Louis van Gaal accused Manchester United’s players of lacking desire after a 3-0 defeat at Everton put their top four hopes back in the balance.
The irritation that United’s manager felt following the worst day he has experienced in the Barclays Premier League was obvious and he did not attempt to make any excuses for a performance that was toothless and meek from the outset.
Goals from James McCarthy, John Stones and substitute Kevin Mirallas did not flatter Everton and Van Gaal claimed the difference between the two sides came in the attitude and approach they adopted, as United could not match Everton’s commitment.
Van Gaal admitted he was worried after watching United go through their pre-match warm-up at Goodison Park and those fears were shared by his assistants, Ryan Giggs and Albert Stuivenberg, both of whom expressed their concerns to Van Gaal about the squad’s sharpness.
‘When you have a lot of time on the ball, you can lose the ball also easily and then you have to be very sharp in the duels that counts,’ said Van Gaal. ‘When you see the goal after four minutes, three duels in a row we lost and that is an example.
‘This is the first time that I have seen that our motivation, inspiration and aggression was not so high as the opponent and in sport you shall always be compared to your opponent and that was the reason (we lost).
‘I had already the feeling and my colleagues, Ryan and Albert, had the feeling because the warm up was not so good as usual. Then you say that in the last minutes before the game, you hope you can recover and stimulate your players but by then it is too late.
‘You have to prepare the match already two or three days before and Everton has done that and they have won because of that In the first half we created a lot of chances, five I think, but we never scored. When you see the shots on the goal it is also without conviction. That is not good.’
Chris Smalling said United were 'second best from first minute until last' but Van Gaal maintained preparations in the build-up had gone smoothly. He now recognises Liverpool, who play twice before United’s next game, have a real chance to apply pressure in the race for a Champions League spot.
‘The training sessions were all right,’ said Van Gaal. ‘It is a process because we are playing so well that players think “ok, it shall come” – but it shall not come. You need inspiration, motivation and aggression to win second balls and fight to the end. We’ve given a light to (Liverpool).’
Two former Everton players – Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney – both endured wretched afternoons, with Van Gaal revealing he substituted Fellaini to prevent him being sent-off, while Rooney suffered a knee injury that needs assessing.
The home supporters, however, were not concerned about them and instead basked in their best afternoon of the campaign: Everton have now taken 16 points from the last 18 available and Roberto Martinez saluted a ‘complete’ team performance.
‘There has been a big difference after the amount of time we had to cope with the demands of Europe and the league,’ said Martinez. ‘By the end of January, we got into the right mentality to cope with both competitions. It has been difficult.
‘We were not able to get any momentum in the league in the first half of the season. Our performance today was very similar to our performance against Wolfsburg in the first half of the season. Today I hope the players get the credit they deserve. It has been a tough season.
‘Six games ago we had 28 points and we had to win games. I do feel we were better in every department of the game. We coped with the transition and making the dynamic. Overall it was a really good game of football.'
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