Fergie sent off, Patrice Evra scared witless by the demonic Bolton rabble, broken bottles, random explosions and shrapnel. And on Man Utd’s part, all history of Roy Keane and his intimidation well and truly forgotten. Bolton exhibited more chest hair and brawn on the weekend to batter cherubic United into submission and Evra nearly wet himself recounting the punch-up of a game. Evra said of Kevin Davies’ bullying:
“It was a tough game, I received more tackles than I’ve had in my life. It was the same last year when he kicked me as well. I said to him then: ‘Why do you do a tackle like that?’ and he said: ‘Because I don’t like you’. I didn’t understand it. Here he did it again. I think his first tackle on me should have been a red card. I don’t know what the problem is with Davies, because I don’t know him. It’s bizarre.”
A solitary tear mournfully snaked down Evra’s cheek as he continued his dialogue on the day he lost his innocence. He went on:
“I was very angry. The captain and the others said to me: ‘You need to concentrate on the game, you must not react to a bad tackle like that’. I also said to the referee: ‘You can’t play football like that — this is not a football game’. When I play football I do it to play the ball, not to kick somebody. And I keep my eyes on the ball.”
When Gary Megson was approached with these accusations, the Ginger Mourinho countered:
“I ask the team to be aggressive, yes, but I think we only had one bad tackle. We have to compete and I’m not going to criticise them for competing. There would be complaints from me if we didn’t.”
So is this a case of gross Man Utd hypocrisy given their history of intimidating opponents or has Megson turned Bolton into ultra-violent Clockwork Orange mentalists?
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