Gary Neville has told Jose Mourinho he cannot afford to feel sorry for himself as he tries to find a way to respond to runaway Manchester City.
The Manchester United boss has hit back at critics in recent weeks, labelling reports he will quit the club as 'garbage' and taking Paul Scholes to task over his comments about Paul Pogba.
It follows his pop at City's spending as Mourinho looks to rebuild after the failed regimes of predecessors David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
Neville, talking in his Sky Sports podcast , insists the manager and his players have to focus on their task and be 'tough'.
"The problem is that when you've got such big rivals and such big rivals in management terms as Jose and Pep [Guardiola], everything gets amplified," said Neville of the challenge of dealing with City's current success.
"That's the nature of a big club like Manchester United - getting criticism as well as the praise.
"But you have to forget the uncontrollables - don't feel picked on, because nobody feels sorry for you when you're at Manchester United; you have to accept and be tough enough to overcome it.
"They've still got trophies to play for - the FA Cup, the Champions League - and they have a real challenge on to finish second in the league."
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Neville feels United have already improved on their performances of recent seasons, despite a disappointing run of draws over Christmas stalling their momentum.
He added: "The festive period has ended on a high (with the win over Everton). I started the period co-commentating on the Leicester game, which was such a big disappointment because they deserved to win that game and in the last minute they shot themselves in the foot.
"That set them back, then they had the two home draws.
"You'd say Huddersfield, Southampton, Burnley, Leicester are the games you can look at and say there should be four, five more points on the board.
"Then you'd say Manchester United would be having a fantastic season but it's those dropped points, combined with what's happening over the road - the fact the City are so many points clear and the style in which they're playing.
"But it's still better at United than it has been in the past few years.
"While second shouldn't be tolerated at Manchester United, it would be an improvement on recent years."
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