Balloon Factory

First thing to note today is that after our draw against Sunderland all the papers were suggesting that Sir Alex attacked Alan Wiley to distract attention away from our poor performance - today the papers themselves (even Rafa seemed too embarrassed to make too much of the incident, realising just how bad Liverpool were) are falling over themselves to make excuses for Liverpool losing, as if a freak goal after 5 minutes of a game is the only thing that sat between Liverpool and an inevitable victory (I should also note that the absence of Gerrard and Torres against Sunderland seems to have been retrospectively applied to their other 3 loses... While we, apparently struggling to cope without Ronaldo and Tevez, sit atop the league... And while I'm noting, Liverpool were given 7 minutes of injury time to find an equalizer... a decision greeted, not by stereotypical boos, but by a bemused silence interspersed with gasps of astonishment by the Sunderland fans).
Onto the match reports, and according to some, we were lucky again yesterday. The Observer's report begins:

The referee's fitness was not questioned this time, but, for the second home game in succession, United were desperately close to embarrassment against modest opposition. The defending champions regained pole position in the title race, courtesy of Chelsea's slip-up earlier in the day, but they would not have done so had it not been for Gary Cahill's failure to tuck away what should have been a routine header at the death.

And also continues the trend of criticising Ferdinand:

The absence of Nemanja Vidic, injured in training on Friday, appeared to further undermine the composure of Rio Ferdinand, who has been nowhere near his imperious best of late.

First things first, and The Independent's report offers a nice rebuff to the lucky accusations:

Manchester United stumbled to the summit but, unlike Chelsea and Liverpool, they did not fall. There will be queries over a defence that somehow allowed what seemed a hopelessly-beaten Bolton side back into this game and over a forward line that ought to have throttled the life out the contest before it was an hour old. However, the questions are nothing like as fierce as those confronting Rafael Benitez this morning and, ever since gathering together his first motley collection of part-time footballers at East Stirling, Sir Alex Ferguson has understood the importance of winning first and asking questions afterwards.

Which adds a new theory of bias to the existing cannon - going on about how we're lucky/rubbish/given preferential treatment by referees as a way to distract from how lucky/rubbish/given preferential treatment by referees Liverpool/Chelsea/Arsenal are.
Some descriptions of the game from the same report:

Bolton had required a generous helping of fortune not to have reached the hour mark hopelessly beaten. But it says something for the uncertainty surrounding a Manchester United defence that, had Gary Cahill's last minute header been directed either side of the Manchester United goalkeeper, Bolton would have drawn a game against an avalanche rather than the run of play. ...
Frankly, had Clattenburg spent the afternoon in a deckchair in the Bolton penalty area, he would have been well positioned to cover the first 75 minutes. United's passing was often beautifully-measured and a shimmer from Ryan Giggs that confused two Bolton defenders was worthy of Alan Hudson's description of football as the working man's ballet.

So we dominated, until (probably) complacency set in and their goal gave us a nervous finish. But it shouldn't distract too much from a good performance overall. Perhaps the worrying thing is not so much a general defensive frailty, but an inability to close games out which we've seen a few times this season. Whereas in seasons gone by we'll take a lead and dominate possession, not allowing the other team back in, this season we seem to have forgotten how to do it, instead of calm passing, we're still going for killer balls in the final moments of games, gifting possession to the opposition, which allows more time for any defensive frailty which might exist to appear.
A frailty which might be nice to pin solely on the shoulders of Ferdinand (and the papers do like to keep their blame game simple) but which is a whole team problem - Bolton's goal coming from substandard defending all round, Ferdinand pretty blameless if memory serves - News of the World brief description:

the visitors got their reward when Neville failed to make a routine clearance, giving Kevin Davies a second chance to cross from Bolton's left.

I am willing to concede that I've skim read a lot, but the several mistakes leading up to their goal are actually best summed up today in that one sentence - as if the orthodoxy of Ferdinand's loss of form has robbed everyone of the ability to see problems elsewhere.
The Sunday Mirror explain the general manner of the game succinctly in an otherwise pretty dull match report:

Manchester United survived a second-half scare to reclaim top spot in the Premier League.

The Telegraph point out the downside of the game:

The trip to Moscow now looks even harder with the news that Patrice Evra and Giggs are both doubtful after picking up knocks yesterday, but Nemanja Vidic should return from an ankle injury.

The Daily Star continue their recent trend of imaginative links, as well as having the best punning headline - "Flying Ant Stings Megson":

Ryan Giggs was also outstanding but even the presence of ex-England batsman Geoff Boycott, who knows a thing or two about centuries, could not inspire him to his 100th Premier League goal.

Sunday Times singles out Giggs for a change:

Giggs, who turns 36 next month, is supposed to carry less of an attacking edge these days, playing a prompting role in midfield more suited to his advancing years than that of a quicksilver winger.
But he subjected poor Sam Ricketts to the sort of roasting that George Best regularly used to hand out to full-backs here.

Interestingly, for the 3rd match in succession, Berbatov is leading the United player of the match poll on The Manchester Evening News website, the same Berba who is living upto his potential and who is allegedly not winning over the fans...
Onto the quotes, Sir Alex:

“We made it hard for ourselves in the last ten minutes. “We panicked at times but we got through it – just. We had too much of a comfort zone at 2-0 but, with Chelsea and Liverpool both losing, it’s been a good day for us.

“We gave away a slack goal but Bolton are a handful and you must give them credit.

“But in the past we used to have runs of games without conceding and we need to be doing that again.”

And he praises Valencia:

“He is a young, powerful and fit lad who kept powering forward. “Getting his first goal for the club will do him the world of good.”

Elsewhere, The Sunday Mirror pluck a figure out of their magic bag to fill some column inches:

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is facing a five-match ban for comments made about referee Alan Wiley.

Ferguson's side returned to the top of the Premier League on Saturday after a hard-fought win over Bolton but Monday could well see a decided change of mood at Old Trafford as the Football Association are determined to take a firm stance against the Scot.

Feelings are still running high within the game's national governing body at Sir Alex's comments regarding referee Alan Wiley, whom he branded 'unfit' following United's 2-2 draw with Sunderland a fortnight ago.

And such is the strength of feeling inside the FA that Ferguson, who has written to the FA to explain his comments and will hear whether or not he is to face an improper conduct charge from the Governance Division tomorrow, is staring down the barrel of a five-match ban - the heaviest punishment he will have received in his 23 years at United.

The source for this? Not given, thin air the best guess...
Sir Alex had a few comments in the match programme yesterday on Wiley:

“We got out of jail in the final seconds for a 2-2 draw (against Sunderland) but frankly we had an off day.

“We kept going and we had a bit of luck with our late equaliser. We certainly weren’t firing on all cylinders in that game.

“Our passing was quite out of character which is perhaps why my feelings afterwards got the better of me with regard to the referee.

“I felt later that it was fair to apologise. I hope he has accepted my apology because I have always respected Alan Wiley, who is a good referee, and my remarks were not intended to be a slur on his integrity.

“By the time you read this (programme notes), I hope I shall have had the opportunity to speak to him personally after taking a break in the States.”

A few quotes from Nani on life after Ronaldo:

“Everyone knows it was more difficult for me when Ronaldo was here. It was difficult for the manager to play with the two of us.

“Now I can show my ambition and I will work very hard. This is going to be my season. I have played a lot of games and done some good things, but I need to improve. I come alone now when I drive, but for my first couple of months I lived with Ronaldo and he helped me by teaching me the roads. In Portugal, we drive very fast, but over here it’s not the same and the police aren’t the same!”

Rooney on Champions league/Liverpool/Ronaldo:

“I don’t know whether Real Madrid against us would be the dream final – probably Liverpool versus United would be better.

“Madrid are playing brilliantly and with Ronaldo going there, it would be a nice game.

“But you’d rather two English clubs got there for English football – and also because of the rivalry between the two clubs.

“It would be a great occasion to play in.” ...
“Any team Cristiano has played in would miss him and rightly so.

“He’s the best player in the world.

“But we are playing differently now because the team was based around him for the last couple of years.

“We are playing a more orthodox 4-4-2 now and everyone knows their positions and their jobs.

“I’m not sure whether I have now got more freedom on the pitch but I’m playing up front and enjoying that.

“ Last season, I played a lot out wide and didn’t enjoy it as much as up front.

“I feel I’m enjoying my football at the moment. "

And The News Of The World has an interview with Rio Ferdinand on some gangster film he's produced, which I won't quote from, it's here.