‘At the end of one of the most controversy-stained periods of an incident-strewn era at Old Trafford, Manchester United played under a malevolent shadow. However hard they tried to outrun the events of the previous week, it appeared they could hardly run at all.
It was not David Beckham and the boot, nor Alex Ferguson's revelations about Sven-Goran Eriksson, that brought the team down but their victory over Juventus on Wednesday, a night when United fought their way to victory, sweating and suffering, while Bolton recovered on a week-long training camp in Dubai.
This was Bolton's first game in a fortnight. Since their last match ended, United had played four. "They'd been in Dubai, sunning themselves, resting," said Ferguson. "They looked fresh, strong and well prepared. It shows the advantage they had. They were a handful." United, meanwhile, were tired, turbid and terrible.
Yet Ferguson made some peculiar decisions which did not help the situation: why, for example, did he abandon the rigid 4-4-2 that has lain behind all his greatest moments, allowing Ryan Giggs - once again linked with a move to Internazionale over the weekend - a free role which he had little idea what to do with? Why did he play so many unfit players for so long while their healthy understudies sat idle? And most specifically why did Roy Keane, his mind willing but his body not able, complete the game while Nicky Butt spent all but nine minutes on the bench?
United could be celebrating their first silverware of the season on Sunday. In the meantime, they must limp to Turin on Tuesday. Not that they are the only ones with a complaint.
"Our fixture list has become horrendous," said Bolton's manager Sam Allardyce. "It's two weeks from game to game. We've been dealt a bit of a cruel blow by having not enough games in this period." He was not taking the mickey even if, for much of the afternoon, his team were.’
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