Nolan swoops as Beckham stumbles

This is the same United side who were scoring goals for fun over the last five seasons.

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have been the noblemen among goalscorers, but compare their finishing now to that of Arsenal duo Sylvan Wiltord and Thierry Henry 24 hours earlier and you see what self-belief is really all about.

Something is draining the confidence from the United forwards, with even Ryan Giggs not making headway with those penetrative runs. Dutchman Van Nistelrooy, who had a long summer break, is out of touch. Solskjaer never seems to shine unless he makes his bow later in a game rather than starting.

To be fair to David Beckham, he never stopped working and chasing. The captain's armband does seem to give him extra momentum and he drove his side tirelessly and with little good fortune.

And he was full of self-recrimination over the Bolton winner, blaming himself for slipping as he moved to clear a throw-in, allowing Nolan to steal in and claim the points.

Beckham admits that United have to get back to their best. And get there quickly.

Which brings us to absent friends. Quite what United lose when Roy Keane and Paul Scholes are indisposed is easy to quantify. On the one hand, there is the inspirational drive of the Irishman, the relentless cajoling and rebuking.

On the other there is the linking ability of Scholes, the intelligence, the instinct to find space where there seems to be none.

Over the next three weeks United face seven matches, four in the Premiership and three in the Champions League, and without their two midfield stars who have gone under a surgeon's knife, there has to be genuine concern for Ferguson.

Bolton had made it plain early in this game that they had not come as fodder. Simon Charlton and Mike Whitlow showed they are no respecters of reputations with the way they got stuck into their task.

Yet United had chances. And plenty of them. Beckham missed one with a weak finish,

Van Nistelrooy struck the underside of the bar when he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and Solskjaer had a header tipped over the bar.

Bolton had their chances, too. Youri Djorkaeff volleyed a Michael Ricketts centre wide and Henrik Pedersen tried to slide one past his Fabien Barthez only to be denied by the keeper's hand.

The goal that won the match came in the 76th minute and helped cement the growing reputation of Nolan. A throw-in should have presented no problem for Beckham on the edge of his own area but he slipped as he tried to control the ball and Nolan stole in to shoot low and under the diving Barthez.

In the remaining few minutes it was like the Alamo as United searched for an equaliser with an urgency that had been missing from their earlier play.

The man who kept his head, however, was Jussi Jaaskelainen, saving on the line from Beckham in the last minute of the game.