Belief Beats Bolton

It’s another ho-hum match at Old Trafford, with the outcome never in question – boring, boring, United.

Yeah, right.

The old cliché holds true: never, ever count out Manchester United, especially at home and even when down to ten men.

How often have we witnessed this late drama? Countless times, really.

It’s an absolutely fantastic result, one that’s become self-perpetuating as the more frequent the Red Devils pull these games out the more the likely the players believe it will happen again.

But, when looking back before kickoff, the match was far from the expected, with a total of only two defensive midfielders on the park for both teams.

Free flowing football and goals, as in plural, were the expectation here, not a nervy 1-0 finish thanks to Berbatov slotting home Nani’s rebound in the 88th minute.

United cash in their “Get Out of Jail Free” card to move five points ahead of Arsenal, who drew 2-2 at the Hawthorns today.

The Bolton match had all the ingredients necessary for a bogey tie, with piling injuries, the Wanderers’ overall form and the need to “get up” for another match after the emotional FA Cup and Champions League victories this past week.

And, true to form, United started very flat, with players getting caught in possession, placing misdirected passes, and producing sloppy defending at times.

If you had to bet the house on whether or not Bolton would score in this match, given the backline, many ardent United supporters might have bet on Coyle’s men scoring over a clean sheet.

Not that there weren’t chances in this match on both sides.

United were incredibly unlucky not to have won a penalty in the 9th minute off of Chicharito’s put-back from six yards from a Brown knockdown. The ball ricocheted off Gary Cahill’s arm in a bang-bang manner, so the player knew nothing about it, but the arm was definitely away from the body and prevented the ball from reaching the target – a stone-cold penalty in my book.

Andre Marriner saw otherwise.

Rooney also had a couple of longer-range lasers that were a couple of meters off-target in the match. Largely, though, you could easily argue that Bolton had as good if not better chances than the Red Devils for much of this match.

With Jonny Evans sent off with a straight red card for a bone-crunching 50-50 ball with Stuart Holden, you knew United would press and Bolton would have opportunities as well.

The match was setup for the Wanderers to get at least a point from OT.

Matthew Taylor’s wide-open header from eight yards put directly at van der Sar was a shocking miss. Taylor could have taken a touch, lit a campfire, started cooking dinner and then shot, had he known – an incredibly fortunate miss for Fergie’s men.

Given such a miss, you also knew – somehow – United would likely score, as teams pay a heavy price for missing guilt-edged chances at Old Trafford.

And, true to form, Berba pounced on a generous rebound offered up by the normally reliable Jaaskelainen to take home the full three points.

As Old Trafford erupted into “We take what we want” followed by “We shall not be moved,” you cannot underestimate the impact on Chelsea and City watching from the comforts of home.

This has all the appearances of being one of, if not, “the” difference makers in the title run-in. Belief time-and-time again comes to the forefront of a Sir Alex Ferguson managed side.

Let’s hope Fergie pulls a Joe Paterno and manages well past his 70th birthday. After all, these late game heroics never, ever get old and give credence to United banners that read: “Not arrogant. Just Better.”

Better indeed.


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Player Ratings: Van der Sar 6; Evra 6; Smalling 7; Evans 4; Brown 5 (Fabio 6); Giggs 6; Carrick 7; Nani 6; Valencia 6; Chicharito 6; Rooney 6; Berbatov 6.