Rio Ferdinand has added to the pressure on Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. 

The former United defender has suggested the club has lost its identity under the 1999 Champions League-winner.

Solskjaer is believed to have earned a reprieve, despite calls for his head in the wake of Sunday's 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Liverpool at Old Trafford.

United have lost five of their last nine games in all competitions, and welcome champions Manchester City to Old Trafford in under a fortnight's time.

They go to Tottenham on Saturday, with the hope of United's hierarchy that Solskjaer can right the ship ahead of a Champions League trip to Atalanta.

It's reported that former manager Alex Ferguson was at the United training ground on Tuesday, and has been heading the calls to stand by the 48-year old.

However, confidence among Solskjaer's media allies has quickly eroded.

Ferdinand famously encouraged United to allow Solskjaer dictate his own terms after guiding them to Champions League progress at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain in 2019 while still in temporary charge.

But speaking on his Vibe with Five podcast, Ferdinand gave his thoughts on Sunday's thrashing.

"It was an embarrassment," he said, "I've been there, we got beat 6-1 at home by Man City [2011].

"But we had an identity to fall back on in a couple of weeks.

"This is the problem for this team, they're struggling to find an identity and who they are.

"These are the questions, when you watch the game, you think 'what are we?'.

Ferdinand directly questioned Solskjaer's role in United's slump, adding, "Is the manager giving the players the right information? And if so, are the players not taking on the information?

"That's what the manager needs to get to the bottom of because at the moment it looks like a team just thrown together."

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