THE INDIE
Is this really the strongest Manchester United squad in Sir Alex Ferguson's time at Old Trafford, as he recently claimed? Without Wayne Rooney, who scored five times in two meetings with Bolton last season, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes, there was a threadbare look to it yesterday, especially when reinforcements were required from the substitutes' bench. Worse, Ferguson was forced to watch his side's belated second-half improvement from the main stand after letting off steam to the referee Mark Clattenburg at the interval.
"I told him how bad he was and he didn't like it," Sir Alex said. "Some referees don't like the truth. I thought we should have got more protection and it was becoming a shambles. But we can't say we deserved to win the game because we didn't make enough chances."
His team created none at all in the first half, in which Nicolas Anelka's goal would eventually give Gary Megson a first victory since replacing Sammy Lee as manager and take Bolton out of the bottom three. Having flirted with a more fluent style under Lee, they have gone back to basics, which can sometimes be basic indeed, but a vigorous4-3-3 with plenty of emphasis on set pieces is something that works for them. There was a determination about the side that United, used to romping to victory here - they had not lost at Bolton for almost 30 years - were slow to match, and in Danny Guthrie, the young midfielder on loan from Liverpool, they have someone who can bring the ball down and play.
"We stood firm and worked our socks off," said a delighted Megson. "The game's been played like a local derby and we need to be playing every game like that. If we can perform like that against Manchester United, there's no excuse in any other game. It's a good day for the players, the fans and the club."
And a bad one in consequence for their neighbours, who fell three points behind Arsenal at the top of the table after giving Jussi Jaaskelainen in the home goal one shot to save in 90 minutes.
United's first-half performance in a 4-0 win at the Reebok 11 months ago was one of the most impressive away from home in memory. Yesterday's was a shocker by anybody's standards, let alone those of champions, and there could be no complaints at going in a goal behind. In the 11th minute, Guthrie's trickery drew a foul from the otherwise impressive Patrice Evra and as Ivan Campo chipped the free-kick forward, Gerard Pique made no contact and allowed the ball to drop for Anelka to turn in his eighth goal of the season. Ferguson, a confirmed admirer, may be weighing up a bid in January.
The greatest worry for Bolton was the possibility of Kevin Davies being sent off. Booked for a silly foul as part of his running feud with Evra, he received a serious talking to from the referee after an aerial collison between them. That incident, and one or two others, were sufficient to merit words from an irate Ferguson as the officials left the pitch at half-time, which led to his banishment to the stand.
THE OBSERVER
Sir Alex Ferguson, mobile phone glued to his ear, had to watch from the stands as Manchester United lost in the Premiership for the first time in 10 games and more than three months.
The veteran manager is certain to face an inquiry from the FA after being sent to the directors' box by referee Mark Clattenburg at the interval. The United boss and the official clashed in the tunnel at the Reebok Stadium at half-time as the manager voiced his disapproval at Bolton's first-half tactics which, he claimed, were overly physical. It was a view few neutrals in the crowd seemed to share and probably owed more to the fact that United trailed to Nicolas Anelka's 11th-minute goal than anything else.
A battle in which United left-back Patrice Evra was happy to engage, particularly in his duel with Bolton Kevin Davies and, it could be argued, Clattenburg's biggest first half mistake was in not booking the former while showing the home player a deserved yellow card.
'I don't know whether they targeted him or not, but he seemed to be involved in everything, the poor soul,' said Ferguson of his defender. 'He had some terrible tackles on him. I couldn't think that was the reason but he did seem to get involved a lot.'
Ferguson, communicating with United coach Mike Phelan via his mobile, saw a much-improved second half performance, particularly after taking off young centre-half Gerard Pique, standing in for the injured Nemanja Vidic and largely culpable for the goal.
Evra's scything hack at Danny Guthrie handed Bolton a free-kick 35 yards out that Ivan Campo deftly chipped into the area. Pique flung himself at the ball without coming remotely close to it and a surprised Anelka had time to control and pivot before converting his eighth goal of the season expertly.
Thereafter, without the injured pair of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, United lacked the power and skill to take advantage of their superior possession and to take Bolton out of a carefully formulated game plan.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
The banner in the away end read "United & England", but Sir Alex Ferguson's team proved no greater than the national side, and Bolton deserved to profit. This was a performance that could have belonged to the Sam Allardyce era: organised, resilient, testy, but with outbreaks of craft. In one of these Nicolas Anelka scored on his return from injury. But United were complicit and, just like England, paid for a rookie player's mistake.
Gerard Pique succumbed to a lapse in judgment that can affect the inexperienced. Anelka scored when Pique missed the ball while attempting to head clear and the Spaniard was substituted early in the second half so that Wes Brown could move alongside Rio Ferdinand. The switch had to be done by remote control. Ferguson was telephoning orders to his dugout after being sent to the stand.
Anelka did little else bar score, but his firepower is precious to Bolton, who have relied on him for seven of their 12 league goals. Ferguson, said to covet the Frenchman, yearned for a finisher, with Wayne Rooney injured, Louis Saha there in body but not spirit and Cristiano Ronaldo, his top scorer, omitted after two gruelling appearances for Portugal.
Carlos Tevez who had a chance to equalise late, missed embarrassingly. Patrice Evra played an exceptional ball that flashed across the six-yard box, but Tevez, spitting distance from the back of the net, turned his body too much in his effort to angle the ball home and directed it past the far post.
Not until Anderson came on when Pique was withdrawn there was penetration in United's passing or fluency in their midfield play, but champions should not have to rely on a teenager to transform them. Bolton often had the better shape, which was testimony to Gary Megson and to the man essential to his game-plan, Ivan Campo.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
For a team who have rattled four goals past Bolton in three of their last four meetings, United were surprisingly shot-shy. In the first half, they did not have a single shot on target, in fact they barely had a shot. And even when they did rouse themselves in the second half, they never caused Jussi Jaaskelainen in goal any great distress. The Finn has had to deal with a lot greater pressure this season.
Any hopes Rio Ferdinand might have had of putting the European Championship debacle swiftly behind him weren't helped by boos from the Bolton crowd right from the start whenever he touched the ball. And cries of "Argentina" from the travelling United fans whenever Tevez did got short shrift from the home fans.
From the early minutes Danny Guthrie, on loan from Liverpool, had been a lively threat to United and when Patrice Evra fouled him just outside the box in the 12th minute it proved decisive. Ivan Campo's little chip into the area would have been meat and drink to the absent Nemanja Vidic and should have been to Gerard Pique, his deputy. But inexplicably the Spaniard chose to step forward leaving Anelka completely unmarked and as a result the ball sailed over his head.
The Frenchman doesn't need much space at the best of times and here had plenty in which to chest the ball down and fire it home on the turn. Anelka is as much a talismanic figure for Bolton as Ronaldo is for United and has now scored seven of his team's 12 league goals this season. "Because of the quality that he's got and the person he is, he's always going to take the headlines," said Megson. "What pleases me is that the other players at the club accept that, which from a team perspective is fantastic."
Sir Alex Ferguson was banished to the stands at the Reebok Stadium for the second half of yesterday's Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers for telling referee Mark Clattenburg what he thought of him. The Manchester United manager then had to endure a frustrating 45 minutes watching his side slip to only their second league defeat of the season against a team who were third from bottom at the start of the day.
It meant that the champions lost ground to rivals Arsenal, who have now moved three points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand. As for Bolton, their first win since Aug 25, secured for them by Nicolas Anelka in the 11th minute, saw them move out of the bottom three. It was the first time since 1978 that Bolton had beaten their local rivals at home.
Ferguson could now find himself in trouble with the Football Association, not so much for his finger-wagging at the referee whom he followed down the tunnel at half-time but for what he said afterwards.
"I told him exactly what I thought and he didn't like it," Ferguson said. "Some referees don't like the truth. I just told him how bad I thought he was in the first half and the game was becoming a shambles. We should have got much more protection from the referee, but we didn't get that. It was a battle."
Ferguson felt his team should have been given more protection, in particular his left-back Patrice Evra. Yet Evra, in fact, was fortunate not to be sent off himself for flicking out a foot off the ball in Kevin Davies's direction. The two players were at loggerheads throughout the first half.
"I don't know whether they targeted him but he seemed to be involved in everything," Ferguson said of Evra. "Poor soul, he got some terrible tackles on him today. I don't know whether it was part of the plan — I could think that was the reason — but he seemed to be involved in a lot of the tackles that were made. "Fortunately in the second half they cooled down I think. They defended very deeply in the second half. We had a lot of possession without really making any chances. I can't say we deserved to win the game because we didn't make enough chances to win it, but we did have the majority of the possession. We just couldn't get the openings we needed."