Manchester United slumped to a opening 1-0 defeat to Everton in the English Premier League on Monday which left boss Sir Alex Ferguson lamenting their inability to utilise new signing Robin Van Persie.
The Dutchman was thrown into the game with just over 20 minutes remaining with the Red Devils trailing 1-0, but he was unable to make any meaningful contribution, failing to get a shot on target.
The result was the worst possible start to the season for United, as title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea both recorded victories over the weekend.
“We were a wee bit disappointed in terms of finishing off the approach play we had. We played around Robin too much, we didn’t show enough penetration and with Robin in your team you know you want to use his ability against centre-backs in situations he is very good at. We didn’t use him enough,” Ferguson told reporters.
Marouane Fellaini was the matchwinner with a header from a corner and Ferguson admitted he was a “handful” all game, but was far from impressed with the Toffees’ long ball tactics.
“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,” he said,
He added he was reasonably happy with his makeshift defensive combination of Nemanja Vidic alongside Michael Carrick while he said his side played some good football throughout.
“It was a pretty good game and there wasn’t anything between the two teams,” he said.
“We were the better football team, they had eight shots on target and David de Gea did very well for us in that way. But we had the possession and made some great openings without actually finishing it. “