Alan Pardew has vowed to fight on as Newcastle United boss after enduring his worst defeat as a manager and the club’s heaviest home defeat for 88 years.
Newcastle travel to Pardew’s former club West Ham United on Saturday, reeling from the astonishing 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool at St James’s Park.
Thousands of supporters turned on their manager before walking out of the stadium as Pardew’s team simply surrendered and Liverpool ran riot.
Get it together! Alan Pardew saw his side ship six on Saturday afternoon
The defeat, coming immediately after their worst home derby defeat for nearly 40 years, has placed Pardew under increasing pressure after their Europa League exit and failure to build on last season’s fifth-place. This time last year Newcastle were fourth and 25 points better off.
Despite nearly £20million spent on five French recruits in January following Demba Ba’s departure, Newcastle’s league form has failed to pick up. Saturday’s defeat was their fourth in seven and since the transfer window closed they have won four in 11.
They now sit five points ahead of Wigan Athletic with a visit to relegated Queen’s Park Rangers to follow after this weekend, and a final day meeting at home to Champions League-chasing Arsenal.
It still seems unlikely they will be caught by Wigan or Aston Villa, who tonight host Sunderland who are level on 37 points with Newcastle but with a considerably better goal difference.
But they still have their work cut out to see off both teams mathematically and as Pardew has the added obstacle of coming face-to-face with former Toon favourites Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll this weekend, and the slightly less popular, former boss Sam Allardyce.
'That was probably the heaviest defeat I have had as a manager,' Pardew said. 'There were a lot of things I didn’t like but I will make sure we put it right. And that started straight after the game in that dressing room. That is the key.’
As well as the short-term survival mission, there is the question of Pardew’s future as he fights to win back the faith of fans who took to him very quickly in his first game in charge – a comfortable home win over Liverpool.
Owner Mike Ashley was not at St James’ but managing director Derek Llambias sat uncomfortably as the entire ground emptied and his recruits were not only outplayed but seemed to lose entire heart for the fight - or their discipline, in the case of dismissed £5million France international Mathieu Debuchy.
Despite the inevitable rumours sweeping the North East yesterday, there is no suggestion that Ashley intends to curtail Pardew’s contract with three critical games to go, having learned the lesson of their last relegation in 2009.
Pummeled: Liverpool racked up the goals despite missing Luis Suarez
What was the point in agreeing the unheard of eight-year deal with Pardew if is to be ripped up within eight months? Even by his controversial standards, that would make no sense.
Anger, embarrassment, shock. Pardew felt the lot on Saturday night and this remains the biggest test of his Tyneside reign and the faith the board have placed in him.
'I have no problem getting the flak,’ he said. 'I accept that. That performance was not one of my team’s. My teams are renowned for being organised and being on the front foot and you could not say that. I will take responsibility for that.
'I genuinely believe we have enough in that dressing room and enough quality in my staff to get the points we need. We have had difficult days in the past but if I don’t get a response then I will be deeply disappointed.
'Of course I am angry but I have to channel that anger in the right way. The only way I can get that right is next week and make sure I have a team that enters the pitch at West Ham confident it is going to win.
'The players are very much aware of the situation we are in and I don’t think they need a lot of telling. We need to make sure when we start on Monday morning that we work really hard to show this city that we have the fight for it.
'There are a lot of people who will look at us and think we have a great chance of being relegated. We have to prove that wrong.'
Squeezed in: Jordan Henderson's free-kick crept in at the far post for Liverpool's sixth
Injuries have hit Newcastle harder than most teams in this campaign and at the root of the club’s problem could be the French players who were actually signed as the solution to help Newcastle’s fragile squad as it tried to cope with the return to Europe.
The spine of last season’s side has rarely played together and inexperienced players have covered for the likes of Fabricio Coloccini and Hatem Ben Arfa, who are not fully match fit yet. In addition, Yohan Cabaye’s injuries have caught up with him recently and who knows what has happened to Cheick Tiote and Jonas Gutierrez.
'I do not think the language barrier is a problem,’ Pardew observed. `I think it is perhaps experience and knowledge of what is needed in games and different scenarios. A lot of those players have never lost 3-0 at home before never mind six and I think that showed. Some of our play was naive and disorganised.’
From first to 90th minute Newcastle were prised apart by a Liverpool side intent on showing there is life without Luis Suarez.
After Daniel Agger’s third minute header, Suarez’s replacement Daniel Sturridge scored two, as did former Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson. Substitute Fabio Borini scored his first Premier League goal within 36 seconds and the brilliant Coutinho hit the bar.
At long last: Fabio Borini managed to register his first Premier League goal
The players’ spokesman sent to give the rallying call was Shola Ameobi. Although an unused sub, he is the most vocal player in the dressing room. His message will resonate with team-mates who were relegated four years ago. Newcastle must hope strangers to the Premier League and this predicament hear it too.
Ameobi said: 'I have seen a lot of anger in that dressing room, which is understandable. It’s not the time to start pointing fingers. We are all in it together. I have been in this situation before so hopefully we can use what happened last time to a positive effect.
'Players are worried. We can use this to spark us and give us a kick up the backside to say that nobody is too good to go down, as we found out last time. I’m sure the players understand that and that’s what the manager will be impressing on us this week. In the coming week it is not about how talented a team you are, it’s about how much you want it on the day.
'We will take stock this week and work out what went wrong and put it right. We think we have the right components and the right ability to keep us up. It doesn’t matter how good a team you, it’s about how much you want it, how hard you want to work and how much you want to win.'