Why Van Gaal and Giggs were worried by Manchester United's warm up ahead of the Everton match
After losing 3-0 at Goodison Park to Everton, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was disappointed with the effort put in by his side.
The Dutchman conceded that his team was second best in almost every department and that Roberto Martinez's Everton looked more prepared and up for the task in hand on Sunday afternoon.
When asked what was missing in the Manchester United side, Van Gaal pointed to the lack of motivation in the unit ahead of the match.
“It 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,” Van Gaal said.
“I had already the feeling and my colleagues Ryan Giggs and Albert Stuivenberg 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 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.”
Were United complacent ahead of Everton game?
Despite losing to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week, the Dutchman was not sure whether his side had the hunger to beat Everton this weekend.
“The training sessions were alright. Because we are playing so well in the last six or seven games players think okay it shall come, but it did not come.
“You need the inspiration and the motivation and the aggression to win the second balls and to fight to the end.
“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. When you see the goal after four minutes, three duels in a row we lost and that is an example.
“In the first half we created a lot of chances, five I think, but we never scored but when you see the shots on the goal it is also without conviction. That is not good.
“I am manager of Man United and the players shall use my words and think and communicate with each other and I hope it shall not happen again but as a coach I know it shall happen again.
“But we are human beings so it can happen once but when I see my season until now I am very satisfied,” Van Gaal added.