By NEIL CUSTIS
MANCHESTER UNITED crashed to a disastrous opening-game defeat — as £22million new-boy Robin van Persie sat on the bench.
Boss Alex Ferguson was left scratching his head as Marouane Fellaini’s 57th-minute bullet header gave Everton a deserved victory.
RVP came on with just 22 minutes left — but Fergie was fuming at the service his Dutch superstar received.
The United boss moaned: “We played around him too much. We didn’t show enough penetration and, with Robin in your side, you know you want to use his ability against the centre-backs. But we didn’t use him enough.”
Ferguson, suffering his first opening-game defeat in eight years, was also upset that referee Andre marriner favoured the Goodison side.
He blasted: “I thought Danny Welbeck maybe was pushed as he went in the box. That was a big moment.
“It’s difficult here, you have the crowd influencing the referee all the time and it makes it difficult for you.
“Fellaini is a handful. He is a big, tall, gangly lad and they just lumped the ball forward to him — that’s all they did. We were the better football team.”
Everton defender Phil Jagielka said: “Marouane is so hard to mark. In training we just pull his hair but you can’t do that in a proper game.