Bolton have provided some of the best and worst memories recently

Whenever I look at the fixture calendar and see that a match against Bolton is looming, I can’t help but let my mind drift back to a very special day, late in the month of October 2006. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo had grabbed the headlines in the World Cup 2006 for all the wrong reasons, United had lost to Arsenal on my birthday in September and I was watching the Bolton match with some mates of mine who happen to support Arsenal.

What started off as taunting and the staking of bragging rights soon become a forced, uncomfortable approval of the amazing counter-attacking football on display. Ronaldo and Rooney had truly announced themselves, as well as their ability to terrorize teams in tandem and had just issued a statement of intent, which they would go on to fulfill. Fantastic memories.

The following matches against Bolton, however, did not hold the same amount of joy. In the reverse tie that same season, Gary Neville found himself on the receiving end of a strong tackle by Gary Speed and it would be more than a year before Gazza made another senior appearance due to the resulting injury.The absence of both Neville and Rio Ferdinand were painfully obvious a few months later when United lost the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi final at the San Siro against AC MIlan, who went on to win the competition that year.

The next fixture against Bolton was even worse!

The Red Devils put in one of THE worst Manchester United performances I had the misfortune of witnessing and left the Reebok on the losing end of a frustrating 1-0 match. Gerard Pique’s inability to clear a header led to Nicolas Anelka’s goal and in hindsight seemed to expedite the Spanish defender’s exit from Old Trafford.

Subsequent matches against the Trotters saw Patrice Evra cynically targeted by various Bolton players, obviously trying to goad him into losing his cool, as it became apparent that Frenchman had a fiesty temperament. Mistimed tackles and body blocks were left unpunished by the notoriously poor referees and I was left fuming every time I saw Pat hit the deck.

I can only hope that we see little of that on Sunday and are treated to some good football instead.

Dimitar Berbatov has scored three goals in his last two visits to the Reebok Stadium and on current form might just give me more great memories against Bolton.

Match Preview

The encouraging team news for Manchester United is that Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Anderson passed their Carling Cup test against Scunthorpe with flying colours and have now proven their match fitness, although there is still work to be done in regards to their match sharpness.

In an interview on Friday, Sir Alex revealed that both Michael Carrick, as well as Owen Hargreaves have returned to first team training, but both will probably not be in contention for the match at the Reebok Stadium. Fergie also shared that he was quite surprised about just how good Hargreaves looked in training, but it was not clear if he was referring to Hargo’s McDreamy-like good looks.

I personally think that most of the players who played against Scunthorpe on Wednesday will not be called into action from the start, which will allow Fergie to rest Ferdinand for the midweek trip to Valencia. I also think that SAF is unlikely to play 4-4-2 against Valencia and that he will need Park Ji-Sung in that match, meaning a start for Giggsy against Bolton.

I can also see Chicharito and Obertan coming off the bench for Rooney and Nani respectively, if things are going well, to give them a breather ahead of Wednesday’s match.

For Bolton, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Davies are back in contention having served their respective suspensions.
Gary Cahill will serve the final game of a three-match ban following his sending off at Arsenal will be unavailable for selection, whilst Andy O’Brien, Joey O’Brien and Sean Davis are sidelined with injury.

I believe Sir Alex Ferguson will stick to the 4-4-2 formation, which has served him well since the start of the season, but he will want to learn from the difficulties United faced away at Craven Cottage, where the Red Devils struggled to cope with the runs Dickson Etuhu made from midfield.

Bolton are likely to start with a loose diamond-based 4-4-2, which will see Stuart Holden play in front of Fabrice Muamba. They will be flanked by Martin Petrov, as well as Lee Chung-Yong, who will probably alternate between tucking in to keep the centre of the park compact and drifting out Bolton are likely to start with a loose diamond-shaped 4-4-2 to provide width when needed or to help the full-backs.

For United, the game play will focus on Scholes, Nani, Giggs and Berbatov. Scholesy’s distribution and Berbatov’s ability to effectively link midfield and attack have been vital. Equally vital has been the ability to play the ball into dangerous areas on the wings and get the ball into the 18 yard box from the flanks. This tactic produced all three goals against Liverpool.

For Bolton, Kevin Davies will be the fulcrum of their attack yet again and Nemanja Vidic will have has handful and will be important to track Martin Petrov and stop him from getting decent crosses in to Davies. Johan Elmander has had a decent start to the campaign and will need to be dealt with too.

Alternatively, you can throw everything I said above out the window and we might just see this:

Bolton

Subs from Bogdan, Gardner, Klasnic, Taylor, M Davies, Samuel, Riga, Blake, Eaves, Alonso, McCann, Cohen

Doubtful: None

Injured: Davis (knee, Oct), McCann (ankle, unknown), J O’Brien (knee, unknown), A O’Brien (ankle, unknown)

Suspended: Cahill (third of three)

Form guide: DLDWDW Disciplinary record Y11 R2

Leading scorer: Elmander 3

Manchester United

Subs from Kuszczak, W Brown, Evans, Rafael, Gibson, Obertan, Park, Neville, Hernández, Smalling, De Laet, Fabio, Owen, Anderson, Macheda, Bebé

Doubtful: Hargreaves, Carrick

Injured: Valencia (leg, Februrary to April)

Suspended None Form guide WDWDWW

Disciplinary record Y11 R2

Leading scorer: Berbatov 6

Match pointers:

• Manchester United have only won four of their last nine Premier League away matches, but one of those was a 4-0 success over Bolton

• Bolton have drawn three of their last four matches at the Reebok Stadium

• Sir Alex Ferguson’s side have won 12 and lost just one of the last 14 Premier League matches against Bolton

• Dimitar Berbatov has scored six goals in his last five league games while

• Dimitar Berbatov has scored three goals in his last two visits to the Reebok Stadium.

• Man Utd have won 12 and lost just one of the last 14 Premier League matches against Bolton.

• Wayne Rooney has scored six goals in his last four league matches against Bolton, although his last visit to the Reebok was back in October 2006.

• Kevin Davies has been booked eight times against Manchester United in the Premier League. He has only been cautioned more often against Arsenal (10 bookings).

• Wayne Rooney hasn’t scored a Premier League goal at an away ground since January (a 3-1 win at Arsenal).

• Dimitar Berbatov has had more shots on target (12) than any other Premier League player this season.

• United have scored four goals from corners, more than anyone else in the Premier League.

Previous Results:

2009/10
Bol 0 – 4 MU Berba x2, Gibson, Og
MU 2 – 1 Bol Valencia, Og

2008/09
Bol 0 – 1 MU Berba
MU 2 – 0 Bol Ronaldo, Rooney

2007/08
MU 2 – 0 Bol Ronaldo x2
Bol 1 – 0 MU

2006/07
MU 4 – 1 Bol Park x2, Rooney x2 -> Gary gets injured
Bol 4 – 0 MU Rooney x3, Ronaldo