In disappointing fashion, Manchester United ridiculously threw away all three points at Goodison Park as they conceded two goals in stoppage time in the 3-3 draw with Everton.
Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta both scored deep into stoppage time to peg United back after they were up 3-1 thanks to goals from Darren Fletcher, Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov, which earlier canceled out Steven Pienaar's opening goal to give the teams a share of the points.
As reported before the game, former Everton player, Wayne Rooney, was left out of the squad altogether, because of the torrid time he is having in his personal life, so it is clear that Sir Alex Ferguson does not want someone in the team that their mind is not right.
Despite both Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs in the United line-up, Vidic wore the captain's armband, which shows that Sir Alex wants a consistent leader that will be playing week in and week out.
Wanting to prevent the slaughter that happened at Goodison last season, the United manager opted to go with a European-style line-up with one player up top and five across the midfield.
How
Within the first minute of the match, the home team had their first chance following a good bit of passing between Leighton Baines and Pienaar, but thankfully a touch by Vidic was enough to send the ball out for a corner kick.
Pienaar started the game off in fine form as the South African squirted another chance just past the far post, but he led a free-kick in a very tempting position when he shimmied around the fit-again Neville.
From the ensuing free-kick, Mikel Arteta whipped it in and it clipped the top of Edwin van der Sar's crossbar, and thankfully United escaped.
Everton continued their early dominance, and the Spaniard almost capped off a good free-flowing attack, but a defiant Jonny Evans block spared the blushes for United.
It took United the first 11 minutes to get a string of more than 10 passes, and the crossbar came to the rescue of Everton as John O'Shea, of all people, smacked a long-range shot against Tim Howard's bar.
After that chance for United, the game began to open up and both team had good spells of possession, but as they did for the first part of the match, Everton harassed United on the ball.
United were forced to play with 10 men for a good five minutes an flailing arm from Pienaar caught Nani, and the winger, who is sometimes guilty of play-acting, had to leave the pitch and get stitches.
Everton finally got numbers against United down their left-hand side, but a great block from Vidic denied them the chance. The ball was only half-cleared and the ball was crossed into the United area and Baines wasted a great chance as his left-footed volley went harmlessly wide of van der Sar's right-hand post.
Giggs earned a free-kick on the corner of the Everton box, which Nani stepped up to take. Instead of shooting, the winger cheekily laid the ball square to Paul Scholes, and the reigning Premier League Player of the Month, venomously hit the ball through a crowd of players, but Howard came up with a top-class save with his trailing right leg, which popped the goal-bound effort over the bar.
The former United goalkeeper again denied the Reds. This time it was Giggs' right-footed effort, which eventually led to Everton snatching the first goal of the match.
Some shameful defending allowed Arteta to burst through the United half, but the Everton captain was denied by the feet of van der Sar. His save, though, fell to the feet of Leon Osman, and with his first touch, he played the ball into Pienaar and the pesky midfielder made no mistake as he slid the ball under the stranded United goalkeeper.
United showed through true character, and were level within four minutes of Everton taking the lead. A great ball in from Nani found Fletcher, and the Scottish midfielder reacted quickest and converted the chance from close range.
Berbatov almost got United's noses in front right before the break, but because he was stretching, his coolly-taken first-time volley ended up just wide of Howard's right-hand post.
In contrasting style to the start of the first, United put Everton on their heels, and were in front with in a minute of the restart. Another well-placed cross from Nani found the head of Vidic, and the United skipper nodded home from close range.
Like most teams would have, Everton did not shrivel up and still enjoyed their fair share of possession, and created some decent chances, because of the speed that they play with.
The game really opened up, and there was more space for both midfields to inflict their influence on the match, and the first chance after the goal fell to Pienaar, but his effort was never going to beat the well-positioned van der Sar.
Following a good counter attack, Nani was denied a goal by another decent save by Howard, but the American goalkeeper was left helpless a few moments later.
A typical searching ball by Scholes over the top of the Everton defense sprung Berbatov in behind, and the Bulgarian struck the ball with the outside of his foot and into the far corner.
Now with the most dangerous lead in sports - a two-goal advantage - United needed to defend astutely, and they need another save from the ageless van der Sar to keep out the Toffees.
Baines almost pulled a goal back for Everton as his sweeping left-footed free-kick beat van der Sar, but curled went just wide of the United post.
Everton continued to press, which got Ferguson out of his seat, but thankfully the big goalkeeper was aware, because he did well to get down and hold Osman's tame effort after he had a clear sight of goal.
Ferguson opted to bring on Ji-Sung Park for Patrice Evra, which showed how ineffective he was during the match. The change shifted the United formation, and sent O'Shea to left-back.
United were on their back foot as Everton continued to press forward to get a goal back, but timely deflections and interceptions denied the homeside.
United should have scored a fourth after breaking forward, but Berbatov and Nani both selfishly opted to shoot from a difficult angles when they should have played in one of their onrushing teammates.
Those good chances were punished as Tim Cahill popped up to smash the ball home, and give Everton hope, and the match was going to have a frenetic finish to it.
Amazingly, Everton snatched a last-gasp equalizer, because United failed to defend confidently. Arteta put his effort on target and the ball squirmed through the herd of players and into the back of the net.
Like they did against Fulham, Manchester United gave Everton a share of the spoils as lack of concentration should be worrisome for Sir Alex Ferguson, and Wayne Rooney can consider his selfish behavior as costing the Reds four points this season.
Matchball
Despite conceding three goals, Nemanja Vidic showed the supporters what they would be missing with another dominant performance, but unfortunately the United captain did not have help from any of his fellow defenders.
Ratings
E. van der Sar - 7; G. Neville - 4, N. Vidic - 7, J. Evans - 5, P. Evra - 4 (J. S. Park - 4); Nani - 7, P. Scholes - 6, J. O'Shea - 5, D. Fletcher - 6, R. Giggs - 5; D. Berbatov - 7
Goals
D. Fletcher (43'), N. Vidic (47'), D. Berbatov (66')
Statistics
Possession: 47%
Corners: 5
Shots (On Target): 13 (6)
Fouls Conceded:12
Fouls Suffered:19
Bookings: R. Giggs
Attendance: 36,556
Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion
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