Rooney´s temperament under scrutiny as ManUtd draw at Everton

Wayne Rooney's temperament is once again under scrutiny after Sir Alex Ferguson revealed he withdrew the striker during Manchester United's 1-1 draw at Everton because he feared the player would be dismissed.

Rooney was booked on his return to his former club in the 69th minute for a foul on Mikel Arteta and reacted to goading from the Goodison Park crowd by kissing the badge on his United shirt and pointing a finger in the air.

Less than two minutes later United manager Ferguson intervened, substituting the forward for Nani because of concerns he would earn a red card from referee Alan Wiley.

Rooney was replaced just eight minutes after Marouane Fellaini had equalised for Everton, cancelling out Darren Fletcher's 22nd-minute opening goal.

“I don't know why he got booked,” Ferguson said of Rooney. “And the way the referee was behaving I feared he would get sent off. “The way the crowd was reacting was having an effect on things.

“So I had to take him off in case he got sent off.”

Ferguson was unhappy with Wiley's handling of a game that threatened to boil over after Everton captain Phil Neville's crunching tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo that was punished with a yellow card,

“It was like Australian Rules football and the referee didn't give us enough protection. It was the speed of the challenges that were the problem.”

But Everton manager David Moyes disagreed, saying: “Phil Neville's tackle is a fantastic tackle, it really is. It was an outstanding tackle, it's a full boot on the ball and there's no way that is a booking or a foul.

“Maybe the United players reacted because they thought it was bad tackle. I thought it must have been a foul by their reaction. But I've seen it again.”

A solitary point meant United missed out on the chance to reduce the gap between themselves and joint leaders Chelsea and Liverpool to three points just a day before the top two were due to face each other at Stamford Bridge.

And it also left them in the extraordinary position of being five points behind Hull after the Premier League new boys' 3-0 win away to West Brom.

“We had some good chances, played some fantastic football but at the end, I don't think we capitalised on that,” Ferguson admitted. “This was two points dropped.”

Everton had taken just one point from their four home league games this season before the visit of United. But an optimistic Moyes said: “I hope this can help our season. To get a point against Manchester United is as good as a win because of the way we have been playing.

“The team we had today (Saturday) was more or less the team that got us to fifth with Marouane Fellaini for Lee Carsley and Louis Saha for Andy Johnson.

“These are the same players, we haven't done anything different, but we have players coming back from long term injuries in the summer.”

Moyes was especially pleased with Fellaini, who scored his second goal since his 15 million pounds transfer window move from Standard Liege.

“I think people thought when we paid the money this was going to be something that would instantly happen but this is a 20-year-old boy and he's coming into a team that, if I'm being honest, has been struggling at the moment,” the Scot explained.

“If you go and talk about him in Belgium, they'll tell you he's a big star of the future. He's a big player for the Belgium national team and I think in the future he will be a star.

“He's getting used to us and we're getting used to him.”