Manchester United are by no means out of the top-four race this season, but Rio Ferdinand admits it's difficult to see where the spark is going to come from.
A late strike from Joao Moutinho sentenced United to their first defeat under Ralf Rangnick last night.
Bruno Fernandes rattled the crossbar after coming off the bench, but Bruno Lage and his Midlands side deserved three points on their trip to Old Trafford.
United remain in touching distance of fourth-placed Arsenal in the quest for Champions League qualification.
However, after watching one of their games in hand pass by, Ferdinand thinks Rangnick and his squad are making things difficult for themselves as Tottenham and West Ham also have to be factored in when it comes to a thrilling battle to join Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the marquee European competition.
Speaking on his popular Vibe With Five podcast, Ferdinand said: "Those results were coming in, but performances haven't been great for a couple of weeks now. We were getting fair enough results.
"You were sitting there seeing those two games in hand on Arsenal and others. We can get right there amongst it. Listen, top-four is not out of our reach, by no means. We are just making it difficult for ourselves.
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"If you could see some performances behind a result like that, it wouldn't be so doom and gloom but, because the performances was so drab, almost lacklustre, lacking any zip, it leaves you feeling very down-beat about the team.
"I'm struggling to find where the spark is going to come from other than a David de Gea save or a Cristiano Ronaldo goal out of nothing."
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