Steve McClaren is refusing to bow under the wave of criticism which has come his way after Newcastle were plunged back deep into relegation trouble.
The Magpies thought they had shaken off a difficult start to the season when they snatched a fortuitous 1-0 victory at Bournemouth on November 7, partially due to a second successive clean sheet.
However, a 3-0 home defeat by Leicester was followed by last weekend's 5-1 drubbing at Crystal Palace, and they are now back inside the bottom three and their head coach is the bookmakers' favourite to be the next top-flight boss to lose his job after less than six months in the post.
Asked if he just had to live with that, McClaren replied: "Absolutely, get on with it. We all have to live with criticism and in that time, we have to stick together and know that we will come through it.
"We felt three weeks ago we were very nearly coming through it, and we are back in it again. We have to claw our way back up to the top, see some light and keep going."
It was the manner of defeat by both the Foxes and Palace which set the alarm bells ringing once again on Tyneside with Newcastle abject on both occasions despite taking an early lead at Selhurst Park.
McClaren's players have been accused of lacking character or even caring about the club's fate, something he refutes, although he admits the atmosphere around the training ground is far from pleasant at the moment.
He said: "Nobody is happy at this football club. We have lost the last two games and not performed very well, and it's a remarkable turn-around from three weeks ago when we left Bournemouth with smiles on our faces thinking we had turned the corner.
"That's typical of football. Confidence can be eroded and can go as quickly as it comes, and that's what we have got to believe, that the next game is always an opportunity to build a performance, get a result and all of a sudden, then confidence comes flooding back because we have done that at certain times in the season.
"We believe in these players. When these players are confident - and that's the only thing they are lacking at the present moment - they are good players and a good team."
Whether or not he would like to make wholesale changes for Sunday's visit of in-form Liverpool, McClaren will be unable to with the lack of depth in his squad and injuries limiting his choices after he revealed central defender Mike Williamson, who was recalled from his loan spell at Wolves because of Jamaal Lascelles' hamstring injury, has damaged his own hamstring in training and is not available this weekend.
Source: PA
