first two games in the States were not good but the third, especially the fourth, and today, more like the McAtee we want him to be.
“We want more [from Bobb]. Sometimes he had the chance to take the ball and go and he was a little bit passive. But he has something unique; be stopped then go, first one or two steps, right or left are unbelievable. The goal, how he turns and makes the cross, huge quality. He has incredible values and incredible work ethic.
“But he’s still young. He has the ability to do it, he has to do it more regularly.” – Pep Guardiola on Oscar Bobb and James McAtee
LIMITED MINUTES FOR CITY’S INTERNATIONALS
This was the last chance for City players to get minutes in their legs ahead of Gameweek 1.
We knew ahead of kick-off that their English and Spanish contingent wouldn’t be available.
Some of the other returning internationals weren’t that much more involved.
Ruben Dias (£5.5m), Manuel Akanji (£5.5m) and Jeremy Doku (£6.5m) all started, although had Jack Grealish (£6.5m) been fit there’s a good chance the Belgian winger wouldn’t have done.
We don’t yet know the severity of Grealish’s issue.
And Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m), Bernardo and Nathan Ake (£5.5m) weren’t introduced until after the 80th minute. Not the game-time in the legs we might have expected.
It’s the lack of minutes for the regulars that makes Guardiola’s Gameweek 1 line-up a little tricky to predict. Bobb stands a good chance of starting. Might McAtee, Nico O’Reilly and Rico Lewis (£4.5m), too? A glimmer of hope for Chelsea, perhaps, but remember it was these youngsters who helped despatch the Blues 4-2 last weekend.
Above: Man City midfielders’ pre-season minutes, via our tracker
SAVINHO DEBUT
Savinho (£6.5m) made his City debut at Wembley with a 25-minute cameo down the left flank. We immediately saw what he was about: taking a man on and delivering the ball.
A total of four crosses was as many as any other City player attempted in the whole game. His tally of five take-ons was only beaten by Doku. He was on corners, too.
Erling Haaland (£15.0m), who didn’t have a single shot at Wembley having been starved of meaningful service, will like the sound of another chance-creating winger on the books.
“[He had a] good impact. He can play on both sides. On the left, he has incredible quality and can attack the byline. After that, he is really good at crosses. He will help Erling to score goals. Look at the goal we scored, byline and cross. When you have the ability to arrive in those positions and make a good cross… but not just inside, he was aggressive.
“With our wingers, I ask them when you have a good feeling, attack the opponent, it doesn’t matter if you dribble or not, you have to do it, it’s your quality. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t effective but you have to do it. He did it really well for the 35 minutes he played.” – Pep Guardiola on Savinho
AMAD IMPRESSES – BUT GARNACHO STEALS HIS THUNDER
Amad Diallo (£5.0m) delivered a Bobbean performance at the other end, albeit one that was cut short by his manager after 57 minutes. That is the ongoing concern with Amad even if he starts: that Erik ten Hag would sooner sacrifice the bright young prospect rather than a misfiring senior figure.
That misfiring senior figure was Marcus Rashford (£7.0m) at Wembley. A shadow of his former self last season, his confidence still looks shot to bits. Two glaring opportunities, which represented over half of United’s overall xG of 1.04, went begging.
If it was on merit, then Amad and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.5m) really ought to be starting against Fulham. Garnacho’s price rise means he’ll be owned by far fewer FPL managers this season but 14 attacking returns from just 30 starts in 2023/24 would have been decent even for a £6.5m midfielder. On his first appearance of pre-season here, he did what Rashford couldn’t and put United in front.
This was actually a decent performance from the Red Devils against an admittedly under-strength City, who were reduced to just 0.48 xG.
Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) was bright on his own first post-Euros appearance. True to tireless type, he lasted 90 minutes. No managed game-time for him.
Assisting Garnacho’s goal, he was denied a sensational strike of his own by an offside flag. Fernandes was actually leading the line at Wembley, with Rasmus Hojlund (£7.0m) injured and Joshua Zirkzee (£7.0m) an unused substitute. We’ve yet to see Zirkzee since his move.
The shortage of full-backs is one worry, with Lisandro Martinez (£4.5m) and Facundo Pellistri (£5.0m) forced to play there on Saturday.
Erik ten Hag at least reported positive news from the physio room.
“I just checked with the doctor, and the doctor was the person I spoke to most last season, and it seems that everyone is [starting to] come good. [There is] a little knock with Harry [Maguire] but we hope he can keep fit and available for next week when we start the season against Fulham.” – Erik ten Hag
Manchester United XI: Onana, Dalot, Maguire (Pellistri 58’), Evans, Martinez, Casemiro, Mainoo (McTominay 58’), Amad (Garnacho 58’), Mount (Collyer 58’), Rashford (Sancho 84’), Fernandes.
Manchester City XI: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol (Ake 90′); Kovacic, O’Reilly (Nunes 65′), McAtee (Bernardo 80’); Bobb (De Bruyne 90′), Haaland, Doku (Savinho 65′).
