Chelsea vs. Manchester City: 6 Things We Learned from the FA Community Shield

Welcome back, football season. Now, what did we learn over summer vacation?

Our first read on the new season came Sunday at Villa Park in Birmingham, where Manchester City defeated Chelsea 3-2 in an exciting FA Community Shield.

Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri scored in the second half as City overturned a 1-0 Chelsea halftime lead.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring for Chelsea, continuing the form he showed at Euro 2012. Ryan Bertrand added a late consolation—his first senior strike for the club—but Chelsea struggled after Branislav Ivanovic's sending-off late in the first half.

Here are six lessons we learned about the new season from the match.

Manchester City won their fourth Community/Charity Shield on Sunday. That's tied for sixth all-time (with Chelsea among others, incidentally).

City had to wait four decades between their third and fourth, but for this club, that's becoming a common refrain.

City won the league title last season thanks to a dramatic last-day victory over Queens Park Rangers. It was their first title since 1968.

In 2011, Roberto Mancini's men won the FA Cup—a first for the club since 1969.

The current era is clearly a golden one of City, a club that has benefited from the massive investment of new ownership.

Winning the Community Shield hardly qualifies as a landmark achievement, even if the last time it happened was 1972. The match is, after all, little more than a glorified friendly.

What's more, Sunday wasn't a completely positive day for City. The defense conceded twice—once against the run of play and once against 10 men—and Costel Pantilimon reminded us that there's really no substitute for Joe Hart in goal.

But Sunday's victory is the latest bit of history-making from a club that seems hell-bent on assaulting the English football record books. It also served as the metaphorical line in the sand, a throw-down call-out to Manchester United, Chelsea and any other suitors for City's Premiership throne.

So should we take the win—with a somewhat less-than-full-strength squad—as an ominous sign for the new season or not?

Chelsea qualified for the Community Shield by winning the FA Cup last May. The Blues also hoisted the UEFA Champions League trophy after a memorable run through the knockout phase.

A summer of squad-building investment followed, with German midfielder Marko Marin, Belgian winger Eden Hazard and Brazilian playmaker Oscar brought in at significant cost. Meanwhile, Roberto Di Matteo earned the full-time manager's gig after leading last season's unlikely charge.

But for all the spending and the new-found security in the manager's box, Chelsea have struggled mightily this preseason.

Sunday's loss follows an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Brighton, a club that finished mid-table in the Championship last season.

In fairness, Chelsea played without Oscar and Marko Marin in Sunday's loss. But the offensive midfield wasn't the problem.

As has been the case throughout the preseason, Chelsea's defense struggled again Sunday. City scored three goals in 20 second-half minutes, and in honesty, they looked capable of scoring more.

Branislav Ivanovic's sending-off clearly hurt, but Chelsea could hardly complain about his dismissal. Ivanovic's challenge was reckless—only Chelsea fans would disagree—and the only real question about the incident was whether the referee would send off Ivanovic for it in what was essentially a preseason friendly.

Fernando Torres played well up top, and Ryan Bertrand's goal will give Chelsea supporters reason for optimism, but Chelsea's porous defense should be cause for serious concern ahead of the new season.

David Luiz and Mikel turned in poor performances, but the team must take responsibility together. Something needs to change before the season begins.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini opted for an experimental formation that most closely resembled a 3-4-1-2. The most intriguing feature was the three-man back line of Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Stefan Savic.

Savic struggled—was anyone really surprised?—and City allowed two goals, but the experiment still offered a tantalizing glimpse at what could be a tactical shift for City this season.

Before Sunday, City had not made a major signing all summer. Just before kickoff, word filtered around the stadium that City had agreed to a deal with Everton over the signing of midfielder Jack Rodwell.

Rodwell should prove a valuable addition to City's first team, but Sunday's experimentation suggested the extent to which Mancini is comfortable with his squad as-is.

Savic surely isn't the answer in defense, but Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner played well as wide midfielders/wing-backs. With those two ranging down the flanks, Samir Nasri, Yaya Toure and Nigel De Jong worked their magic in the middle.

David Silva didn't start, but that was only due to the embarrassing riches of Mancini's midfield. With the potential of a three-man defense now out in the open, he might even have another midfield slot to work with this season.

Carlos Tevez started and scored a magnificent goal for Manchester City on Sunday. But that wasn't all.

Tevez pestered, marauded, hassled and harried the Chelsea defense for 88 long minutes. In doing so, he suggested that he's back to the form that led City to the FA Cup title in 2011.

In almost a polar reversal of his dismal 2011-12 campaign, Tevez looked sharp, fit and totally committed. If he keeps it up, he'll be one of the league's top strikers this season.

If so, that's a scary thought for opposing defenses. A back-in-form Tevez, a behaving Mario Balotelli and an always-dangerous Sergio Aguero would serve as a frightful strikeforce for Manchester City.

Who needs Robin van Persie anyway?

Fernando Torres scored Chelsea's first goal and shined for the Blues up top. He was not, however, their best or most important player Sunday.

Those honors went to Ramires, the Brazilian midfielder who formed the pivot point between the defense and offense.

Ramires performed well throughout, but no better than on Chelsea's first goal. In the 40th minute, Ramires picked up the ball in the middle, sidestepped a series of defenders and laid off for Torres.

Thanks to Ramires' brilliance, Torres had only to poke the ball home with the outside of his left foot.

Ramires' strong play Sunday led some to speculate about big things in his future:

Ramires: an outside bet for player of the year?

— John Brewin (@JohnBrewinESPN) August 12, 2012

Outside is the key word there, but there's no doubting Ramires' importance to Chelsea.

Acclimating to English football takes time for many players. That will surely be the case for Belgian winger Eden Hazard, who completed a high-profile transfer to Chelsea from France this summer.

Hazard, 21, has been tipped as a Premiership superstar, and his credentials in France certainly suggest he has the goods to be just that.

But Sunday's performance was far from a masterclass from Hazard, who failed to exert influence on the game the way Chelsea fans would like.

Even so, Hazard should eventually become the player Chelsea supporters envision. But it will probably take some time.

Follow @MikeCummings37