Thanks Carlitos, glad to see you go?

First of all, let's get it clear: the CounterAttack would have preferred to welcome back Carlos Tevez than see him go.

The little Argentine is a dynamic force who has a knack for scoring important goals wherever he goes. With Ronaldo's departure, Tevez would have either landed a starter's role or would have seen increased playing time - considering he had more appearances than Rooney or Berbatov last season, that's saying a lot. He was a dynamo whose graft was clearly appreciated by the United faithful.

Turning down the £25.5 million re-signing fee, however, is not a bad thing. The total £35.5 million (including the £10 million United paid to 'borrow' Carlitos two seasons ago) is a lot for a role-playing forward. Let's not forget that Tevez is prone to go missing for stretches, at least in the Premier League. Again, not a sour grapes comment. But while five goals in 29 games last season, and 26 goals in 89 games for West Ham and Manchester from 2006-09, are respectable, they're hardly irreplaceable.

So this is not a case of a player lost as it is an opportunity to use the saved funds to buy a more appropriate player. For the same money, United could acquire the services of a Wesley Sneijder or Rafael van der Vaart. Let's not forget that United already had £25 million in the transfer kitty before the Ronaldo sale.

Put another way: Sir Alex could finish the expected Antonio Valencia signing (£17 million), go after Karim Benzema (£40 million), have enough to splash out for a Sneijder, and still have not used up the entire available funds.

This is not a United squad that needs an overhaul. Losing a talent like Ronaldo is not fun but it does open the team's tactics to spread the wealth rather than rely on a single player. Ironically, Tevez would have been one to benefit from this.

Yes, it would be crazy and disingenuous to say "good riddance" or to say that the team could not benefit from keeping him. But it is equally loopy to say that his loss plus Ronaldo signals the demise of this United squad.

The CounterAttack fully expects Rooney and Berbatov to thrive in the new lineup as the focus of attack. It is easy to see them feeding off each other. A few key signings, a little bit of luck with some of the younger talent (Welbeck, Macheda, Derbyshire), a healthy Hargreaves. No, it won't be easy to win the 19th title but when was it ever?

Besides, since Carlitos claims he doesn't want to go to Liverpool for "emotional reasons", he has all our thanks, in every way.

Barca triumphs as Manchester lose their way

It was one of the rarest of exhibitions - Manchester United went to a Champions League final and forgot to play. 

This is not a rationalization of a game that was lost, it is an indictment of the worst tactical game Sir Alex Ferguson ever devised. There is such a thing as too much respect and clearly Ferguson read every report on the might of Barcelona. After all this time, after reaching the summit for consecutive years, after a decade of revamping his squad, Sir Alex reverted to 1997, playing away from his team’s strength, right into those of his opponent. He out-clevered himself.

Please don’t think this is a slight on Barcelona. They came, they saw, they conquered. There is no doubt that the Catalans are worthy champions. They played the way they could, the way they know how, and dared Manchester to match them on the pitch. It was a stage set for a grand finale, but only Barca showed up.

The first 10 minutes held great promise. United blazed into Barcelona’s half, pinning the Catalans on their heels. A vicious spot kick from Ronaldo forced Valdes to parry it, so forceful was the shot. On another day, the follow-up from Park would have scored a goal. As it was, it went for a goal kick and the first sign that it was not Manchester’s day.

And then, out of nothing, Barca’s first venture forward, and then Vidic was spun around, and Eto’o slotted past van der Sar. 1-nil and essentially, the whole match, over by the 10th minute.

Manchester deflated and couldn’t do anything right the rest of the match. No pressure, no sustained attacks, unable to put together anything together. 

Many will say that it was Barcelona that took Manchester out of the match, but that’s not right. Barcelona just played, but United defeated themselves. That’s not being disingenuous - Manchester tried to contain Barcelona but this is a club that does not have containment in its DNA. Manchester contain by attacking, flowing, moving the ball across the pitch. Instead, the players tried short passes, pointless crosses and static play. 

Barcelona were a club to be respected but none of the English clubs that made the semi-finals would have had to fear Barca. Top Four matches in England provide plenty of opportunity to play against the highest caliber players and tactics (especially after Hiddink joined Chelsea).

In fact, it wasn’t as if Barcelona put on a master class. That is not to say they could have been beaten, and CounterAttack does want to make that clear. But there was nothing on display that should have troubled United. Messi played his usual match but it wasn’t streets beyond anything United have seen before. His header to clinch the match, though - now there was a sublime moment. How he could have shot that across goal, while falling back and mis-hittting the ball of the side of his head…. well, it’s moments like those that indicate whose day it’s going to be. All champions need the Fates to smile on them as much as they need talent to carry the team through the match. Usually, one squad has less of one than the other. Yesterday, it was Barcelona that had both in spades. 

One thing - Gerard Pique had the match of his life. It must have been sweet for him. Pique played well above himself, at least above what was expected, according to all pre-match scouting reports. For the CounterAttack, because we try to see beyond the obvious, Pique saved several crosses from becoming shots on goal, was always in the right place, and never missed a step in the biggest match of his career. There is no doubt that he deserves Man of the Match honors. 

For Manchester, they are not so far off that a return to the final is unthinkable. The talent is there - although we don't think Ronaldo will return. What became obvious during the match is that he imposes too much of himself into the match, and not in a good way. We're not talking about injections of energy, as Tevez does. The problem with Ronaldo is that when he's off, he does not have much else to offer. But since the focus of the offense continues to revolve around him, the rest of the team become wasted talent. Then again, how do you substitute him in an important match? The headaches continue, and CounterAttack thinks that if Real come a'courtin' again, that United should take the money, re-sign Tevez and start him in the midfield, move Berbatov to the clear #9, Rooney to the #10 and find a hard midfielder to win balls and track back when necessary. Ribery has been mentioned but CounterAttack has a predilection for Dutch players and thinks that Wesley Sneijder would be a wonderful presence at Old Trafford. We'll see what happens.

So hats off to Barca, worthy winners, best in Europe, clearly got it done all season. We only wish that Manchester United had bothered to show up for the match to at least provide some entertainment to the night. It's what everyone had expected, and the worst possible time for Manchester to disappoint.

Worthy champions in 2008...and beyond?

Manchester United were justifiable winners of their third Champions Cup title, this past Wednesday. United did not lose a match in the entire tournament, and scored the most goals. Like all champions, they received a dose of luck, but also created enough of their own to deserve what they received.

The championship game v Chelsea properly went the full distance. Both sides were evenly matched, and of course both knew the other well. A testament to both managers’ tactics was that all substitutions were attack-minded ones. They didn't play for penalties in Moscow.

In the Premier League, United were equally worthy of winning their 17th title. The superlatives: most goals scored, most wins, greatest goal differential, least goals allowed, the best attacking player and best defensive player....You'd have to stretch to find a negative. 

There are those who argue whether this Cup side is better than the 1999 Treble winners. For not winning the FA Cup, the argument is moot - the '99 side was more successful. The 2008 champions have more talent, however, and greater promise for more future success.

A player like that boy Ronaldo, for instance comes along less than once in a generation. He is Best and Law and Beckham, wrapped into one happy-footed package. And while he may be gone sooner than not, he is an exclamation point to the team. That is to say, only an exclamation point.

That's right, it says here that if Cristiano Ronaldo were to leave, he'd be sorely missed but that the club would remain potent. If Ronaldo were to head for La Liga, he'd go for a record-breaking sum - 100 million pounds is not out of the question. That would leave plenty of money available to buy a player that can support Rooney and Tevez.

The contributions made by Wazza and Carlitos were overshadowed by Ronaldo's magical season. El Apache scored 14 goals, most of them clever strikes, and good enough for second-most at United this season. Admittedly that's a big drop from Ronny's numbers, but few can doubt that Tevez could boost his totals were he to be the focus.

Rooney's contributions this season were much less obvious. He is a very good defender, and races into the defensive half time and again to win the ball. He has adapted to the supporting role that Sir Alex has asked of him. Yet he is unfairly criticised for not scoring more goals. That's not his focus in this lineup.

Kudos to Wayne for evolving into the consummate team player. But he is still a threat to score and forces defences to put a man on him all the time. It freed up Ronaldo and Tevez all season, and was thus an unsung factor in many of the team's goals.

This triumvirate functioning closely bodes well for the next couple of years for United. This is, after all, a team that has learned how to get the results they need. 

Manchester were criticised for not winning away to Barca, for example. But as any long-time United supporter will tell you, it's the end results that matter.

That's not arrogance, that's learning from losses to Monaco, Dortmund, Real Madrid, Milan - the list is long, glorious...and painful. This year's squad finally learned how to maintain a sense of the bigger picture. As late as last season, the Milan away match was a perfect example of a match where United lost the plot. Those sorts of lapses have bedeviled the club in the past decade, a sore point for Ferguson.

This year, however, there was a sense of calm and efficiency in every game. A lot of that comes from having Vidic and Ferdinand marshaling the backfield. They are among the best defensive partnerships in the world. Wes Brown finally grew into the talent he demonstrated before injuries nearly ended a promising career. So the attacking side and the defensive line are solid.

Most importantly, this is a young but mature side. This is only the third year since Ronaldo and Rooney have linked up. Adding Tevez was a master stroke - all three know how to win. The meshing of talent was a question mark at the start of the season. Goalscorers are notoriously selfish yet all three seemed to revel in the others’ successes.

A fourth striker will doubtless be added in the close season. A top midfielder would also help do the business. This is a team that continues to go from strength to strength. After all, we haven't even discussed the raw abilities of Anderson and Nani.

So congratulations to Sir Alex and the 2007-08 Manchester United side. He will surely want to prevent a slide like the one suffered by the Treble side after 1999. The team has already served notice that they aim to collect more silverware before Sir finally retires. Considering what Manchester accomplished this season, it will be wondrous to watch if this comes to pass.