A United fan's post mortem of last night.

Now, before I begin, this is entirely my opinion based on what I saw last night. I accept what I'll say may not be the general consensus, but hey ho, that's what debate is all about.

First things first, I'll get the pleasantries out of the way. Barcelona were incredible last night, they gave a masterclass that far eclipsed that of Rome 2009 and truly showed how football should be played. But I really can't help but feel that United contributed to their own downfall last night, as good as Barcelona were on the night.

The first ten or so minutes, I felt United acquitted themselves well, they hustled and harried Barcelona, Park getting in to Messi early doors which unfortunately was not to be the tone of the evening's proceedings. My point here though, is why on earth could United not maintain this pressure for longer? Barca finally got the ball and settled down and from then on United were clueless, backing off at will. And once you start doing that to Barcelona, you're just asking for trouble. But in my opinion, that shouldn't have happened. This is a team that comfortably saw off both Schalke and Chelsea over two legs, a team that had won their domestic championship but were made to look foolish.

I might be clutching at straws here and whilst I'm licking my wounds it'll probably remain the same but as good as Barca were United were equally as poor. Messi, whilst being the best player in the world, should never have been given the time and space he had, whilst his quality is making time and space for himself, I can't help but feel that maybe Fergie should have named a 5 man midfield and told either Carrick or Anderson/Fletcher to not let Messi out of his sight. It's been proved before that he can be kept quiet, so why on earth could he not be stifled last night. United exerted nowhere near enough pressure on Barca and allowed them the run of the wembley pitch and to be frank as a United fan of 17 years, it was embarrassing to watch.

We'd proved in scoring our goal that we could hurt them, but merely didn't have an idea how to get the ball and as a result retain it.

I'm not saying United are a bad side after one game, if anything it highlights just how good Guardiola's boys are but United criminally got it wrong last night and were punished as a result.

I'll be interested to see what happens over the summer now, transfer wise. Berbatov seems to be on his way out, as does Owen, so what does that mean for up top? Rooney and Hernandez can't be expected to lead the line on their own, and I for one don't think Welbeck and Macheda can provide adequate back up, so how does he address that? Obviously the midfield is an area which is constantly highlighted and we need a creative midfielder who can run the show. So who will come in there? And with De Gea saying he hasn't signed diddly squat, what does it mean for the goalkeeping spot, what with VDS retiring and Kuszcsack being quite possibly the worst keeper I've ever seen?

Overall, last night was a sobering experience for Ferguson's squad and highlighted just what needs to be done to conquer Europe. But how on earth does Fergie compete?

I thought Fergie got it wrong again just like in 09.

I would have went 4-3-3. I would have played Park in the middle with Scholes and Carrick just for their passing ability and played Valencia and Nani either side of Rooney. Man Utd couldn't get at Barca out wide because Park and Valencia were having to tuck in so much because Barca had the extra man in the middle.

I think the risk there would have been that we'd have gone toe to toe with Barca and it's very much a formation we don't use too much.

It's hard to call though as it's all if's but's and maybe's.

I think you need to match up to them and have good pace and skill out wide. Alves especially leaves huge gaps that Nani could have exploited if you had 3 men in the middle.

That's the thing, Barca's defence apart from Pique, didn't look good at all in my opinion. We just couldn't exploit it.

You need to get at them out wide and have players in the middle of the park who can stick a foot in but can also play and are good passers.