Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits they struggled to handle Everton matchwinner Marouane Fellaini last night.

Midfielder Michael Carrick pushed into service as an emergency centre-back because of injury to Rio Ferdinand and Antonio Valencia was deployed at right back.

"He (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," said Ferguson.

"They worked from that base all the time and they got a goal from him, so it's justified.

"Centre-back is a problem but we coped quite well, I don't think you can criticise their performance in that respect.

"It was just difficult to handle him 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."