Fergie in need of a rethink

It would be a nonsense to suggest a first defeat in Europe for 26 matches stretching over two years should be the signal for a radical overhaul.

But while Ryan Giggs said United would bounce back from their Champions League final defeat “stronger and better” next season, he left the squad-tinkering issues for Sir Alex Ferguson to address this summer.

As befits a captain and senior statesman, Giggs was keen to bang the drum for a season that has seen United win the Premier League, Club World Cup and Carling Cup, as well as reach the European Cup final and the FA Cup semi-finals.

He said: “It has been a fantastic season and we must not forget that. We have achieved so much. We just fell short at the final hurdle in the Champions League.

“To win three Premier League titles on the trot is an unbelievable thing to do and we will be looking to make that four next season. We also want to make it four Champions League finals.

“We started the game well but their first goal knocked the stuffing out of us. You work so hard to get to a Champions League final. After winning it last year we wanted to win it again. But this proves just how difficult it is.”

But his admission that “United didn’t turn up” and that Barcelona “made them look silly at times” will be a major concern for Ferguson.

The flat performance in the Stadio Olimpico raised plenty of questions on how they must improve again to reach what Barcelona proclaim as a new level in European football.

First, there is the thorny subject of Wayne Rooney’s position and how to get the best out of arguably United’s most formidable attacking player.

To achieve that, he needs to be reinstated in his favourite role as central striker, especially in the big games.

Ferguson admitted last summer on United’s pre-season tour of South Africa that he had done Rooney’s prodigious talent something of a disservice by playing him on the left side of his team and suggested that would come to an end.

But in Rome, as on countless other occasions this season, Rooney was given the left-sided brief to help Patrice Evra handle the threat of Lionel Messi.

He was also moved to the right and briefly down the middle, as Ferguson shuffled his pack in a bid to disrupt Barcelona’s passing rhythm.

He did not distinguish himself in any of the roles. But it is to Rooney’s enormous credit that he has played out wide without complaint and with considerable success against most opponents.

He will always put in an honest shift – he chased back the full length of the pitch to dispossess Messi at one point – but such a disciplined role is to the detriment of his real qualities.

As someone close to the United camp admitted as the inquests began on the debacle and the rain poured down on the Eternal City yesterday: “If you’ve got a great centre-forward who scores goals for his country down the middle, then why play him on the left wing in such a big game?” A second issue is the fervent hope in the United camp that Owen Hargreaves can rediscover his best form after the knee operations that ruined his season.

Ferguson said the absence of the suspended Darren Fletcher was a “big loss” in Rome, as United did not have the ball winner needed to help knock Barcelona out of their cultured stride. Hargreaves, when he played last season, was the closest United have had to Roy Keane.

And the time has come to give Ben Foster, who has been so long in the making as United’s and England’s No1 goalkeeper, his head.

Veteran Edwin van der Sar has performed admirably this season when he has set a new European record for keeping clean sheets.

But he seemed slow to react to Samuel Eto’o’s 10th-minute goal that halted United’s bright start and swung the final Barcelona’s way.

Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville will play even fewer games next season, but the worry is some of the players brought in to replace them – such as Anderson and Nani – have not made the improvement expected of them this season.

Ferguson has said he will not be too busy in the transfer market. He believes there is enough talent at the right ages to keep United at the top for many years to come.

But the addition of Antonio Valencia from Wigan would give United more pace and power on the flanks, while Lyon’s Karim Benzema has the goalscoring record to be the ideal replacement if Carlos Tevez, as seems likely, moves on this summer.

Giggs believes United will be the team everyone has to beat again in what is likely to be the final season of his glorious career.

He added: “Great teams bounce back after big disappointments. We are still a great team and we have great players in that dressing room.

“Next year we will come back stronger and look forward to the challenge.”‘Great teams bounce back – and next year we will be much stronger’