Ref frustrates Ferguson

Sir Alex was frustrated by refereeing decisions during United’s 1-0 loss at Bolton Wanderers.

The Reds' boss was sent to the stands at half-time after confronting Mark Clattenburg about what he described as Bolton's over-physical approach.

“There were late tackles and I can’t believe some of the things that were going on,” Sir Alex told MUTV. “I thought there were two or three very dodgy tackles and you hope the referee is strong in those situations. We do play our football and it was important to keep playing football. But you need the protection and we did not get that.

“I made my feelings known to the referee and he did not like it. Some referees don’t like the truth and so I had to spend the second half upstairs.

“I think we improved in the second half, in terms of our passing. And the movement was better. It was difficult to break Bolton down because after they went 1-0 up at their home ground, they just defended."

Gerard Pique was the subject of criticism on post-match phone-ins after missing a header In the lead-up to Nicolas Anelka’s 11th-minute strike. But Sir Alex refused to single out the young Spaniard for blame.

“You don’t like losing goals and Bolton are famed for their set-piece play. It was something we discussed before the game - we said, 'If you handle that we should be okay'. But we didn’t and it was a good start for them.”