United land first blow as Jeffers boils over

Arsenal 1 Man Utd 1 Man Utd win 4-3 on penalties

Were they boxers, Manchester United would be stepping into the ring on Saturday with their muscles toned, their punches honed and having expended a considerable amount of sweat.

It was 41 degrees in the Millennium Stadium, a heat fierce enough to make the playing of chess, let alone football, uncomfortable; hot enough in Sir Alex Ferguson's Glaswegian vernacular to be "roasting my totties off". Throughout it all, Manchester United displayed considerably more ice in their veins than Arsenal, who might have ended the match with nine men and were fortunate to take the Community Shield to a penalty shoot-out, lost when Robert Pires, the man whose goal had decided the FA Cup final, saw his shot saved by Tim Howard.

It is hard to see how this pre-season could have gone much better for Ferguson, aside from injuries to Phil Neville and Quinton Fortune which will put pressure on an already weakened defence. There has been a trophy won, victories over Celtic, Juventus, Barcelona and, most sweetly of all, Arsenal, while he has demonstrated to a wider public the effectiveness of both Howard and Eric Djemba-Djemba, the combative Cameroon international who looks like a pocket Roy Keane.

The real thing, who stated that the coming season represents the greatest challenge of his career, performed mightily on his 32nd birthday. It was his run and flick on at the near post that turned Ryan Giggs' corner fatally into Mikaël Silvestre's path and it was his running back 40 yards to tackle his opposite number, Patrick Vieira, which provided the day's most enduring image.

For Arsenal, whose preparations have been undermined by the late return of their French contingent from the Confederations Cup and the realisation that they are marching towards a financial Stalingrad at Ashburton Grove, there is plenty to ponder.

Arsène Wenger's time at Highbury has been marked by two failings: on-field discipline and an inability to replace adequately the defenders he inherited from George Graham - and both were in evidence yesterday. Francis Jeffers' idiotic lashing-out at Phil Neville, who himself had been booked after 28 seconds of what was supposedly a friendly encounter, ensured he was the 50th Arsenal player to be dismissed under Wenger.

He had been on the pitch for less than a quarter of an hour when he tangled with Neville and kicked out. Ferguson called it "unbelievable", but to Wenger it was excusable. "He made a mistake; he's an intelligent boy," the Arsenal manager said. "He wanted to show how good he is but he made one or two poor touches, miscontrolled the ball and then he feels under pressure."

Had the referee, Steve Bennett, decided to punish a petulant kick at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by Ashley Cole, who had already been booked, or had he spotted Sol Campbell doing something similar after clashing with Djemba-Djemba, the contest might have dissolved into embarrassment.

Campbell's strong second-half display, which featured a perfectly timed tackle to take the ball from Solskjaer's boot just as the Norwegian was shaping to shoot, made up for some horrible first-half indecision. Asked to identify the reasons why the title was snatched away last spring, Wenger said bluntly that no side which conceded 42 goals could hope to win the championship, but the manner in which Jens Lehmann failed to come for a cross which Giggs' head flicked against the base of the post would have sowed more doubt.

The German was more assertive after the break and had the distinction of saving a penalty from Ruud van Nistelrooy, who, since missing his first for Manchester United, against Olympiakos, has converted 19 more with aplomb. Howard's two saves, from Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Pires, ensured, however, that it would be quickly forgotten.

The selection of Howard and Roy Carroll ahead of Fabien Barthez meant France's goalkeeper was the only member of Manchester United's squad to feel a chill and it is hard to see how he will play for Ferguson again. It will be hard, too, for United to find any club willing to take him on wages of £60,000 a week.

Carroll, the first choice as last season climaxed, would have had reason to feel aggrieved, especially when Howard allowed Thierry Henry's 35-yard free-kick to squeeze between glove and post for the equaliser. As Henry ran up, Ferguson was signalling United to include a fourth man in the wall. "He [Howard] asked for three but he's learnt a lesson today. He's not playing in America," growled the United manager.

Ferguson described the performance as "decent rather than special" while Wenger said his team were both at a lower level of fitness than their rivals and operating at about 80 per cent of capacity. As the heat poured down and the match slowed to a South American pace, it showed in the way Pires, put clean through, was overhauled by two red shirts and then tried a limp shot.

The game cried out to be settled by penalties, although the shoot-out did not have the wit of the one between these two teams a decade ago when Peter Schmeichel saved a spot-kick from David Seaman.

There was not, in truth, much of an appetite for this fixture. Arsenal had failed to sell 8,000 of their allocated tickets, leading Wenger to ponder that interest in the Community Shield was waning. "The Italians played their Super Cup in America, maybe we should go to China and get David Beckham to play," he said.

Arsenal 1
Henry 20

Man Utd 1
Silvestre 15

Goals: Silvestre (14) 0-1; Henry (20) 1-1.

Arsenal (4-4-2): Lehmann; Lauren, Campbell, Touré, Cole; Parlour (Pires, h-t), Vieira, Silva (Edu, 60), Ljungberg (Van Bronckhorst, 65); Bergkamp (Jeffers, 60), Henry (Wiltord, h-t). Substitutes not used: Cygan, Taylor (gk).

Manchester United (4-5-1): Howard; P Neville (Forlan, 79), Ferdinand, Silvestre, Fortune (O'Shea 69); Keane, Butt (Djemba-Djemba, 60), Solskjaer, Scholes, Giggs; Van Nistelrooy. Substitutes not used: Bellion, Richardson, Fletcher, Carroll (gk).

Referee: S Bennett (Orpington).

Bookings: Arsenal: Cole, Vieira. United: P Neville, Scholes, Fortune. Sent off: Arsenal: Jeffers.

Man of the match: Keane.

Attendance: 59,293.