A bespectacled Ruud van Nistelrooy stopped for a lengthy conversation with his fellow Dutchman Nathan Ake as they walked towards their respective team buses to take them out of Wembley Stadium.
The pair looked relaxed as they chatted away and at one point van Nistelrooy, wearing a sleek Manchester United coaching tracksuit, broke into a warm smile.
Perhaps Ake had mentioned how relieved Manchester City were that he was no longer playing, otherwise Pep Guardiola would have been staring at a fourth consecutive defeat in the Community Shield.
Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in 219 games for United between 2001 and 2006, returned to Old Trafford over the summer with Erik ten Hag giving him a wide brief as his assistant.
However, United’s profligacy in front of goal on Saturday, with Marcus Rashford a particular culprit, will surely force van Nistelrooy to spend the next few days giving instruction on his specialist subject – how to put the ball in the net – before Friday’s Premier League opener against Fulham.
Ruud van Nistelrooy watched Man United struggle to take chances in the Community Shield
The Dutchman will look to improve United’s finishing after they managed just 57 Premier League goals last season
Though City looked the slicker all-round team befitting champions who finished 31 points above their neighbours last season, United had by far the best chances and had Rashford finished like peak van Nistelrooy instead of missing two sitters in front of goal, FA Cup winners United would have been lifting another trophy before City had the chance to win the penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.
United, boosted by Sir Jim Ratcliffe overseeing football matters, have been busy in the transfer market over the last couple of days with a pair of established international defenders from Bayern Munich, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, incoming.
But it’s at the other end those United fans who headed back north will be most worried about.
Nobody in the top half of the Premier League scored fewer than United’s 57 goals in 38 league games last season and on the latest evidence they don’t look any healthier now.
Rasmus Hojlund is out for six weeks due to injury, Joshua Kirkzee is yet to kick a ball following his £36million move from Bologna after missing the US tour, and Bruno Fernandes was far less effective as a false nine than he’d been in the FA Cup final.
Rashford scored seven times in 33 games last season and any hopes a summer’s rest after being left out of England’s squad for The Euros haven’t looked immediately obvious.
He looked free of injury but when placed in front of goal without a City defender near him, he twice botched finishes off-target to loud groans from United’s end of the stadium.
Rashford put his head in his hands after the second miss and it seemed merciful when ten Hag replaced him near the end sparing him the ordeal of taking a penalty.
Man United had a pair of golden opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net at Wembley
Marcus Rashford failed to convert from close range as the game went to a penalty shootout
Though the manager tried to be kind afterwards: ‘I am very pleased he is getting in those positions,’ he said about Rashford, it is a concern, particularly as nobody else seems to be taking on the responsibility for scoring.
Amad Diallo performed well outside the box but when the goal was at his mercy, he elected to pass rather than shoot from a promising position.
Mason Mount was the intended target but he hadn’t gambled quickly enough on getting into the six-yard box and the chance went begging.
United only had two efforts on target all afternoon. Fernandes had one comfortably saved by Ederson and though Alejandro Garnacho did score a beauty off the bench, the Argentine tends to score occasional quality goals rather than provide the quantity of bread-and-butter finishes United need.
It’s rare that elite players need to be technically educated by the time they reach Premier League level but this seems to be an exception.
Rashford and others would directly benefit from van Nistelrooy’s expertise in staying calm and confident in pressurised situations in front of goal, and choosing the right finish.
It’s as if their whole line of attackers need a dose of the selfishness and ruthlessness that van Nistelrooy had in bucketloads as a world-class centre-forward.
United’s current forwards would benefit from developing the ruthless efficiency that made Van Nistelrooy so beloved at Old Trafford
United legend Paul Scholes would agree, considering van Nistelrooy the best striker he played with, above even Andy Cole and Wayne Rooney: ‘From the first day I saw him in training, I thought Wow, what a player he is. He lived for scoring goals,’ is his assessment.
Ten Hag has tried to make it clear he doesn’t regard his countryman – a former manager at PSV – as a one-trick pony but given United’s current predicament it would be daft not to exploit van Nistelrooy’s particular talent.
‘He will work in different areas but I think the strikers will definitely benefit from it. He will have an impact,’ agreed the United manager.
The fact that ten Hag is even leading the team into the new season is surprising given United’s 4-0 capitulation at Crystal Palace towards the end of last season.
However, with Dan Ashworth and other execs watching on closely from the posh seats at Wembley, improvements in both results and performances need to come sooner rather than later.
Ten Hag declared himself satisfied with narrowly losing a penalty shoot-out 7-6 to City particularly as Euro 2024 finalist Luke Shaw was unavailable forcing Lisandro Martinez and then Facundo Pellistri to function at different times as makeshift full-backs.
Ten Hag’s side missed Luke Shaw, with Lisandro Martinez deployed as a makeshift full-back
The manager will be acutely aware United had a rotten start to last season. They lost four of their opening six games and the two wins at home to Wolves and Nottingham Forest were both narrow and fortunate.
‘We have some days to prepare for Fulham. We have to use them very good and put a lot of effort in,’ warns ten Hag. Van Nistelrooy needs to put his shooting boots back on and show Rashford some tricks of the trade.
