Another Champions League season is over and Manchester United will be ruing their missed chance of being one of the only sides in history to acheive back to back Champions League wins.
The opportunity was there for Sir Alex Ferguson and his men, but on the night they came up against an unstoppable Barcelona, a side at the peak of their powers, managed by a man who has already written himself into football folklore, winning three trophies in his first season.
As admirable as Barca were, as slick as their passing, movement and predatory nature was on the night, United will feel slightly hard done by.
Should Ronaldo’s couple of chances been converted in the first ten minutes or so, it could have been a very different ballgame. Herein lays United problem, the lack of a target man.
It may sound strange, but United really do lack the predatory instinct of a top class striker.
Consider this, Liverpool have Torres, Chelsea have Drogba and Anelka, Arsenal have Adebayor, Inter have Zlatan, Milan have Inzaghi, Real have Raul and Barca have Eto’o. All are top class, have proven records over seasons in Europe, and generally when they fire, so does their team.
Furthermore, the presence of this type of big, burly striker (or in Inzaghi and Raul’s case, a striker with great instinct and positioning) really straightens up a side (to borrow an AFL phrase).
It enables a team a direct channel to goal if things aren’t going their way, whilst also instilling confidence throughout the side that they are always in the contest, regardless of the score line.
Whilst their season cannot be described in the least as being unsuccessful, the number of 1-0 wins was built on the solid defence marshalled by Vidic and Ferdinand, and not the free flowing football that the club was once known for.
The question is, do United posses a striker of this mould?
Ronaldo is an out and out winger. His ability to pass his man, link up play, speed on and off the ball and killer shot do not make him a quality striker that you can rely on in the same way you can a Inzaghi or Torres.
Spectacular he may be, but you also have to factor in his inconsistency, particularly in big matches where he will be heavily marked.
Rooney has also grown as a player over the past few seasons, but is more suited in withdrawn roles, either out wide or behind a key striker, playing in the killer pass and combining well in passages leading up to goals.
Again, it is difficult to rely on his goals to deliver every season like Eto’o or Anelka. Park Ji Sung is another winger, whilst Giggs simply doesn’t have the legs he once did.
That brings us to the two genuine strikers in the squad – Berbatov and Tevez.
Berbatov is a quality player, but must learn how to play effectively when his team is struggling. His chasing down and hard work off the ball is nonexistent when you compare it to the likes of Torres and Drogba. His lack of goals in his first season is a concern, but a player’s true test is how they back up the season after making a big transfer.
Tevez’s off the ball work cannot be questioned. He chases and harasses and does the team thing better than anyone. Taking into account his performances over his two year stay at United, he has definitely not been given a fair go by Ferguson, who will surely lament his decision not to play him from the start in the final against a second string Barca defence.
Should he leave in the summer as widely reported, United will surely have to replace him with a striker in the mould of their former greats of Cantona, Cole, Yorke or Van Nistelrooy.
Doing so could be the difference come the Champions League final in Madrid 2010.
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