LIVERPOOL -- Louis van Gaal accused his Manchester United side of lacking motivation and being out-fought as they lost 3-0 at Everton.
Van Gaal suffered his heaviest league defeat as United manager and felt it was the first time that opponents wanted victory more than them.
The Dutchman said he was worried about his team's attitude from the warm-up and felt it was too late for them to regain their focus.
He said at his postmatch news conference: "It is the first time that I have seen that our motivation, inspiration and aggression was not so high as the opponents'.
"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 and 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 was particularly critical of his players for James McCarthy's opening goal, when the Everton midfielder won a challenge with Paddy McNair and Daley Blind before scoring.
"We played very well in phases," he added. "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 count.
"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, they are also without conviction. That is not good. But we are human beings so it can happen once."
Van Gaal felt it was a rare game when United lacked the fighting spirit they required.
"You need the inspiration and the motivation and the aggression to win the second balls and to fight to the end," he explained. "Many times I have said they have fought to the end."