‘It’s Something They Want To Win’ – The Word On Manchester City
- Leicester City face Manchester City in the FA Community Shield this Saturday (5:15pm kick-off)
- The Emirates FA Cup winners and the Premier League champions will take part in the curtain raiser at Wembley
- ESPN’s Mark Ogden gives the lowdown on Pep Guardiola’s City and why they will be wanting to claim the trophy
- Despite missing some of their first team players, the Citizens are expecting to field a strong team, Ogden adds
Leicester, the Emirates FA Cup holders, have twice played in the Community Shield, most recently against Manchester United in 2016 after winning the Premier League, while current top-flight champions Manchester City are making their 13th appearance in the competition.
Although the Citizens are likely to be without several players that would usually be in contention for a starting spot, they will be approaching the fixture with the mindset of winning and lifting the trophy for a seventh time, according to Ogden.
“I think City might be an unrecognisable team this weekend,” the journalist commented to LCFC TV. “It will be a mixture of first team players, maybe players that have got a future at the club or elsewhere and academy graduates.
“A lot of City’s players are still at the end of their post Euros or post Copa America holiday. They are back in training but not quite ready yet so think Pep [Guardiola] will treat it as a preparatory game.
“We don’t know what stage a lot of the guys are in in terms of their fitness. The Copa America players have had to come back from South America and then holiday somewhere for 10 days before getting back to the UK because of the isolation rules.
“It’s all very complex and up in the air. City have got a big enough squad to cope with a few players who are still getting their fitness together.
“They’ve had no summer tour of course this year so it’s difficult to gauge how they’ll treat it. They’ll want to win it, City take it really seriously, they class the Community Shield as a major trophy.
“When they won the domestic treble two years ago, they claimed a fourth by winning the Community Shield, so it’s something they want to win. But I’m sure Leicester will want to win it, having won the FA Cup.
“They won the Premier League as well so the Community Shield would be nice to add to the collection. So I think this time both teams will take it seriously but Leicester may be stronger.
“It’s a good chance to win something. It’s a competition that is often looked at as a friendly but at the end of the day, if you win it, you get a medal and lift a trophy at Wembley, that’s a pretty good day out.
“A lot of players go through their career without winning something, so there’s plenty at stake. It’s more than a pre-season friendly, but it’s not quite a major trophy, I think that’s the best way to describe it.”
Last season’s Premier League champions also claimed the Carabao Cup in 2020/21 but will have their eyes set on a European glory in the upcoming campaign, an accolade that has so far eluded the club despite their recent domestic dominance.
Ogden explained: “They seem to be getting closer and closer to winning everything. Obviously, they didn’t last year and they ended up winning just the Premier League and the Carabao Cup.
“They got to the Champions League Final, the FA Cup Semi-Final, so they’ll push again and try to do it all again but obviously as time goes on, they’ll become more and more determined to win the Champions League so I imagine that is the absolute priority.
“Pep wants to win it, City are desperate to win it so if they win nothing but the Champions League next season, it will be a success. If they win a domestic treble, but not the Champions League, it’s still a success but they won’t feel the same joy as the Champions League so I think for City it’s all about that.”
City announced the signing of Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish this week for a reported £100M, bolstering an already star-studded squad and midfield in particular, containing some of the world’s best attacking players.
Ogden added: “I think the addition of [Jack] Grealish, as good of a player as he is, I don’t think it really makes City any different, because they’ve got Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne.
“They’ve already got quite a congested pool of players, so Grealish is just another top-quality attacking player. He won’t play every game, he’ll have to get used to playing one then missing one as lots of other guys do.
“[Sergio] Agüero moved on in the summer, he didn’t really contribute much last season, he had injuries, he barely played and didn’t score many goals, so they managed to get through last season without a striker.
“It is quite scary for the competition but that’s how it is, you get these big teams and I think City will just go ahead with their strength.
“A lot of the players that play [on Saturday] might not play regularly so they will be absolutely desperate to put on a performance and persuade Pep that they should play more often. It’s a great chance to play.”
All times BST.