THE INDIE
Just champion. Manchester United's ninth Premiership title in 15 seasons is moving ever closer and yesterday there was little that Chelsea, let alone Bolton Wanderers in such feeble form, could do to prevent it. Hearts must have sunk in west London as the goals flew in early, just as they had done when United visited the Reebok in October. Wayne Rooney, scorer of a hat-trick that day, shared yesterday's four with Ji-Sung Park, the first three being made by Cristiano Ronaldo in another astonishing display of virtuosity.
With tomorrow's FA Cup replay against Middlesbrough in mind, Sir Alex Ferguson was able to take Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs off long before the end; indeed, he scarcely needed to send on replacements, so demoralised were the visitors. The one negative was an ankle ligament injury suffered by Gary Neville, who will be out for three weeks, missing England's European Championship tie in Israel on Saturday. Wes Brown came on as substitute and may have to be called into the squad now that Manchester City's Micah Richards is doubtful.
Grim as it was for England's head coach to watch his most experienced defender being helped down the tunnel after eight minutes, he must have been encouraged by the appalling performance of Israel's centre-half Tal Ben Haim, who may well be up against Rooney again in Tel Aviv. For Bolton the minuses were too many to tot up. Virtually the only passion came from bickering among themselves; a slight improvement in the second half once Sam Allardyce took up glowering guard in the technical area and United easing off brought no more than a mysterious late penalty converted by Gary Speed.
"Are you City in disguise?" the crowd were soon asking, which in these parts is as insulting as it is possible to be. For the neutral it is a little depressing that a team in Bolton's current state should be sitting so comfortably in fifth place in the Premiership, albeit with no chance of catching the usual top four. This was a fourth successive defeat in all competitions, shipping 13 goals in the process and Allardyce was forced to admit: "I can't understand the team conceding three goals from our own dead-ball situations. I'm angry with them not getting those things right. We're a side that has to get the basics right. I thought Ronaldo was stoppable if we wanted to." Such optimism.
THE OBSERVER
If this is the way that Cristiano Ronaldo intends to conduct his contract negotiations, Manchester United might as well give in gracefully and show him the money.
Sir Alex Ferguson has just indicated a willingness to make him the club's best-paid player and Ronaldo turned in the sort of virtuoso performance that amply backed his case. Critics have pointed out recently that Ronaldo offers more style than substance and actually delivers surprisingly little, but in this mood, even if the going rate is £140,000 a week, he is worth it.
Ronaldo played only 70 minutes before Ferguson brought him off to a fully deserved standing ovation. He had laid on all three of the goals that wrapped up the points for United in the first half-hour, overshadowed excellent performances by Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs, and bemused Bolton throughout with his pace, poise and trickery. Just about the only thing he did wrong was miss an open goal from Gabriel Heinze's cross at the start of the second half, though it took an alert save from Jussi Jaaskelainen to deny him just before he was withdrawn.
Bolton were the opponents when Ronaldo made his United debut, on the first day of the 2003-04 season when Old Trafford was still wondering how the void left by David Beckham could ever be filled. The Portugal winger answered that question immediately, because supporters leaving the ground skipped over the memory of Beckham and began wondering if they had just seen the new George Best. Though then as now it was advisable not to get too carried away by anything achieved against Bolton.
Sam Allardyce's team might be fifth and widely regarded as difficult to play against, though United - 4-0 winners at the Reebok before Christmas - rarely seem to have any bother. Allardyce has just described his team as soft and after a first half in which they looked more like stooges for the Harlem Globetrotters every time Ronaldo received the ball, the Bolton manager did not hide his disappointment. 'We cannot match United for quality, we have to play a percentage game and we have to get the basics right,' Allardyce said. 'We failed to do that. We conceded three goals from our own dead-ball situations and that is just suicide. I can't believe we spent two weeks preparing for that game and then gifted them three goals. That's just embarrassing and it's not what we are about.'
United brought on Alan Smith for Ronaldo, which hardly seemed fair to a player struggling for touch, form and confidence, but though the substitute was unable to get among the goals he did manage to make the fourth for Rooney with an excellent pass. Rooney controlled it and outmuscled the cover to make a shooting opportunity, then comprehensively beat Jaaskelainen with what can only be described as a thumping finish. Bolton pulled a late goal back when Nemanja Vidic was adjudged to have pushed Abdoulaye Faye, Gary Speed converting the penalty, but no one was fooled.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Depending on which newspaper you read, Cristiano Ronaldo has sworn his heart to Real Madrid or Barcelona in the summer or possibly Inter Milan or has, indeed, already agreed a £28 million golden handcuffs deal that will keep him at Manchester United for another five years.
Although his royal command performance here will have given him more potential suitors than Princes William and Harry, you can probably put your castle on the last option since if Ronaldo even thinks of leaving, he is likely to find a red-faced Glaswegian blocking the Old Trafford exit.
Never mind the golden handcuffs. It is doubtful whether Bolton would have been able to keep his skipping feet still if they had brought a set of leg irons with them. Ronaldo may still find it impossible to wean himself off the stepovers but these days, they are more likely to be the prelude to a deadly strike or pass rather than bringing groans from supporters.
Having already served up the opening two goals on a silver salver before the game had reached 20 minutes, Ronaldo stood on the edge of the Bolton box crossing his feet over the ball in front of three defenders, mesmerising them like mice in front of a snake, and three blind mice at that. Then, the left foot whipped out for a strike that an equally hypnotised Jussi Jaaskelainen spilled to the feet of Ji-Sung Park.
Park had been the beneficiary of an impudent Ronaldo cut back from the byline for the opening goal. That was just his own warm-up for the main act of the day, a driving run from inside his own half after United cleared a Bolton corner, an exchange of passes with Wayne Rooney before the killer ball that Rooney chipped over Jaaskelainen.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, amongst others, really must have a word with United's Sir Alex Ferguson about the secret of beating Bolton because while the latter are the scourge of so many Premiership teams, United have now beaten them seven times out of eight. And this was the fourth occasion on that run that they have scored four.
Wenger could also learn something from United's goalscoring panache. Arsenal may be regarded as the best football-playing team in the country yet United, who can float like butterflies equally well, also have a deadly sting at the end of their moves.
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce described this defeat as "embarrassing", though he also rather ungenerously claimed that his side had gifted the points to United.
SUNDAY TIMES
Those purists who say that Arsenal play the most attractive football in the Premiership need to revise their convictions after the display put on by Manchester United at Old Trafford yesterday.
While the technique of Arsene Wenger's side is difficult to match when they are in full flow, the Premiership leaders played with such outrageous flair at times that it was easy to see why an overwhelming number of neutrals want them to win the two-horse race for the Premiership.
United's second goal - scored by Wayne Rooney and created by Cristiano Ronaldo - ranks as one of the best seen at this ground for many years. Rooney was in imperious form, but it was Ronaldo's display that took the breath away, the Portugal international running Bolton ragged and producing three stunning assists before he was withdrawn halfway through the second half.
The only sour note for the Premiership leaders was that Gary Neville left the field after seven minutes with an ankle ligament injury and is expected to be out for three weeks, which also rules him out of England's European Championship qualifiers against Israel on Saturday and Andorra the following Wednesday. Ronaldo's future at Old Trafford continues to be the subject of speculation, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona reportedly on his trail, though Sir Alex Ferguson afterwards rejected any suggestion that the winger's form was aimed at impressing his potential suitors. "He's been brilliant all season. He gives his all in every game," said Ferguson. "There's going to be speculation. Every year at election time Real Madrid and Barcelona do this."
Ronaldo's contribution to United's second goal will live long in the memory. From a Bolton corner he collected the ball in his own penalty area, controlled in an instant and played a 20-yard ball to the feet of Rooney. The England striker merely played the ball two yards square of him and Ronaldo was on to it in an instant, running the ball at incredible pace deep into Bolton's half. Rooney was somehow able to keep pace with him and Ronaldo played him in on Jussi Jaaskelainen with a perfectly weighted ball.
As if realising the perfection of the movement, Rooney seemed to want to produce the perfect finish and he did so, waiting for Jaaskelainen to go to ground before he lifted the ball over the goalkeeper with the deftest of touches. Wilf McGuinness, the former Manchester United coach and manager during a time when Best, Law and Charlton were in their pomp, said it was a goal up there with the best he had seen at Old Trafford. That was game over after 17 minutes, Ronaldo having already set up the first goal three minutes previously with an outrageous run along the deadball line. With Tal Ben Haim backing off, not for the first time, Ronaldo set off on a charge that looked like it might end with him colliding with Jaaskelainen's right-hand post. Instead at the last second, he pulled the ball back beautifully for Ji-Sung Park to whack the ball home.