Wayne Rooney has sensationally accused Manchester United players of not wanting to play and suggested some are even feigning injuries.
United slumped to a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday and are at risk of missing out on European football altogether at the end of a torrid season.
Embattled boss Erik ten Hag is believed to be at risk of the sack with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS expected to make sweeping changes at the club.
Ten Hag's squad has been ravaged by a spate of injuries over the campaign, however, forcing him to again field Casemiro and Jonny Evans at centre back.
But Rooney, United's all-time record scorer, pulled no punches in his assessment of United's current crop and believes some players lack the fight to feature.
'You need to want to play. I played with injuries,' he told Sky Sports.
'The manager needs to be ruthless and take that opportunity away from you. As long you haven't got a bad injury you should want to play on that football pitch.
'For me that doesn't seem that's the case.'
Key starters Bruno Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Raphael Varane were again missing for the loss to the league leaders.
Tyrell Malacia, Harry Maguire, Anthony Martial, Victor Lindelof and Mason Mount were also ruled out, forcing Ten Hag to name another youthful bench.
The under pressure Ten Hag has often taken aim at the attitude of his players this season and Rooney believes this should sting for those in the dressing room.
In another scathing verdict, he added: 'Some of these players have to look at themselves because when your manager is doing an interview and talking about attitudes not being right to play for Manchester United, that is a massive insult.
'If I saw my manager saying that, there's no way I'd let that ride until the end of the season. And it looks like some players are just trying to get to the end of the season.
'It's easy when you've got a European Championships and FA Cup Final coming up, it's easy because they're getting a little bit of stick to stay out of it and come back towards the final. You've seen it, I've seen it over the years.
'I just think the players that have been "injured", they're not filling themselves with any credit and the manager is going to take all the stick for that.'