Absolutely gutted. The referee was utterly atrocious, but so were we in the final third. It was like watching England under Sven, we just sat back and waited for the inevitable to happen.
Positives: Petrov and Milner, for the periods we actually had possession they were pulling all the strings and probing for the openings. So calm and assured on the ball. Petrov really does have such a nice touch as well.
The back-line, albeit for three poor errors (one of which cost us dearly) coped well under the pressure. I feel so bad for Dunne, because the cock-up aside, he had a blinder.
Negatives: I have tried and tried (and then tried some more) to understand what Heskey actually brings to our game. When he's trying to hold the ball up he goes over too easily, he very rarely gets into threatening positions and when he does the finishing is hit and miss. Granted, he gets his head to the ball more often then not but there's nobody picking up the flick-ons. It's leaving Gabby too isolated up front.
Ashley Young's forgotten how to cross. He just can't do it. Every match I've seen this season, his deliveries have made Aaron Lennon look like a genius. He's picked up a bit of confidence in the last couple of weeks but he's still going to ground too quickly for my money.
Cuellar at right-back. Fair play to Carlos, he's at least doing a passable job there. He got caught out twice by pace, but it's going forward that we suffer as the overlap and delivery isn't there. It's a b'stard of a decision choosing between Collins and Cuellar in the centre (Carlos edges it for me, only just mind), but it's a decision that needs to be taken as we need Luke Young/a natural right-back on the pitch.
Ultimately, we were undone by the combination of a brilliant goal, a calamitous error, a referee who's on the take and poor, poor attacking play. We paid United too much respect, and didn't deserve to win the cup.
All that said, I'm looking forward to watching us lift the FA Cup instead. 8)