Paul Scholes says Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will know that the side's current performance is not good enough and that he must quicken the side's progress.
The 13-time Premier League winners were held to a 2-2 home draw by Aston Villa on Sunday - a result that leaves them ninth in the table and 22 points behind leaders Liverpool.
In all competitions, United have won just eight of their 21 matches this season and Scholes - who was present for 11 of United's Premier League titles - says those at the club know things must improve.
"There won't be an acceptance from the fans, Ole, his staff or people at the club," Scholes told Sky Sports News. "They know it's not good enough.
"If Ole's going to build he needs to get results along the way. You can't be dropping points every game and finishing 10th in the league. He needs to show progression in his team.
"When Jurgen Klopp came in at Liverpool, for the first year or two you felt that they were building something. They look like they're going to win the league this year.
"There needs to be some enthusiasm for the fans that they're going to see a team that's going to challenge for the league in a year or two. We haven't seen that at the minute.
"But with three or four transfer windows who knows - hopefully Ole can turn it round."
United's poor form has left them eight points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and in serious danger of missing out on Champions League football for the third time in five years.
United have six league games remaining before the end of 2019 and Scholes says they need to go on a winning run this month if they want to make up ground on the top four.
He said: "It will be difficult - I think they're eight or nine points out of those places now. The top four teams look better than United do at the minute.
"Don't get me wrong, United can go on a run. It doesn't take too long for it to all change around, particularly over the Christmas period.
"That's the time when you need to start picking up some points and climbing up the table, and the sooner they do that the better.
Scholes unlikely to return to management
Scholes says the chances of him returning to management following his brief stint in charge of Oldham last season are slim.
He led the League Two club for little more than a month before leaving in March of this year, saying he was 'unable to operate as he intended'.
Asked by Sky Sports News about a possible return to the dugout, he said: "It's probably unlikely. But I enjoyed it; the experience was good even if it didn't last too long.
"I loved working with the players; they were a great set of lads. It just didn't work out.
"Nothing put me off. I got on well with the players, I enjoyed the training every day. The results weren't great; we only won one game out of seven, which was disappointing.
"But if I had my time again would I do anything different? I don't think I would. There were a lot of issues to deal with at the club. I've learned from my experiences."
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