Louis Van Gaal and his backroom staff detected United were not at the races at Goodison in the pre-match warm up.

The Reds boss was unable to rouse his side before kick off and admitted that United were second best in three key departments as they slumped to the worst Premier League defeat in the Dutchman’s reign with the 3-0 thrashing.

“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.”

Van Gaal, however, also suggested that some complacency had crept into the United ranks despite having their six-match winning run halted at Chelsea last week.

“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, who admitted the loss had given fifth place Liverpool some encouragement in the race for the Champions league places, says the Reds will assess a knee injury to skipper Wayne Rooney.

He limped out of Goodison on his way to catch a flight to the PFA awards in London with Ashley Young alongside goalkeeper David De Gea named as number one in the Premier League XI.

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