Boss Praises Team Resilience

Sir Alex Ferguson was pleased with United’s emphatic victory over Bolton Wanderers, but insisted it wasn’t as straight forward as the scoreline suggested.

An own goal from Jlloyd Samuel gave the Reds a half-time lead before two goals from Dimitar Berbatov and one from Darron Gibson sealed the win in the second period.

The United boss admitted his side had to show grit and courage in the face of a physical challenge from Bolton.

“I don’t think we dominated,” said Sir Alex. “I think when you come here you have to put your head on everything. You get a sore head just watching it! It’s very difficult to deal with balls in the air all the time.

“The times when we did get the ball down we played some good football but I’d have liked to have seen more of it. It was a difficult game."

Edwin van der Sar made important stops from Johan Elmander and Fabrice Muamba with the game at 1-0, two saves that Sir Alex described as match-winning.

“They were absolutely magnificent saves, the second one in particular from Muamba. He did well to reach that.”

Samuel’s own goal was the eleventh this season for United, nearly double the previous record. Sir Alex agreed it was surprising but insisted that it doesn’t matter how they come.

“It’s one of these freak incidents to get that many own goals,” he said. “It’s very rare.”Sir Alex reserved special praise for several of his players amidst an impressive team performance. He was particularly pleased with the contributions of Berbatov and Nani.

“Dimitar showed again he can play there. His preferred role is to drop in behind striker but he’s proved time and time again that he can play on his own.

“He had Ryan (Giggs) close most of the time and I thought he was always a threat to them.

“Nani has been playing like that for weeks now. He’s hit form at a terrific time for us and he’s made two goals so we’re very pleased.”

“He’s signed a contract for another four years. He’s young, he’s maturing and that’s the area we want to see him develop.”

Sir Alex felt the presence of veterans Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville was another big factor in United's success on Saturday.

“Experience is a vital thing. In the second half they showed their experience in terms of possession and composure on the ball that’s so important in an atmosphere like today.”

The United manager said it was vital to get a win of any kind ahead of two big games - away to Bayern Munich and at home to closest title challengers Chelsea.

“I think with the week we have and the games we have left, any good result is an important one. That’s another game down and it was an emphatic win in the circumstances with Chelsea winning earlier in the day.”

Even though third-placed Arsenal only managed a draw at Birmingham, Sir Alex believes the Gunners remain in the title hunt.

“It’s still a three-horse race. It was bad for Arsenal conceding to drop points so late in the game. They are now four points behind us but I think everyone will drop points. The name of the game is dropping less than the rest.”