Wayne Rooney is "hurt" by Manchester United's form and told his team-mates to start delivering - starting with today's trip to Aston Villa.
The champions are down in ninth in the Premier League and are nine points behind Everton who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot.
David Moyes is still adapting to life in Sir Alex Ferguson's place as manager and he goes into Sunday's game with Aston Villa under pressure.
For Rooney, though, the players need to do their bit.
"We all have to step up," he said. "It hasn't been good enough of late and we all have to come forward and show why we were champions last year and do better. We have a good run of games now and hopefully we can do that."
Rooney has been in fine form, leading the line superbly but he considers himself as much to blame as everyone else.
"It's not about me, it's about the team. If the team isn't doing well then my form is not important - we have to do well as a team and roll our sleeves up and really pull ourselves together," he added.
"It's not nice (the table). We are all proud players and it's not nice being there. It hurts. Hopefully there will be a reaction."
