Gary Neville has described Manchester United as being "like a broth of 100 ingredients" and insisted Ralf Rangnick is not solely to blame for his former club's issues.
United have squandered half-time leads to draw 1-1 with Burnley and Southampton in their past two top-flight matches, seeing them drop to fifth.
It marks only the second time in their Premier League history that United have failed to win back-to-back games in which they have led at the midway point.
United are winless in three in all competitions, meanwhile, having also been pegged back at 1-1 by Middlesbrough before losing on penalties in the FA Cup fourth-round tie.
The Red Devils strengthened ahead of this campaign by bringing in Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, but Neville does not believe there is any real plan at Old Trafford.
"You put that many ingredients into a soup, you don't know which one in the end is making it taste bad," he told Sky Sports. "You lose your sanity over what's good and what's bad.
"I felt they were near last season [when they finished second] but now I feel they are as far away as they've ever been from winning the league.
"Maybe the right appointment in the summer and a little bit of a shuffle with someone who is calculated, ruthless and knows where the problem lies could change things again.
"Right now, I'm looking at a broth of 100 ingredients and don't know which of them I want to get rid of to make it taste better. It's a mess and United fans must take their medicine."
Rangnick, appointed as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's successor on an interim basis until the end of the campaign in November, has naturally shouldered much of the blame of late.
United have averaged fewer goals per game under the German than they have under any other manager in Premier League history (1.4 – 14 goals in 10 games).
Former United midfielder Paul Scholes claimed on the back of Saturday's draw with Southampton that Rangnick is nothing more than a sporting director.
But amid rumours that United's players are pushing the club to appoint Mauricio Pochettino, Neville is not sure if a new man in the dugout will have the desired effect.
"It now gets to a point where you don't feel it's down to the manager anymore," said Neville, who won 17 major honours across his near two decades in United's first team.
"Ole was getting a lot of criticism at the start of the season and loses his job and it's now being suggested that Rangnick isn't good enough because he's a sporting director and he's not a coach.
"There's a confidence issue but there's also an issue of excuse mentality and of looking after themselves and not looking at the bigger picture, which is creating a brilliant team and trying to get back up that league."
Rangnick was forced to defend himself after the draw with Southampton, pointing out that United are not getting the results that their performances deserve.
United had 12 shots against Southampton to go with 22 attempts at Burnley and 30 over 120 minutes of the FA Cup clash with Middlesbrough, yet they failed to win each.
Since Rangnick's first game in charge on December 5, United have scored 17 goals in all competitions, but their expected goals (xG) figure is 23.3.
That differential of -6.3 is the third-biggest among all teams in Europe's top-five leagues in that time, behind only Lyon (-8) and Rayo Vallecano (-7.4).
By contrast, Premier League leaders Manchester City have scored 38 goals in the same timeframe from an xG of 29.9 – a positive differential of 8.11.
While an inability to put chances away is proving an issue, Neville believes United's issues run much deeper.
"You can't put your finger on one thing when you watch United nowadays," he said. "Every day feels like a soap opera. You hear the players want Pochettino, then Ronaldo's going to leave.
"The last few weeks have been terrible in terms of off-the-pitch incidents. On the pitch, I saw [Southampton manager] Ralph Hasenhuttl's quote after the game, which I think is the biggest criticism you can have levelled at you as a sportsperson or an athlete – that you don't work hard enough.
"I look at them on the pitch and there's definitely a number of them who are lacking in confidence. There's also a few of them who are not putting a shift in. The hard yards.
"That I can't forgive because as a United fan all that you can ask is that they give their all on the pitch. It looks lethargic and they don't look like they have the quality to chase games. Something has got to change there very quickly."
Napoli not going to San Siro to 'wave the white flag', says Conte
Antonio Conte has no intention of holding anything back when he returns to San Siro, as the top two face off in Serie A on Sunday.
The Italian revived Inter and helped them break Juventus's nine-year stranglehold on the Scudetto, stopping their run in the 2020-21 season to win the title for the first time since their treble-winning campaign in 2009-10.
Now at Napoli, a club that is looking to return to the heights of their 2022-23 title win, Conte's side sit top of Serie A with 25 points after 11 games - a point above Inter ahead of their upcoming clash.
"It's definitely nice to return to where I worked and won. Yes, two happy years," Conte told reporters.
"It was a wonderful experience that I carry within me, like all the past ones that I lived to the fullest."
Napoli's winning run in Serie A came to a grinding halt against Atalanta last weekend when Conte's side were beaten 3-0, and they have a poor recent record against Inter, having won just one of their last 10 Serie A matches against them.
Napoli are looking to avoid suffering two consecutive top-flight losses for the first time since last December, and Conte says he is in no mood to drop three points again.
"The three points is always important, it is inevitable that we face a team that today, for everything they have shown, is the strongest team," Conte added.
"We are not going to San Siro to wave the white flag before starting, but convinced to play our cards. Then we will see what happens. We are preparing in a major way, as we always do.
"It will be an important test, we will measure ourselves against the best, and it will be important to understand our progress. Do not forget that we arrive at the top of the table... and the objective is to remain at the top."
Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku has scored only one goal in his last four games, but when asked about his form, Conte said he was tired of questions about the Belgian striker.
"At every blessed conference, there is always the question about Lukaku. It becomes a bit - not annoying - but we are talking about the team. Lukaku's growth depends on the growth of the team," Conte said.
"But I am confident because I see them every day, they want to work and improve. I see a lot of commitment and I would not reduce it to a single player. It is not fair to the others."
Cleverley: Watford 'deserved to win' after improved second half
Tom Cleverley believes Watford "deserved the three points" after an improved second-half display saw them beat Oxford United 1-0.
Vakoun Bayo scored the only goal of the match in the 54th minute after he turned in the rebound of his own saved shot.
It is the fifth goal he has scored in three games, having also netted four times in the Hornets' 6-2 victory over Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.
The hosts registered 12 shots, seven of which were on target, as they upped the pressure after the break. They only had four attempts in the first half, though Ciaron Brown had to clear an in-swinging Watford corner off his own goal line on the stroke of half-time.
The three points lift Watford up to fourth in the Championship table ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures, and Cleverley was pleased with the marked improvement he saw in the second 45 minutes.
"I thought the second-half performance was really good until the last five minutes really," he told Sky Sports.
"I thought we didn't manage the game as well as we could do and a few refereeing decisions - dubious one that went against us - meant they could get the ball in our box.
"So, it felt a bit hands to the pump at the end, but I thought for the first 35 minutes of the second half, we were absolutely fantastic and were unlucky not to make it two, three.
"Understandably flat performance in the first half, probably from both teams with it being such a demanding week.
"But I thought our second-half performance in the main deserved the three points and our supporters helped us through."
Meanwhile, Oxford remain 16th and have now won just one of their last 10 matches in the Championship.
They failed to register a single shot on target in the first half, and are yet to win a game when conceding the opening goal in the league this season, with this the fifth such match they have gone behind.
It was Oxford's sixth defeat of the season and while manager Des Buckingham said there were positives to take, he was left frustrated by their lack of a clinical edge.
"I'm extremely proud but extremely frustrated," he said.
"I'm disappointed we haven't come away with something. I felt we created enough, we just haven't taken them. If we keep playing that way, we will be fine.
"We speak about being a together group. We did well, but Watford took their chance."
'When we get to that level, we're unstoppable' - Shaw hits hat-trick in Man City rout
Khadija Shaw believes Manchester City are "unstoppable" when they raise their level after securing a resounding 4-0 win over Tottenham in the Women's Super League.
Shaw made history, overtaking Vivianne Miedema as the player with the most WSL hat-tricks and becoming the first player in the league to net three separate trebles against the same side.
The Jamaican opened the scoring after just 23 seconds, robbing Clare Hunt of the ball, before adding to her tally in the 15th and 67th minutes to take the match ball home. Jill Roord had added City's third 91 seconds before Shaw wrapped up her hat-trick.
City dominated throughout, with Lauren Hemp also unlucky not to end up on the scoresheet after hitting both posts and the bar with a pacy strike from inside the box.
It was a win that moved City four points clear at the top of the WSL table ahead of Chelsea's match at Liverpool on Sunday.
Shaw was delighted to walk away with the match ball, but especially with the quality that City have shown so far this campaign.
"We really enjoyed that one," Shaw told Sky Sports. "We spoke as a team that we wanted to come out here and be on the front foot.
"Fortunately for me, with my pressing that I've been working on, we managed to get the goal. It was a good night.
"With the players that I have around me, I know that I’m going to get crosses, it's just making the right movements in the box and they will find me. I've just been getting better and growing, so I'm happy.
"At the back end of last season, we just fell short with the goal difference. It's about staying consistent, because we know we have the quality.
"Once we go at every game on the front foot from the first whistle, we're really good at that. We have to keep going and see where we can raise the level even better, so when we get to that level, we're unstoppable."
City have won their last nine matches in all competitions, scoring seven goals without reply in their last two WSL outings.
Despite their emphatic win at the Etihad Stadium on Friday though, Gareth Taylor still believes there is room for improvement from his side, especially with reigning champions Chelsea next up for them in the league.
"I said to them, I think we can be better," Taylor told Sky Sports.
"I thought at times tonight we were a little bit loose. A little bit slow with our play. It's really difficult to be critical because it's a different environment for us."
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