Hargreaves on Bolton loss

Man Utd's midfielder Owen Hargreaves has spoken out on referee Mark Clattenburg's performance in the shock 1-0 loss to Bolton at the weekend. Hargreaves feels that Clattenburg gave away some strange decisions during the game.

Hargreaves told MUTV: "I don't mind physical but some of the challenges were definitely borderline and that's why there's a referee out there.

"It's his job to keep things under control but I thought he gave away a lot of free kicks for very basic challenges. It played into their hands and didn't allow us to play with any tempo in the first half.

"The pace of the game was slow and with the referee stopping the game almost every minute it was very difficult to create any rhythm."

Hargreaves however admitted that United's performance was below-par.

"We seemed second to every ball in the first half and that made it very difficult for us. I think Bolton played well in the first half and deserved what they got. I thought we were second best, really,” he added.

"In the second half we quickened the temp and played much better. In the end, we couldn't get the breakthrough we needed. Champions only lose a few games – if that – a season. We're disappointed with the result but we're going to have to improve and we'll try and do that next time."