United missing the fear factor

English FA Premiership/Bolton Wanderers - 2 Manchester Utd - 2: In times of adversity, when questions are being asked about Manchester United's durability, Alex Ferguson consoles himself by recounting the story of switching on his car radio on the way home from another bad result. "Radio Five were doing an hour-long special about our 'demise'," he says.

"I think we won the league by eight points that year." Doubtless Ferguson will be be trying to soothe the nerves of his players right now by going over his other favourite stories - the time, perhaps, in 1995 when Alan Hansen declared they would "win nothing with kids" and they finished with the double.

Or the sight, two seasons ago, of it all getting too much for Arsene Wenger as an eight-point lead was frittered away and the Arsenal manager could be seen pulling frantically at his tie, as if he could hardly breathe.

Ferguson has been a master of one-upmanship for the best part of his 18 years at Old Trafford but one might have to go back to his formative days in Manchester to find a weightier list of problems confronting him.

Seldom, for instance, have there been so many legitimate doubts about United's staying power at this stage of a season. Ferguson could never have imagined evidence this early his players are not only putting themselves in a potentially irretrievable position, nine points behind Arsenal, but have neither the gumption nor the means to do anything about it.

True, there is something remarkably impressive about the frequency with which they conjure up decisive stoppage-time goals, their equaliser here coming in the 92nd minute. But there was also the sight of Ryan Giggs taking a corner that was so overhit it went out for a throw-in on the other side.

There was support, too, for the growing theory that Paul Scholes can be filed alongside Giggs as being just a decorative player these days, having once shimmered with menace every time he was in possession.

There was confirmation Mikael Silvestre has yet to rid himself of the mistakes that tarnished France's Euro 2004 campaign and there was Phil Neville receiving a six-yard pass from Cristiano Ronaldo and allowing the ball to go out for a throw.

Most disappointingly for Ferguson must have been the strangely lacklustre response once Kevin Nolan, continuing his impressive scoring record against United, deflected Jay-Jay Okocha's shot goalwards and then beat Tim Howard at the second attempt to equalise early in the second half.

The United of yesteryear would have regarded this as sheer impudence and worked through the gears. On Saturday, however, the greater sense of adventure stemmed from Sam Allardyce's team, bristling with intent until Ronaldo's belated introduction gave them something to think about.

Even then United looked laboured going forward and vulnerable at the back, sometimes to the most rudimentary attack.

There were mitigating circumstances, of course, in that Neville, Wes Brown and Gabriel Heinze were all starting their first match of the season. The same could apply to Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose off-colour display in attack could be explained by his lengthy lay-off through injury.

Yet Howard and Silvestre have no grounds to cite rustiness and it was their misunderstanding that enabled Les Ferdinand to become the first player to score for six different Premiership clubs. By outmuscling and outmanoeuvring them, he gave Bolton a lead they were far too reckless in forfeiting.

Bolton's first home victory against their lofty neighbours since 1978 would have been assured had it not been for Anthony Barness needlessly conceding a corner and Jussi Jaaskelainen hesitating on his goal-line when the ball was crossed into a congested penalty area, ricocheting off Alan Smith, David Bellion and, finally, Nicky Hunt for the softest of own-goals.

An embittered Ferguson stalked the referee Matt Messias off the pitch. He had a legitimate grievance in that Neville was wrongly adjudged to have committed fouls before both Bolton goals but his players will not have been spared either.

Where is the famed United fear factor? Heinze's debut at left back, scoring the opening goal after Silvestre had turned back Giggs's corner, was one of the few highlights for Ferguson but, in attacking terms, United might not inspire trepidation among opponents until Wayne Rooney is fit and Ronaldo restored to the starting line-up.