There is no doubt that Barcelona are a truly fantastic team. With world-class stars like Xavi, Messi, Iniesta and Villa, and a unique way of playing that combines swift, incisive attacking movement with expert retention of the ball, it is hardly a surprise that they beat us 3-1. Truth is, the scoreline didn't flatter them. Other than in the opening eight minutes, where United had the edge, Barcelona were simply too good. Their performance and comprehensive victory has led to the press suggesting they are the best team that has ever existed, and has certainly confirmed their status as the best team in the world at present. There is no shame in losing to such a great side, but it is hard not to wonder whether the result would have been the same had Ferguson set up his side differently...
The team Sir Alex chose for the final was undoubtedly the team most United fans would also like to have seen picked. Carrick and Giggs in midfield had dominated Chelsea and Schalke, Park and Valencia proved with performances against Chelsea that they were undroppable for the big game, while Rooney and Hernandez had been forming a deadly partnership up front. Therefore it was no surpise to see those names and the same formation on the teamsheet. Confidence was high, but with the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that this confidence was misplaced. The 4-4-1-1 formation Ferguson used on the night failed to work. Without a ball winning midfielder and energy in the middle, United were cruelly exposed by the triumvirate of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. No protection was offered to the defence, and Messi was allowed to float in between the lines as an already outnumbered midfield failed to gain any control on the game. For all Ferguson's talk before the match, stating that lessons had been learnt from Rome, all that happened was that the same mistakes were made.
Many things went wrong. With Rooney lacking the discipline to track Busquets when we didn't have the ball, he was allowed to come deep and retrieve it from the central defenders and start moves by passing to Xavi and Iniesta. Park and Valencia were forced to play narrow to help the weak centre of midfield, but this left Abidal and Alves free to roam the wings and push forward with no worries, with no attacking threat from our wingers. Evra often left far too much space for Alves on the left, with Messi's movement dragging both him and Park infield on many occasions. Park, known affectionately as three lung Park by his team-mates, seemed to run out of batteries after 30 mins of chasing shadows in vain, while throughout he failed to make use of the ball when he had it, wastefully losing possession numerous times.
Going forward, Hernandez seemed too eager and too raw for the big stage, and was carelessly caught offside 5 times, meaning his role as an outlet did not work. Rooney was unable to influence proceedings as much as he would have like due to the lack of service he received and the energy he expended chasing the ball. And a major problem unfortunately was that Giggs looked every bit the 37 year old, with his lack of defensive knowledge and positioning further exposing the defence and allowing Barca the opportunity to take long shots, from which they scored twice. And it musn't be forgotten, for all this tactical analysis their goals came from individual errors on our part. Evra for the first, Van Der Sar for the second and Nani for the third, with these errors no doubt frustrating the boss who had emphasised the importance of concentration.
But, as I said at the start of the piece, most United fans would have gone for this line up. And at half time, there was no damage done. The score was 1-1, and we had the opportunity to take advantage of the 15 minute break by re-organising the team and making tactical changes. But Ferguson does not like to make changes before at least twenty minutes of the second half have passed, and United missed their chance. Barca's dominance only grew, and two goals followed for them soon after the restart. Nani was brought on for the impressive Fabio in between these goals, but it was too little too late. Scholes was called upon for the final 15 minutes in what turned out to be his last appearance, but it was clear Sir Alex had given up on the result from the moment Barcelona scored their third. And giving up is something I don't think I've seen the boss do before.
Ferguson has so many times this season surprised us with his team selections and shown his tactical genius. And with all the talk of his preparation of the team for two weeks before the game, we could be forgiven for thinking he had another masterplan in place. It was not to be, as with the emergence of Hernandez, the overestimation of our quality and the underestimation of Barcelona's effectiveness, we tried to play them as we'd play anyone else, and we suffered for it. The lack of a specific game plan has left many confused, as even when we play Arsenal, a considerably less talented team than Barcelona, Ferguson has a special tactics in place. Our only successes against Barcelona came in 2008, where we stifled them with an energetic and hard working 5 man midfield, and had a powerful striker up front. A moment of Scholes quality and 180 minutes of defensive concentration and counter-attacking play worked then, so why hasn't it been used again? Barcelona have certainly improved, but as we can now see Mourinho has proved that to have a chance against them, you must be defensive.
It has to be said though another factor that cost us the game was an inability to effect it by making changes when we had the chance at 1-1. I wholeheartedly agree with not having Berbatov on the bench, but surely Anderson or Fletcher should have been brought on in place of Hernandez when Ferguson saw things were going badly wrong? If anything, they would have just been an extra number in midfield, and it would have been the sort of decisive change the boss prides himself on making. And Owen, placed there ahead of Berbatov in case we needed a goal, wasn't even used when we needed two! This made the way the game panned out even more disappointing.
However, one thing must be considered. If Ferguson had gone with a 4-5-1 one, attempting to defend and stifle Barcelona, and it had ended up in a defeat then surely fans would have been thinking "what if we had tried to attack them?". And did we really have the players for the 4-5-1 anyway? Anderson is not the most defensive of players, and Fletcher was clearly not fit enough for such a huge match. It could be argued that Smalling or O'shea could have acted as a midfield destroyer, but no one can blame Ferguson for not taking such a huge risk in the game. In many ways, unless we won, it was a lose-lose situation for the manager, as no matter what he chose, there would always be a question mark asking whether other tactics would have worked. Hindsight can be cruel, but at least we can take comfort in the fact that this defeat will most certainly lead to signings in the summer and a strengthened team next year, ready to challenge again. Who knows, maybe next year we will be third time lucky...
