Louis van Gaal is blaming an unlikely figure for depressing the Manchester United squad

Poor Mike.

Manchester United have had a long time to try and wait to get their last Premier League loss out of their system with the international break. Louis van Gaal's side were thumped 3-0 by Arsenal on a day when Memphis Depay only lasted until half-time, and they were 2-0 down inside the opening 10 minutes. It was generally agreed afterwards that Arsenal hit peak performance, and the visitors to the Emirates were second best throughout the entire match. But Louis van Gaal has hinted that there may be an unknown force at play too in the poor result. The Dutchman was speaking to reporters today ahead of Sunday's clash with Everton, and admits that the entire squad has been depressed since the losses to Swansea and Arsenal. And one particular figure within the club is really down-in-the-dumps; Mike, who runs the Old Trafford canteen. And LvG thinks it's affecting his players to the point of contributing to their losses,

"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."

As excuses go it's certainly original.