Louis van Gaal said the Manchester United squad -- and the club chef -- feel "awful" about their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal and branded it unacceptable.

United conceded three goals in the opening 20 minutes of a Premier League game for the first time when they were beaten at the Emirates Stadium in their last game.

And Van Gaal is adamant there will be no repeat as he criticised his players for their poor start and their erratic passing.

"When you have more than two weeks [to think about it] it is awful when you have such a result," the Dutchman said in a news conference.

"It has been an awful two weeks because before the last international break we lost against Swansea.

"It's not only the players, it's the staff, and my cook, Mike, because he has a big influence on the atmosphere in the canteen.

"So these are awful weeks, because you are constantly thinking about how it happened and you cannot manage it with your players, because that is what you have to do, but all the players were flying out.

"They flew out directly after the match, then the players are coming back on Wednesday, some on Thursday, after the training sessions, so they could not participate in our meetings before the game against Everton.

Manchester United's defeat to Arsenal soured their international break, says Louis van Gaal. Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

"So it is difficult for me and then I have speak about the match against Arsenal, because you have to analyse it, learn from it and improve.

"I have to give the analysis of the Arsenal game the day before the [Everton] game, so the process of preparation is different."

Van Gaal suggested that United will be unable to regain the Premier League title if they play as poorly as they did against Arsene Wenger's team.

"Arsenal had 96 percent passing accuracy but we had 68 percent. Normally we have 85 percent or something like that, so it is a big difference," he added.