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Robin van Persie comes on as a substitute for team mate Danny Welbeck to make his debut for Manchester United during the Barclays Premier League match against Everton at Goodison Park on Monday in Liverpool, England. (GETTY)
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson blamed all and sundry but himself after suffering his first opening-game defeat in eight years at the hands of Everton on Monday.
Ferguson was left scratching his head as Marouane Fellaini’s 57th-minute bullet header gave Everton a deserved victory.
Arsenal must be laughing all the way to the bank after Ferguson opted to bench £24 million new-boy Robin van Persie who came on with just 22 minutes left.
Coming in when they were a goal down, last year's top goal scorer was out of sync with his new team mates and was largely invisible.
He not only failed to conjure up an equaliser but did not have even a shot at goal.
Fergie accused his players of not playing to Van Persie's strengths on his debut for United.
"We played around him too much," said Ferguson. "We didn't show enough penetration.
"With Robin in your team, you know you want to use his ability against centre-backs in situations he's very good at. But we didn't use him enough."
Ferguson was also upset that referee Andre marriner favoured the Goodison side.
“I thought Danny Welbeck maybe was pushed as he went in the box. That was a big moment," he ranted.
“It’s difficult here, you have the crowd influencing the referee all the time and it makes it difficult for you.
Ferguson also accused Everton of rudimentary tactics in "lumping the ball forward" to man-of-the-match Fellaini.
The United boss said: "Fellaini is a handful. He's a big, tall, gangly lad and they just lumped the ball forward to him - that's all they did.
"They worked from that base all the time and they got a goal from him, so it's justified."
He praised goalkeeper David de Gea who was in excellent form in the first half who denied Everton before the interval.
"We were the better football team, they had eight shots on target and De Gea did very well for us in that way," he told MUTV.
"But we had the possession and made some great openings without actually finishing it.
"That was the only difference. These shots on targets the goalkeeper did really well."
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