Wembley-bound United and City each have questions to answer

London: The din from Manchester United’s ‘noisy neighbours’ has been deafening over the summer. And while Manchester City have both positive and negative issues to address, United have concerns of their own entering the new season. The two Manchester teams come face to face in the traditional season curtain-raiser, the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday, when the Premier League winners (United) play the FA Cup champions (City). No doubt it will be a typically passionate and tense local derby with neither manager willing to concede an early psychological edge to the other a week prior to the start of the new Premier League season. But it should still be more sedate, let’s say, than a league battle in late April, while fitness levels return after holiday as players re-familiarise themselves with the clubs’ diet sheet. The bottom line is that it’s a great opportunity for Sir Alex Ferguson to add yet another honour to his overcrowded medal collection, while Roberto Mancini craves any victories and especially those that lead to silverware purely because of the pressure he faces every day with such ambitious and ruthless owners. He needs every success he can grab to build his case for job survival. That’s the bottom line. However, there is a bigger picture, which is that win or lose, it won’t make a jot of difference to the season expectations or momentum. The indications are that each club will be challenging for all the major honours this season, but one or two question marks hang over them. For United, it is clear that Ferguson’s men will again be a tough nut to crack for any English rival. Personally, if I was a betting man, I would have my money on them to retain their league title. But their agenda and level of ambition must be higher than that; namely, closing the gap on Barcelona in the Champions League. [caption id=“attachment_55665” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Manchester United’s Anderson looks at Wayne Rooney during a training session at Old Trafford in Manchester. Reuters”]  [/caption] The manner in which United were dismantled and destroyed by Barca in the European showpiece final in May was bordering on humiliating. It was like the Harlem Globetrotters taking on a half-useful college team. To Ferguson’s credit, he has not shied away from the obvious rebuilding job that needed to be done. He acknowledged United were second best – maybe even third – and has subsequently freshened up his squad with some tried and trusted going out and a few new players coming in. Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes retired, John O’Shea and Wes Brown were shipped off to Sunderland, and expect Ryan Giggs to play a bit-part role this season. More of Fergie’s old regulars could yet exit. Their highest profile signing to date is England winger Ashley Young from Aston Villa (£16.5 million), while the so-called ‘new John Terry’ Phil Jones arrived from Blackburn for a similar fee. Goalkeeper David de Gea came from Atletico Madrid for £17.8 million. They are all good, albeit expensive, recruits, especially with an eye on the future. Still, though, this is hardly the level of transfer activity that United need to aspire to, to catch Barca. The rumours of Wesley Sneijder arriving from Inter Milan need to stop being rumours and transform into facts and subsequently his signing, as far as United’s agenda goes. The Dutch midfielder is a quality performer and certainly on a par with the great Barca incumbents like Iniesta and Xavi. It is only these types of transfers that will make United’s task any easier in pulling themselves up level with the Spanish champions. Such lofty transfer targets won’t be cheap – far from it – but existing personnel like Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, the injury-prone Rio Ferdinand, the rapidly ageing Patrice Evra and the still raw full backs Fabio and Rafael should be improved on for immediate improvement to somewhere vaguely near Barca’s level. As for City, the transfer saga that has dragged on all summer concerning their former captain Carlos Tevez must have been a distraction to their plans no matter how often Mancini and his players suggest otherwise. They have remained busy in the upper echelons of the transfer market, bringing in the highly exciting Sergio Aguero in attack. His pairing in attack with last season’s £27 million new boy Edin Dzeko could be fruitful if their goal records’ continue as they were on the continent. But no matter how much money City spend, and they have spent more than most, you cannot ignore the absence of a great talent like Tevez when he finally moves out of Eastlands – probably to Inter. Not just his talent but his goal per game ratio for City. Without him last season, City may have been mid-table. He was that important. On the upside, City’s ‘project’ of bringing together so many great and expensive names in such a close proximity of time is starting to pay off. For the first two seasons there were shades of a bunch of strangers playing as individuals and not gelling as a team. But last season, we could see the cohesion, the team ethic clicking in. And although they will surely have a dash for the title this season, the spectre of Tevez and his excellent two-year contribution will hang over them and it will be fascinating to follow just how much he is missed. But if they replace him as well as United did, with the hugely talented rookie Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, they will be ok. So much to look forward to!