EVERTON 1, MANCHESTER UTD 1

WELCOME to the new mature world of Rio Ferdinand.

Critic of the WAG culture, England elder statesman, philosopher and all-round good guy.

And a bloke who runs 50 yards to confront a former team-mate over nothing more than a tough tackle and then takes leave of his defensive senses for the rest of the game.

Howler one indirectly leads to Marouane Fellaini cancelling out Darren Fletcher's first-half goal.

Howler two should have resulted in Yakubu ending Everton's winless streak at the eighth attempt.

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Ferdinand was by no means the only United player whose hair would have been crispy dry within a heartbeat of exiting the shower and bumping into Sir Alex Ferguson.

Almost to a double-winning man, they became mystifyingly complacent, slapdash and distracted.

Wayne Rooney. Once a blue, always shrouded in red mist.

Wes Brown. How he keeps Gary Neville out of the right-back position is as unfathomable as the mechanics of the credit crunch.

Dimitar Berbatov. Flat-track Bully-garian.

United had this game resting cosily in the palm of their hand. And tossed it away.

And against a team stripped of self-belief Ferguson will know this is a shuddering blow in the title fight.

For Everton and for David Moyes, it should be that twist of the ignition key. Lame, insipid and cowering in the first half, they were vibrant, aggressive and even creative in the second.

"I thought we deserved the point," said Moyes. "If you consider the way they were playing going into the game and the way we were playing going into the game, then it was a good result.

"They could have been further ahead at half-time but we ended up doing a good job on all the Man United players. I really thought we deserved the point."

And, really, he was right.

Goalscorer Fellaini represented all that was right about Everton's mini-revival.

This is a player whose £15million price tag and ungainly stride - not to mention his David James-style hairdo and his nationality - invite ridicule.

Gazed

And plenty has flowed the 20-year-old's way since he became the most expensive signing in Everton history.

For extended, embarrassing spells of the first half, United's midfield went around him like motorcyclists banking around an empty roundabout.

Indeed, the Belgian gazed at Fletcher as though he was a Formula One car hauling its way down a long Silverstone straight . . . rather than a far-from-speedy Scot cantering on to Ryan Giggs' supreme pass.

And when Fletcher finished through a gap between Tim Howard's legs that was the width of the gulf in class, Fellaini and his fellows looked finished.

"We should have capitalised on our domination in the first half," admitted Ferguson. "Their keeper made some good saves but we should have taken some of the chances."

Actually, Howard probably had only one top-class save to make - a full-extension effort from Cristiano Ronaldo.

But such was United's domination that an air of resignation filled the far-from-capacity crowd long before the break.

Yet Fellaini's refusal to be dragged under by the pervading pessimism spread through Everton ranks.

"Fellaini is a 20-year-old boy don't forget," said Moyes. "He is a big star for the Belgian national team and he is getting used to us and we are getting used to him. We hope he will be a big star for us."

Crucially, Fellaini and his team-mates snapped into tackles with something like the aggression we have always associated with Moyes' sides.

And it ruffled the feathers of United who, particularly in the form of Ronaldo's non-stop trickery and posing, were slipping into preening mode.

Indeed, it was Phil Neville's - let's say robust - challenge on the self-proclaimed best player in the world that sparked a melee that demonstrated how United lost their focus.

Quite why Ferdinand, for example, had to gallop across half of Merseyside to remonstrate with the Everton captain was a mystery.

Well, not quite a mystery. The man's got form.

Other United players seemed to suggest that referee Alan Wiley should take action.

"I have seen the incident and it was an outstanding tackle by Phil Neville. Not a good one - an outstanding one," said Moyes.

Wiley did take action. He booked Neville but those taking caution should have been United.

They didn't. Ferdinand's concentration had shrunk to WAG-style proportions and one horrendous miskick started a move that led to a dangerous Everton throw-in.

A quick exchange between Neville and Steven Pienaar preceded the full-back's cross being met by Fellaini with a close-range header.

Nemanja Vidic - hardly distinguishing himself alongside the hapless Rio - seemed anchored.

Things could have been worse for Ferdinand when Yakubu latched on to another shocking error but, while Edwin van der Sar is to be commended for diverting the effort on to the upright, the Everton striker should have been much more emphatic.

Jeers

The United defence exchanged incredulous glances. And no wonder.

The indiscipline had spread like fire in a force nine and it was little surprise that the next to catch light was Rooney.

Searching for that 100th club goal on the ground where it all started, he had become largely anonymous and increasingly frustrated.

His late challenge on Mikel Arteta was not exactly malicious but his reaction to the cacophony of jeers that accompanied the raising of the yellow card was childish.

Man-childish in Rooney's case . . . and it led to Ferguson putting his name up in substitute's lights.

Rooney had raised his index finger, lifted his shirt to his lips, kissing the Manchester United badge.

When Ferguson sits him down, he might explain how petulance and indiscipline - as perfected by Rio and Rooney yesterday - can mean kissing goodbye to two crucial title points.

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