Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has admitted that "it's much more difficult to be as a team" in the current climate, as players are "more their own individuals".
There have been suggestions of dressing-room unrest at Man United during a season which has seen the team suffer 16 defeats in all competitions, including 11 in the Premier League.
Ten Hag has opened up on the challenge facing modern managers in the dressing room, with the Dutchman claiming that the situation has changed entirely over the last "15, 20 years."
"I think nowadays it's much more difficult to be as a team. Players are much more their own individuals with their people around them," the Red Devils head coach told reporters during his press conference on Friday.
"They all have their [own] say, their own business units, their own companies and to construct that as a team, that is the biggest change I think in the last, I would say, 15, 20 years."
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Man United will be bidding to bounce back from successive league defeats to Fulham and Manchester City when they welcome Everton to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
Liverpool will then head to Manchester in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup next weekend, and Ten Hag has opened up on the importance of the team's home form in the latter stages of the season.
"We are, I think, very reliant on our fans and they are very supportive to us. But of course, we always have to energise them. We have to make sure we are ready and that we show the fans we are ready," he added.
"And I'm sure that they are very supportive to us. It's always a pleasure to play at Old Trafford and I think it is always because every opponent will fear Old Trafford.
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"But it's up to us to show that from the first minute on, and don't let or don't allow them to come into the game. Home or away for us, that doesn't matter. We prepare in the same way. We believe in ourselves, and we will go with confidence into every game.
"I'm here to win and I'm in a process. And, you know, we keep going in this process. We know in which direction we want to go. And, yeah, we have now big setbacks.
"We have had big setbacks. But we keep going and we have a strong mentality. We keep fighting and we keep pushing the team in the right direction."
Man United are currently sixth in the Premier League table, six points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and 11 from fourth-placed Aston Villa in the battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.
There remains uncertainty surrounding Ten Hag's future at Old Trafford, with a decision on the Dutchman set to be made by the club's new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the coming months.
Matt Law
