{"id":10495,"date":"2016-08-05T14:25:39","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T13:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.colossusbets.com\/?p=10495"},"modified":"2021-05-18T16:16:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T15:16:51","slug":"will-strike-first-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will strike the first blow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the new season is just under two weeks away, there\u2019s the formality of the Community Shield to complete first \u2013 the ultimate glorified friendly. As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?<\/p>\n

Both teams\u2019s pre-season\u2019s draw to end this Sunday, so it will be a chance to set up their players up in the way they will for the opening round of the Premier League, one week later. It\u2019s a trial run, so to speak, with a shiny shield awarded to the winner.<\/p>\n

This season in the Premier League is going to be like no other. There are 7 good teams, and only four Champions League spots. Leicester City might have lost N\u2019Golo Kant\u00e9 to Chelsea, but they remain hopeful of keeping Riyad Mahrez<\/a> at the club, which would be a huge boost. Not to mention tying down Vardy to a contract extension – his second in 6 months.<\/p>\n

There should be no one suggesting Leicester can\u2019t make the top four or top seven after watching last season. Apart from Kant\u00e9 leaving, in which they\u2019ve replaced him with Nampalys Mendy from OGC Nice, the Foxes remain the same (if not in better shape with their improved squad depth); with their team spirit, hard work and pure resilience to them. The Premier League may have increased in difficulty with the overhaul of squads and managers, but that\u2019s not to say Ranieri\u2019s team can\u2019t be up there competing with the best.<\/p>\n

A top 7 finish, which results in European qualification for the following season, would be an impressive result considering they\u2019ll now be in four competitions. The Champions League will be an incredibly interesting test for Ranieri\u2019s team, considering they\u2019ve never experienced anything of this magnitude before. Whether or not the involvement of European competition will affect them mentally and physically will be seen in good time, but it\u2019s premature to suggest they won\u2019t be battling it against the top dogs because of a \u2018fluke\u2019.<\/p>\n

Manchester United are in an interesting position. It\u2019s obvious to see how motivated and diligent Jos\u00e9 Mourinho is even after just a short few weeks in charge as manager. Judging from pre-season, it looks as if the Red Devils will line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Mourinho\u2019s been known for a 4-3-3 throughout his career, and might even revert back and forth between the two, but the likelihood is that against Leicester City in the Community Shield, the line-up will be a 4-2-3-1.<\/p>\n

With smart recruitment and a new outlook in the changing room, Manchester United will look to make a statement this weekend ahead of the new domestic season, proving that they\u2019re ready for a new title challenge – something they haven\u2019t done since under Sir Alex Ferguson four years ago.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll make an exciting game between the two teams, with fairly similar playing styles, which may come as a surprise to some. Although Mourinho doesn\u2019t like his team to sit back as far as Ranieri, the Portuguese manager does enjoy the counter-attacking approach and resilient defence.<\/p>\n

This game at Wembley is never about the Community Shield, but to get that winning feeling back into the veins of the players. No team wants to kick-start their season with a loss and be on the back foot. It may be a friendly, but there\u2019ll certainly be a competitive edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the new season is just under two weeks away, there\u2019s the formality of the Community Shield to complete first \u2013 the ultimate glorified friendly. As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[174,177],"class_list":["post-10495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-news","tag-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\nWho will strike the first blow? Colossus Bets Football Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who will strike the first blow?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Ibra.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"415\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liam Canning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/LiamPaulCanning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liam Canning\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liam Canning\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/adfe7dc7933a43534c1d06050d5d180b\"},\"headline\":\"Who will strike the first blow?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":614,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"News\",\"Ticker\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/\",\"name\":\"Who will strike the first blow? Colossus Bets Football Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/will-strike-first-blow\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who will strike the first blow?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"description\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossus Bets\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Colossus Bets\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SportsBigger\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ColossusBets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/colossusbets_\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/colossus-bets\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ColossusBets\\\/featured\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/adfe7dc7933a43534c1d06050d5d180b\",\"name\":\"Liam Canning\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liam Canning\"},\"description\":\"Freelance sports journalist who has featured on The Independent, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, London Evening Standard, Mirror and Express! Also a BIG Manchester United enthusiast.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/LiamPaulCanning\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/liamcanning\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who will strike the first blow? Colossus Bets Football Blog","description":"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who will strike the first blow?","og_description":"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/","og_site_name":"Colossus Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","article_published_time":"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":415,"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Ibra.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liam Canning","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/LiamPaulCanning","twitter_site":"@ColossusBets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liam Canning","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/"},"author":{"name":"Liam Canning","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/adfe7dc7933a43534c1d06050d5d180b"},"headline":"Who will strike the first blow?","datePublished":"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/"},"wordCount":614,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["News","Ticker"],"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2016","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/","name":"Who will strike the first blow? Colossus Bets Football Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-05T13:25:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-18T15:16:51+00:00","description":"As much as it is practically a friendly, Jos\u00e9 Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri will be keen to still lift the trophy and go into the new season with a victory rather than a defeat.\u00a0Who will strike the first blow?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/will-strike-first-blow\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who will strike the first blow?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","name":"Colossus Blog","description":"Colossus Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Colossus Bets","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Colossus Bets"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ColossusBets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/colossusbets_\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/colossus-bets\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ColossusBets\/featured"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/adfe7dc7933a43534c1d06050d5d180b","name":"Liam Canning","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6331952a3fc2ecf3dde086e31e75060aa0bb3a1f616a989ac2fe4f3f31783635?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liam Canning"},"description":"Freelance sports journalist who has featured on The Independent, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, London Evening Standard, Mirror and Express! Also a BIG Manchester United enthusiast.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/LiamPaulCanning"],"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/author\/liamcanning\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40459,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10495\/revisions\/40459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}