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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho defended his decision to bring on Marouane Fellaini in the final stages of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Everton.
Mourinho’s side were consigned to a third consecutive league draw after Leighton Baines converted an 89th -minute penalty conceded by Fellaini.
The Belgium international, returning to his former club and old stomping ground, tripped Idrissa Gueye just four minutes after entering the fray.
Asked why Fellaini had been summoned from the bench, Mourinho said: "Everton is not a passing team any more like they were in the past.
“Everton is a team that plays direct: goalkeeper direct, Ashley Williams direct, Funes Mori direct. Everything direct.
“When you have on the bench a player with two metres (in height) you play the player in front of the defensive line to help the team to win the match.”
Show all 22 1 /22Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Joel Robles - 7 out of 10 Emerged with some credit, matching the majority of what a rampant but forward line could throw at him.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Muhamed Besic - 4 out of 10 Visibly confused by the mere prospect of handling Martial. This was not the day to be making you first go of playing right-back.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Phil Jagielka - 5 out of 10 Not ‘medically fit’ for this game according to Roberto Martinez. However you want to put it, he was off-the-pace.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings John Stones - 5 out of 10 Hesitated and then moved far too late to meet Fellaini for the opening goal and, in truth, it was one of several moments where the highly-rated centre-half did not look too sure of himself.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Leighton Baines - 6 out of 10 A restrained, unadventurous performance, but that was largely down to he and his team-mates being penned behind the halfway line. The best of a bad bunch at the back.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Darron Gibson - 6 out of 10 On the wrong end of a cartoonish moment in the first half, when Rashford was allowed to pick his moment to turn and sprint past him. A creditable performance, nonetheless, given his lack of playing time recently.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Tom Cleverley – 5 out of 10 Should have made the most of Everton’s second-half resurgence by burying a chance at the far-post. Questions remain over whether he brings any real quality to the Toffees’ midfield.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings James McCarthy - 5 out of 10 Struggled to get a handle on his midfield opponents and, as usual, showed little more than the odd moment of adventure.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Ross Barkley - 5 out of 10 Everton’s chief outlet on the counter in the frantic late stages but his final ball was found lacking on too many occasion.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Aaron Lennon - 7 out of 10 One of Everton’s brighter players in their dismal first half, as most of their brief forays forward originated with the winger. He could, however, have offered Besic more support.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Romelu Lukaku – 4 out of 10 Where was his touch? If the Belgian’s control had been better, he could have had Everton two-up inside the first 15 minutes, and could have notched four by the end of the 90. Those misses seemed to shake him, which explains the lacklustre penalty.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings David De Gea – 7 out of 10 As quiet an evening as Simon Mignolet enjoyed on Wednesday - until the penalty, that is, which was simply not good enough to beat a ‘keeper of his quality.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Timothy Fosu-Mensah – 6 out of 10 Looked inhibited by the occasion early on, particularly when raised a white flag for his first aerial contest with Lukaku. Seemed to recover but made a clumsy challenge for the penalty.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marcos Rojo - 4 out of 10 Gave Deulofeu far too much room for the goal. Still yet to prove he is good enough to play at this level.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Daley Blind - 5 out of 10 Struggled to contain Lukaku at times, who often found it easy to roll the Dutchman off him.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Chris Smalling - 5 out of 10 Even he probably does not know why, when trying to block Gerard Deulofeu’s shot, he had both feet off the floor and lead with his right when a left would’ve hooked clear. Ultimately, his own goal didn’t matter.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Michael Carrick - 6 out of 10 Settled into his usual role of ticking possession over in the middle of the park and rarely looked to do anything more ambitious, save a delightful chip over the top late on for Rashford.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marouane Fellaini - 8 out of 10 His delicate clipped finish for the opener complemented an uncharacteristically neat display. His movement for the goal was just as impressive.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Wayne Rooney - 8 out of 10 Masterful, surprisingly, in the first half as he flitted between holding midfield and ‘the hole’. Everton, like the press pack, spent a lot of their time trying to put a finger on where he was playing. They only did late on, once he had ran out of gas.
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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Anthony Martial - 9 out of 10 If United were ever to look back on this season fondly, you suspected it would have something to do with the Frenchman. He’s put them into a cup final, he may have to win it for them too.
Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Jesse Lingard - 7 out of 10 Lively, neat play to set up his team-mates, particularly the cute backheel to send Rashford through, but lacked composure when presented with opportunities of his own.
Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marcus Rashford - 7 out of 10 Terrorised Everton as part of United’s quick, if not so sharp, attacking triumvirate. Like Lingard, guilty of spurning opportunities.
Mourinho went on to describe the decision as part of a “pragmatic” gameplan to hold onto the 1-0 lead, which had been established through Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first-half striker.
He added: "When my teams are playing pragmatic football and winning matches and winning titles you say that is not nice and right," he said.
“In this moment we have teams getting results that defend with 11, kick ball and attack the space on the counter-attack...it is phenomenal, it's beautiful.”
Additional reporting by PA
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