Ryan Giggs with Manchester United manager David Moyes during training

Giggs, who made his league debut for United in 1991, says the squad have to take responsibility for their poor results this season.

The reigning champions have lost more Premier League games than they have won, the low point arriving last weekend with a 2-1 home defeat by West Brom.

Manager Moyes took over at Old Trafford in July, following in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson who spent more than 26 years at the club.

Giggs, who turns 40 in November, said: "Sir Alex was a great manager and a great influence on the team and the club.

"You are going to miss someone like that. But I don't think that is an excuse when individuals aren't playing as well as they can. We are not playing well as a team.

"We haven't got injury problems as we have had in the past. There is no excuse.

"It hasn't been a great start to the season but the good thing about that is we have plenty of time to turn it round.

"We know what this club is like, it is ups and downs and we don't get carried away if we are flying and we don't get carried away when we are not playing well.

"I can't put my finger on what has happened. We have just not played as well as we can, both individually and as a team.

"The results have shown we haven't played as well as we can do. But we know the quality in there in the dressing room.

"We're the champions so we showed that quality last year and we have to show it again."

Midfielder Michael Carrick, meanwhile, believes the best way for United to combat their present problems is to face them head on.

United head to Sunderland on Saturday on the back of their worst start to a domestic campaign since 1989 and, should they get beaten at the Stadium of Light, it will be the first time they have lost three successive league games since 2001.

Carrick insists the pressure has not been seeping into the Old Trafford dressing room, but he knows the reality cannot be avoided either.

"You have periods, whether it is through seasons or through years when things don't quite go right," he said.

"You just have to face it and find a way to get through it. You can't hide and go under. You have to respond. That is what we will do."

United can take comfort from the knowledge they have not lost a league game at the Stadium of Light since 1997.

They have emerged victorious on six of their last seven visits and, if anything, face a team who have been pitched into even more turmoil than United following the abrupt decision to axe manager Paolo di Canio.

Yet Carrick accepts United cannot perform as they did against Manchester City and in the home defeat to West Brom last weekend.

"Sometimes it is hard to put your finger on things," he said. "There are probably a number of reasons.

"If you don't do enough things well in a game then you lose it.

"I think we just get back to doing the right things, doing what we believe in. If we do that, in time we will be fine."