Manchester United boss, Louis van Gaal, has criticized his team for their lack of motivation, after they were thoroughly beaten by Everton with a scoreline of 3-0 on Sunday April 26.
Man United were looking to overtake Manchester City and climb up to second, but never found a way back after Everton’s James McCarthy scored in the fourth minute.
Van Gaal told journalist he felt the wrong vibes in his team from the pre-match warm-up.
“It is the first time that I have seen that our motivation, inspiration and aggression was not as high as the opponent,” he told reporters. “In sport, you shall always be compared to your opponent and that was the reason.
“I had already the feeling and my colleagues, Ryan Giggs and Albert [Stuivenberg], had the feeling because the warm-up was not as 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 for the match two or three days before and Everton have done that and they have won because of that.
“When you have a lot of time on the ball, you can also lose the ball easily and then you have to be very sharp in the duels. 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. When you see the shots on the goal it is also without conviction. That is not good.”
Van Gaal did not explain why he felt his players did not turn up on the day, but vowed that it would never happen again.
“You cannot analyse exactly what is the reason. That is very difficult,” he continued. “I think you only can notice that and you can see that and learn from it because Everton were highly motivated and you have seen that.
“The training sessions were alright. It is also a process because we are playing so well in the last six or seven games that also players think ‘OK, it shall come’, but it shall not come.
“You need the inspiration and the motivation and the aggression to win the second balls and to fight to the end. Many times I have said they have fought to the end and a manager cannot demand more.
The loss places Manchester united in 4th place in the English Premier League, behind Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal.
