Everton ace Marouane Fellaini admits his ban for his clash with Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross was hard to take.

Fellaini revealed Everton boss David Moyes was upset with him.

He said: "I found the ban hard to take. I felt disgusted and I cut myself off from the world for 10 days.

"I stopped reading the papers and watching football on TV and retreated into a bubble."

But that experience has not caused Everton's 11-goal top scorer to change his game.

He insisted: "I won't let myself be messed around by defenders who want to tear off my foot or my head.

"If the referee in the Stoke game had done his job properly I would not have been suspended. I was conned.

"I should not have reacted the way I did, as refs can't blow for a foul every single time.

"Besides, this was Stoke, and we knew to expect a physical battle. They pulled our shirts and fouled us throughout the game. In the end I saw red and shouldn't have. It was my fault.

"I am not angry with Shawcross. He tried to stop me, and was just doing his job.

"But his hands were all over me the whole time. However, nobody said a word against him.

"He is English after all, so no problem! Afterwards I couldn't even go back to Belgium for Christmas. David Moyes made me train on my own as I had penalised the rest of the team.

"Luckily for me Everton won two of the three games while I was suspended!"