Manchester United vs. Bolton Wanderers: Rating the United Players

Manchester United cruised to a home Premier League victory against a poor Bolton Wanderers side by 3-0, with Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck all getting on the scoresheet.

It was a fairly routine win once United had opened the scoring, though they looked for much of the first half devoid of ideas and became quickly frustrated when Bolton shut down any avenues to goal.

Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan kept his side in it with a string of neat saves and even a penalty stop to deny Wayne Rooney, but at the other end of the pitch, Anders Lindegaard had next to nothing to do during the entire 90 minutes.

Here are the Manchester United players' ratings from the victory at Old Trafford.

David de Gea sat on the bench against Bolton, and Anders Lindegaard took his place between the sticks, but if you missed the teams being announced at the beginning of the match, you might not have known it as the Danish keeper had absolutely nothing to do for the entire match.

David Ngog cut an isolated figure in the Bolton attack and was infrequently joined by his midfield team-mates in the United penalty area.

Lindegaard didn't have any outstanding moments in the game, but he also didn't have any mistakes, which will be a relief to both himself and Alex Ferguson given the recent antics of both United stoppers.

Lindegaard: 6 / 10

Given the lack of penetration in wide areas on the part of Bolton, this perhaps was a game in which United's fullbacks should have made more of their attacking abilities and helped to seal the points in the game much earlier than the 75th minute, which was when United finally scored their second goal.

Rafael, for his part, did well in spells in breaking forward from deep positions and leading counter-attacks, but, like Evra on the odd occasion, he tended to drift infield rather than keep the width of the team, resulting in many narrow areas of play occurring, especially in the first half.

Evra was quiet but held his own against a relatively impressive Mark Davies, while he also got forward to supply a few passes into dangerous areas.

Rafael: 7 / 10

Evra: 6 / 10

Like their goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, centre-backs Rio Ferdinand and Johnny Evans had little or nothing to do for much of the game.

The movement and close control of David Ngog occasionally caused a few flutters in the United defence, but he was so isolated that every time he had the ball, the defenders in red were able to close him down and crowd him out due to pure numbers.

Evans made a few important interceptions around the edge of his own penalty area, while Ferdinand took it upon himself to go on a winding run from the left wing towards the Bolton penalty box in the second half, but neither player was unduly tested and carried out their duties with the minimum of fuss.

Ferdinand: 7 / 10

Evans: 7 / 10

Both of Manchester United's central midfielders managed to get themselves on the scoresheet against Bolton Wanderers.

Paul Scholes scored his first goal in 17 months in the league to open the scoring right on half time, and the goal came at an important moment for United who had struggled to break Bolton down until that point.

In all, it was not exactly a brilliant first-half performance from the ginger-haired menace, but the goal boosted him visibly and he performed better in the second half, though he was on the ball less as Bolton sought to get themselves back in the match.

Several longer passes from Scholes did not find their target, and he gave away a clumsy free kick soon after the start of the game.

Michael Carrick, on the other hand, had an impressive afternoon, rarely wasting the ball and passing with efficiency and accuracy.

His goal was also well taken, a measured left-footed effort which found the bottom corner of the net.

Carrick often performs quietly during games, but his influence on the game can be seen in players making intelligent runs off the ball merely because they know he's capable of finding them.

Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia in particular were two beneficiaries of Carrick's passing skills.

Carrick: 8 / 10

Scholes: 7 / 10

As referenced in this article, Antonio Valencia far out-shone Nani at Old Trafford as Manchester United beat Bolton.

The Portuguese winger started brightly by firing an effort at goal, but he was largely on the periphery of the game and struggled to get at Gretar Steinsson, preferring almost exclusively to cut infield and clog up and already crowded centre of the pitch.

Indeed, Nani had so little impact on the game that he was substituted with 20 minutes still to go with the score only standing at 1-0.

Valencia, on the other hand, tore Sam Ricketts apart for the entire match, beating him for pace and movement and providing a string of crosses for Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney to attack for the entire match.

With a little more anticipation from his team-mates, Valencia may have left the match with a hat trick of assists.

Nani: 5 / 10

Valencia: 9 / 10

Though he missed a first-half penalty with the scores still at 0-0, Wayne Rooney recovered to have a pretty good match for United, helping to create plenty of first-half chances and doing a decent team job in the second period and leading the counter-attack when he could.

Not a game for the purists, with both sides giving the ball away regularly, Rooney stood out as one player in the final third with a bit of composure on the ball and the vision to pick out a team mate.

Danny Welbeck was arguably the biggest danger to Bolton for most of the game because his pace and movement gave the central duo of David Wheater and Zat Knight such problems; even before he won the aforementioned penalty, Welbeck had raced onto passes behind the defence on at least two occasions.

Both players were actually injured in combining to score the second goal of the game, leading to Welbeck's withdrawal.

Rooney: 8 / 10

Welbeck: 8 / 10

Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung came on to play the last 20 minutes or so of the tie, though neither got hugely involved in much of the game.

Giggs did have a dodgy moment at the wrong end of the pitch where he tried to juggle his way out of trouble, losing the ball in the process—but he also claimed the assist for Michael Carrick's fine third goal at the other end.

Javier Hernandez replaced Danny Welbeck with 10 minutes remaining but was unable to contribute significantly with the game already won.

Giggs: 6 / 10

Park: 6 / 10

Hernandez: no rating