Man Utd head coach Ruben Amorim has claimed his side are "nowhere near" where they need to be and hopes they "fight each other" after losing to 10-man Everton.
With Everton down to 10 men for over 75 minutes after Idrissa Gueye's red card for striking his own team-mate Michael Keane, Amorim's side failed to break down a team who have only mustered one away win all season - against bottom side Wolves.
It was the first time United have ever lost a home Premier League game after seeing the opposition pick up a red card, with United winning 36 of the 46 games in which it has happened before. It was also David Moyes' first ever win at Old Trafford as an opposition manager at the 18th attempt.
But overall, it represents a new low for Amorim, who celebrated one year in charge of United in dismal fashion.
"We are not there, not even near the point that we should be to fight for the best positions," said Amorim.
"We have a lot to do. We have to be perfect to win games, we were not perfect today.
"When we see the results of the weekend, we should get onto the pitch with a different excitement. Old Trafford was there saying 'we are all here for a big step up'. And we were not ready.
"These five weeks, everyone is praising our evolution. But I'm always saying the same things: we are nowhere near the moment we are meant to be in this club."
Gueye's bizarre red card left Amorim wishing he had seen the same sort of fight from his own players.
"Fighting is not a bad thing," he added. "Fighting doesn't mean you don't like each other. Fighting means you lose the ball and I will fight you because we will suffer a goal. That was my feeling.
"I don't agree with that red card. We can fight with team-mates. I know it's violent conduct because the referee explained but I don't agree.
"I hope my players, when they lose the ball, they fight each other - though they cannot get sent off! But that is a good feeling, not a bad feeling."
Amorim also admitted he is concerned about returning to the feeling of last season - which ended in a 15th-place finish, no trophies and no European football for this season.
"I feel afraid of returning to this feeling of last season," said Amorim. "That is my biggest concern. We need to work together. The players are trying but we need to be better."
Gary Neville branded United's performance as an "embarrassment" at Old Trafford - while Jamie Carragher feels Amorim's credentials will be questioned on the basis of that performance.
Amorim was criticised throughout the match for not moving away from his much-maligned 3-4-2-1 formation and continuing with five defenders on the pitch, despite having the player advantage.
"It was nowhere near good enough," said Neville on the Gary Neville Podcast. "That was a really bad night for Man Utd, it was an embarrassment at times.
"Forget [injuries to Sesko and Cunha], there are no excuses. I'm not entertaining that one bit.
"Everton dominated them with 11 men and with 10 men, in a different way of domination, but they dominated them through their fight and their spirit.
"It's complacency, and complacency will kill you. The minute that you think as a football player that you just have to turn up on that pitch and you're Manchester United and you can play or any football club, you're done.
"It just smelt of complacency [from United]. They weren't at it from the beginning. That is a bad one for United.
"You can't go from the fight that they showed in certain games to that. It just erodes confidence, it erodes trust. We're trying to build a trust in a manager, we're trying to build a trust in a team.
"The fans booed collectively at the end. It was loud, and rightly so. That was a really poor performance. It's almost as if you've gone sort of like two or three steps forward, everyone's feeling a little bit better about themselves, and you've just gone back to the start again.
"You can lose football matches, but you can't lose them like that. That's nowhere near good enough, it's not acceptable."
Carragher added: "This is a bad night for the manager. There was an awful long time left in that game [after 10-man Everton went ahead].
"I don't understand how you can stick with something so steadfastly in a situation like that when it's basically one guy up front who's not really up front, you don't need three players [at the back] there.
"It's one of those moments where I think a lot of people will really question the manager on the back of that defeat. They'll look at the players, and we know the players should do better, but the manager will take a lot of the blame for tonight."
