Gary Neville has slammed the 'disgusting and disrespectful' Manchester United players amid reports of media leaks.
United's season continues to falter as, for the third game running, Ralf Rangnick's side dropped points from a winning position as Southampton came from behind to earn a draw.
It followed a similar pattern at Burnley in the league and, before that, their FA Cup exit to Middlesbrough.
Amid the frustrating results were media reports which claimed some players were left unimpressed by Rangnick's American assistant Chris Armas and had likened him to fictional flamboyant manager Ted Lasso.
The United legend berated the current squad and issued a stern message ahead of a pivotal period as the race for the top four heats up.
He said on his podcast: "All that nonsense is happening behind the scenes at Manchester United and I don't know that from a point of view of intelligence - I don't speak to anybody at the club, I genuinely don't.
"But I can see it because I read the newspapers, I'm on social media and I see the stories coming out so and south wants to leave or they want that as the manager and I'm thinking 'oh my god'.
"I thought that was downright disrespectful on Friday, I didn't find it funny at all the fact they were describing the number two of Ralf Rangnick as Ted Lasso, I didn't find it funny at all, I found it disrespectful, disgusting. In fact, it summed up what I think of them that they are disrespectful.
"If I was Ralf Rangnick and his number two I'd take strength from that because I wouldn't want to be on the same page as some of the players leaking that story, those types of stories. It never happened in my time [leaks of manager discontent], we had the greatest level of stability.
"It's happening at Manchester United now [leaks], they're at it, the PR teams, their marketing teams, their agents, they're at it. They're protecting themselves, they're in self-preservation of their own player."
He continued: "What they don't realise is when they go and speak to the media, those media people come and speak to us, we find out about that so we know who's briefing, the reality is we don't like it.
"The fact of the matter is they're at it, just like the Chelsea team [under Andre Villas-Boas] all those years ago. This Manchester United team are at it, self-preservation, excuses, all the time, stop it.
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"Go in, work as hard as you can, do the best you can, never give in, represent you, your family, the club as best as you can every single game.
"If you get picked, go for it, if you don't - support the lads on the pitch who are there - that's it, that's your job. Don't think about anything else in life.
"Don't try and be clever, blame anybody else, push your messages out thinking that we're going to buy it because we're not buying it and the fans can see right through it."
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