Furious Louis van Gaal feared his complacent Manchester United stars were beaten before they started as they crashed to their worst defeat under his management yesterday.
Van Gaal revealed he was unhappy with the lack-lustre nature of his players' warm-up routines before their 3-0 capitulation to Everton at Goodison Park.
After goals from James McCarthy, John Stones and Kevin Mirallas had given Everton their biggest home win over United since 31 years, Van Gaal insisted his players had been out-fought and out-thought by the Merseyside club.
He said: "Yes, it was the most disappointing performance since I took charge because it is the first time that I have seen that our motivation, inspiration and aggression was not as high as our opponents and in sport, you shall always be compared to your opponents and that was the reason.
"I and my coaches Ryan Giggs and Albert Stuivenberg had the feeling [before the game] because the warm up was not as good as usual.
"In the last minutes before the game you say 'I hope you can recover' and stimulate your players but by 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.
"Because we have been playing so well in the last six or seven games there is also the danger that the players also think 'ok, it shall come [easily]' but it shall not come.
"You need the inspiration, the motivation and the aggression to win the second balls and to fight to the end."
It was the most disappointing performance since I took charge
Louis van Gaal
After their 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last weekend, it is the first time United have lost two consecutive League games under Van Gaal and also the first time they have have failed to score in two consecutive games.
The Dutchman believes the defeats to Chelsea and Everton have opened the window of opportunity for Liverpool who, if they beat Hull tomorrow and QPR on Saturday, can narrow the gap on fourth-placed United to one point before their early evening kick-off with West Brom on Saturday.
To make matters worse for United, skipper Wayne Rooney left the stadium limping heavily with a knee injury that forced him off near the end to make him a doubt for the West Brom game.
And Van Gaal said he replaced Marouane Fellaini at half-time of his first return to his former club because he felt he might have been sent off after picking up a yellow card in the first half.
"Rooney has a kick to his knee and we have to see if it is heavy or not," he said. "I took Fellaini off for several reasons.
"The first reason was he had been booked and I found that the players of Everton provoke him and I was not so sure if he should end the match. But I could have changed more players."
Everton boss Roberto Martinez, whose side have won six and drawn one of their last seven games, said: "We were the better side in every department and we were well worth the clean sheet which is an incredible stat against the quality United have."
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