Manchester Utd 2 Bolton 1: IN HIS office long after the final whistle Alex Ferguson might have raised a glass of expensive red wine to the boy in the Adidas top whose beach ball so unhinged Liverpool – just as William of Orange's death, caused by his horse tripping over a molehill, led to Jacobites toasting "the gentleman in the black velvet suit".
The Manchester United manager has never discounted the importance of luck. Today he prepares to take his players to the Luzhniki Stadium where, but for John Terry’s slip as he took the fateful penalty, United would have lost the Champions League in 2008. And but for two own-goals he would have faced CSKA Moscow this week on the back of a home defeat by Sunderland and a draw with Bolton.
To those who watched only the first hour of this game, dominated by some fabulous artistry from Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and a lovely and unlikely one-two between Gary Neville and Antonio Valencia that gave United their second, it would be absurd to suggest Bolton deserved anything other than a thrashing.
And yet, while United regained the summit of the Premier League, they did so wheezing and out of breath. Ferguson is likely to be charged by the Football Association i today for his comments on Alan Wiley’s fitness, despite using his programme notes to reiterate his apology to the referee.
All the close-season analysis of how United might win a fourth successive championship focused on whether they could make up for the goals lost by Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid. This, despite Valencia’s first for the club, is still an issue – of United’s 21 Premier League goals, only five have come from midfield.
What, however, is of more immediate concern is a defence that could claim last season to have been the best in the world.Perhaps it was down to the absence of Edwin van der Sar, who returned for his first competitive match since the Champions League final, but the mocking chants of “Rio for England” from the away seats and raw statistics suggest Ferdinand had not heeded his manager’s call to stamp his class on proceedings and that on current form United may not possess the best defence in England.
When Matt Taylor headed home Kevin Davies’ cross for what Ferguson thought a ridiculously soft goal, it was the seventh United had conceded at Old Trafford in the league. Last season it took the 4-1 defeat by Liverpool on 14 March for that total to be reached.
“It was more tense than we would have liked. We made it hard for ourselves and we were panicking at times. But we got through it, just. In past years we have gone on runs of games without losing goals, which have been important to us in terms of winning the championship,” Ferguson said.
“We have got to get back to doing that. The goal we conceded was a slack one to lose, a soft header from the back post. We shouldn’t be losing goals like that even though Bolton were a handful.”
Nemanja Vidic may have recovered from an ankle injury to face his former employers CSKA Moscow on Wednesday but, if he plays, there would be little justice in the Serb taking Jonny Evans’ place as the young Belfastman is playing better than either of the two senior centrebacks.
Ferguson added that Van der Sar’s return should ease matters both in Moscow and at Anfield on Sunday: “He has got the composure, the experience, the steadiness at the back – which is what his career has been all about.”
Tellingly for Ben Foster, whom Ferguson lauded as England’s best goalkeeper in pre-season, Tomasz Kuszczak was on the bench on Saturday and will keep goal against Barnsley in the League Cup.
Nevertheless this was an afternoon that emphasised a difference between Liverpool and Manchester United. Last season Carlos Tevez described the combination of himself, Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov as “the best forward line in the world”. Ferguson was able to call on only one of these against Bolton. He won. At Sunderland Rafael Benitez was without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. He lost.
Guardian Service
