Sir Alex Ferguson asked for more from his midfielders, ruing the fact that they could not provide Robin Van Persie with enough opportunities as Manchester United crashed to a 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.
A goal from man-of-the-match Marouane Fellaini was enough to give the Toffees, notoriously slow starters, a victory in their opening match of the campaign. Ferguson chose to start Van Persie on the bench, with Danny Welbeck partnering Wayne Rooney upfront, with the former Arsenal striker brought on after 68 minutes.
"We played around him too much, we didn't show enough penetration and, with Robin in your team, you know you want to use his ability against center-backs in situations he is very good at," Ferguson said. "But we didn't use him enough."
Everton dominated the match for the majority of the game, with Fellaini, particularly, causing the away side problems galore, as United lost the opening match of the season for the first time in eight years. The score could have been bigger than 1-0, had goalkeeper David De Gea not had a really good game.
Ferguson, however, felt United lacked a little bit of luck going their way. "It was a pretty good game and there wasn't anything between the two teams," the United manager 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. We were a wee bit (disappointing) in terms of finishing off the approach play we had. Other than that we played good football, good combination play, and on another day we would have won the match.
"There were a couple of moments: Tom (Cleverley's shot) blocked by Phil Jagielka on the line. We had these kinds of moments but the team worked well and played some great football. It's difficult here. You have the crowd influencing the referee all the time."
United were handicapped with Rio Ferdinand ruled out due to injury, and the other center-backs - Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones already out injured. Ferguson was forced to deploy Michael Carrick at center-back, while Antonio Valencia played at right-back.
"Centre-back is a problem but we coped quite well, I don't think you can criticise their performance in that respect," Ferguson said.
"It was just difficult to handle him (Fellaini) when they were knocking these balls up to him. Michael did fine, good on the ball and applied himself well, they all applied themselves well.
"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.
"They worked from that base all the time and they got a goal from him, so it's justified."
Everton manager David Moyes was obviously delighted with the performance, but said continuing the good form was crucial. "I'm really pleased because I thought the team performed ever so well and got a great result," Moyes said.
"We haven't started the season very well (before) and even tonight's result doesn't tell you you've started the season well. Just like if we'd lost tonight we would not have said we started the season badly. You probably judge it after about 10 games how you start the season."
Fellaini lauded the effort from the entire team to take home all three points. "It was a good goal, it was a good cross, a good corner. It was good for me and for Everton," Fellaini told Sky Sports 1.
"Everton had a lot of chances in the first half and we had to keep going and hoped the team scored.
"I think everybody was motivated. Manchester United is a great club. Everybody is motivated, and I think today everybody played well."
