Reds to march on Moscow - but only after a serious wobble...

So quite remarkably on the back of two of their most unmemorable performances in Europe, the Reds are going on the march to Moscow in May for the Champions League final, courtesy of a first-half thunder-bolt from the "Ginger Prince" Paul Scholes. Yet, it is Barcelona who must surely still be questioning how they managed to contrive to lose this semi-final, given how much of the ball they had.

Like in the first-leg, the Catalan's completely out-played United, even the goal came from a Barcelona mistake rather than from United's normal free-flowing attacking football, which was sadly lacking in evidence over the two ties.

Quite how United managed to secure their place in the final will no doubt be a talking point over the coming weeks ahead, rival fans will be keen to point out that Barcelona were the better team - and they rightly were - if only they'd not forgotten how to score a goal. The truth of the matter is that Barcelona while completely out-playing United over this semi final could not finish. The Red Devils had no answer to the quite brilliant Messi who seemed capable of beating the whole team on his own.

At the other end United could not keep the ball with Nani in particular gifting it back to the visitors. Throughout the game Ronaldo was urging his team-mates to support him, but to no avail. While the visitors laid siege to the United goal, they were thankfully unable to lay a metaphorical glove on the Reds.

In truth, Barca barely tested Edwin van der Sar, who at times did his level best to help the Catalans - it looked at one point as if the big Dutchman was playing with his bootlaces tied together - so atrocious was his kicking - though to be fair he wasn't helped one bit by Wes Brown kneeing him in the head twice.

It is therefore something of a minor miracle that United did not lose both legs of the semi-final given how little we actually had possession of the ball, but at the same time Barcelona will believe that they only have themselves to blame for not progressing to Moscow.

United fans wont care one jot - we are in the final - that is all that matters. Let us not forget that rivals Liverpool have crabbed their way to two recent finals aided by a fair few very dodgy decisions - at least you cannot level that against United - quite the reverse in fact as Ronaldo was denied a second cast-iron penalty in the first leg, by a homer of a referee.

It doesn’t alter the fact that United's performances over the two semi-final legs have been nothing short of embarrassing really, both in terms of tactics and from an attacking standpoint.

The Reds saving grace over this semi-final has been that the defence has played quite well - but watching this semi-final has not been easy, we fans had believed that this team was as good as any in Europe and some say perhaps United's best ever. Those views will have to be revised given how comprehensively we have been outplayed by a Barcelona team that was said to be low on confidence.

Despite his goal, Scholes has been little more than a passenger over the two ties, he no longer has the legs to support from deep, thankfully he managed to make one of those now rare trademark runs that led to him scoring that wonderful goal. Fergie has gone on record saying that Scholes has to start in the final - that assertion in my view is a complete nonsense - shouldn’t the team be picked on merit? This is not lads and dads football, where the favourite son always gets picked - Fergie has to act like the manager of a team in the Champions League final and not like a misty-eyed old grandad when picking the side.

United were at the best last night when Tevez got about the visitors, largely because the Argentine was charging around the Old Trafford pitch like a Tasmanian Devil, Scholes can no longer do this, and it is partly why our midfield currently has more holes in it than a Grimsby trawler fishing net.

United needed Anderson in the engine room - but bizarrely last night was once again he was completely ignored, while another veteran Giggs was brought on as a substitute. True, Fletcher was brought on too, but given the qualities of the Brazilian it is baffling beyond belief that he was ignored in preference to two lesser players given the task at hand.

Has Fergie forgotten how Anderson dominated Gerrard at Anfield? The Brazilian is by far our best ratter, but against Chelsea at the weekend he was played too far up front in the old Scholes role - we needed him deeper - just as we needed him there in both legs of the Champions League semi-finals and no doubting in the final too.

Over the last fortnight, as if confirmation was needed, Ferguson has proven that he is clueless where tactics are concerned. It is no wonder that we have failed so many times in the Champions League and it is entirely down to the manager.

Not only that, the manager has made some serious errors of judgment, in doing so putting a season's work potentially in jeopardy. Ferguson played Rooney against Chelsea knowing that he should have been rested. We still do not know the full extent of this folly, and the next three games will provide an answer to that question.

Ferguson has been a brilliant manager and he deserves great credit for all his achievements, including bringing this current crop of players together, but I personally believe that whatever happens in Moscow, it is time for Fergie to stand down - because he is not capable of taking this team on to the next level. We need a clear tactical thinker at the helm if we are ever going to dominate in Europe as well as at home.