Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has claimed that Jose Mourinho should be absolved of any blame for bringing on Marouane Fellaini when looking to shut out Everton.

The Belgium international was brought on with 85 minutes played at Goodison Park on Sunday evening, at a point in the game where the Red Devils were protecting a one-goal lead.

Fellaini's only mark on the match was to bundle into Idrissa Gueye inside the box two minutes after being introduced against his former club, however, which allowed Leighton Baines to level up the scoreline at 1-1.

Neville says that he understands exactly why Fellaini was introduced, but admits that the midfielder's "idiotic" mistake cost United three valuable points on their travels.

"[His introduction] was purely to deal with the long balls into the box. You can see the sense in it but when he goes on and does such an idiotic thing like that," he told Sky Sports News. "It was really poor from an experienced international. You can't blame the management, it's just a poor moment."

Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman added: "He's always been like that. If you came up against him in training he was always likely to stand on your toes or give you a dead leg. When he played for us we always wanted him as far away from our box as possible."

The draw for United was enough to lift them back into sixth place in the Premier League table, but they are now 13 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.